March 6, 2020
A roundup of domestic and international news
România Internațional, 06.03.2020, 13:58
COVID – 19 The seventh case of coronavirus infection has been confirmed in Romania. Its a young woman from Timisoara, in the south-west, a colleague of the 16 year-old boy who tested positive on March 4th. The National Committee for Special Emergency Situations decided on Thursday to suspend classes at the high-school where the two teenagers are studying, for a period of 14 days. Three of the people infected with COVID-19 have been declared cured. At national level, 35 people are in quarantine, and some 12 thousand are self-isolated at home. In Italy, a Romanian has tested positive too. She is now isolated at home, together with her family, in the Lombardy region, which is the most affected region in Italy. The EU foreign ministers will convene in Brussels to discuss measures to combat the epidemic. The European Medicines Agency has warned about a potential medicines crisis, because many ingredients come from China, where production has been seriously hampered. The coronavirus has now reached 80 countries, with 98,000 confirmed cases and more than 3,300 deaths at global level.
GOVERNMENT Next week, the leadership of the Romanian Parliament will set the date for the investiture of the cabinet proposed by the Liberal Prime Minister Designate Florin Citu. The joint session can be scheduled for next Friday at the latest. The proposed ministers have been heard this week, and nine of them have received positive opinions. 233 votes are needed for the new government to be endorsed,. We recall that the first Liberal Government, headed by the leader of the National Liberal Party Ludovic Orban, was dismissed by means of a no-confidence motion. Designated as PM for the second time, Orban stepped back following a Constitutional Court ruling.
DEFENSE The Romanian Defense Minister Nicolae-Ionel Ciuca attended in Zagreb, on Wednesday and Thursday, the informal meeting of the EU defense ministers. The participants analyzed the security situation in Europes neighborhood, with focus on Syria, and held an exchange of opinions on the EUs security and defense priorities. Also, they discussed the development and implementation of the Strategic Compass and the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO). Minister Ciuca reconfirmed Romanias support for the EU commitments in the Balkans, in the south-central region of the Mediterranean but also on the African continent, with regard to efforts of maintaining security and stability. Also, he signed together with his counterparts from Croatia, Estonia, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Poland, a Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation under PESCO, for the setting up of rapid response and mutual assistance teams in case of cyber attacks.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS Romania has voiced deep concern for the humanitarian situation in the Idlib region in north-western Syria. The only solution is political, not military, said the Romanian interim foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu before the extraordinary meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council in Zagreb. He has also stated that Bucharest expresses its solidarity with Turkey, a strategic NATO ally, with regard to the loss of human lives, but has also stressed that Ankara must observe the commitments agreed upon with the EU. Also, the minister said, the EU must make sure that the situation on the border between Turkey and Greece does not get worse. The agenda of the meeting in Zagreb includes an exchange of assessments regarding the latest developments with regard to Syria and Turkey. Also, the agreement announced by Russia and Turkey on ceasing fire in north-western Syrian has come into force today. Starting March 15th, Russia and Turkey will organize joint patrols along a large segment of the motorway that crosses Idlib. The agreement should put an end to weeks of heaving fighting in the area, the last stronghold of the rebels and jihadists in north-western Syria.
EMPLOYMENT In 2018, the employment rate of women in the EU, aged 20 to 64, was 125 lower than that of men from the same age bracket, the Eurostat reported on Friday. The smallest gap between men and women was reported in Lithuania (2%), and the biggest were in Malta, Greece, Italy and Romania. In the same year, the employment rate of women aged 20 to 64 was 67%, one percent more than 2017.
EUROPALIA The Romanian Cultural Institute is today drawing the conclusions following the closing of the EUROPALIA International Arts Festival, where Romania was a guest. The event is hosted by the National Art Museum of Romania, and attende by artists, curators and project managers that contributed to the success of the largest cultural promotion program. Romania participated for four months with exhibitions, shows, concerts in Belgium, Great Britain, France, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Germany. More than 150,000 people attended the 250 events that promoted Romanian creativity by means of visual arts, music, cinema, literature and performing arts.
