March 9, 2020 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

România Internațional, 09.03.2020, 20:51

GOVERNMENT – The Parliament meeting devoted to the investiture of the Liberal Government headed by Florin Citu will be held on Thursday, at 4 p.m., according to a joint decision by the Romanian Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. Except for the finance portfolio, the new government is actually the same as the previous one, headed by the leader of the National Liberal Party, Ludovic Orban and dismissed by means of a no-confidence motion. The proposed ministers were heard last week by the specialized parliament committees. 9 of them were endorsed, and 7 got negative opinions. The committees opinion is advisory. 233 votes are needed for the Cabinets investiture. The Social Democratic Party, which holds the largest number of seats in parliament, has announced it will vote against the new cabinet. We recall that Florin Citu was designated to form the government after Ludovic Orban stepped back, following a ruling by the Constitutional Court.

EPIDEMIC – In Romania, the National Committee for Emergency Situations has decided to close schools and kindergartens between the 11th and the 23rd of March, in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Also, international road transportation of persons by means of regular, special and occasional services on all routes to and from Italy has been suspended from March 10th until March 31st. At the same time, rail operators are not allowed to introduce new direct trains to and from Italy starting march 12th at noon, until March 31st at noon. Previously, the committee had suspended all flights to and from Italy until March 23. Airlines are also obliged to inform passengers travelling to Romania with layovers from Italy, China, Iran and South Korea that they will be quarantined when they arrive in Romania. People coming from these four countries and arriving by road will also be quarantined or asked to self-isolate at home. As many as 17 people have tested positive in Romania so far. Of them 5 people have been declared healed and discharged. All the other patients are in good condition. Also in Romania, 27 people are under institutionalized quarantine and more than 12 thousand are isolated at home, under medical monitoring. Italy, which is home to the largest Romanian community, is most affected by the coronavirus epidemic after China, and has the highest mortality rate from the virus: 5%. Out of the 16 million citizens placed under quarantine in Lombardy, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, Marche and Piedmont, some 500,000 are Romanian. On Monday, Cyprus announced the first two cases, so now all the EU member states are affected by the outbreak. Also on Monday, the Director – General of the WHO warned that the threat of a pandemic became very real, but it could be kept under control. He also announced that 70% of the people infected in China are now cured.

EU BUDGET – The EC President Ursula von der Leyen has called on all member states to reach a compromise with regard to the EU budget for 2021-2027, against the background of the crises facing the Union. The EU must find solutions for the migrants on the border between Turkey and Greece, the coronavirus crisis and also many economic challenges, said Von der Leyen in a speech held on the 100th day of office. She has stressed the fact that, in the absence of a new budget, the EU will not be able to react to such issues. WE recall that the leaders of the 27 EU member countries failed to reach an agreement on the multiannual financial framework 2021-2027 during the special summit held two and a half weeks ago in Brussels.

MIGRANTS – On Monday, during a visit to Brussels, the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked NATO for concrete support for the conflict in Syria. He came to the EU capital for talks on the situation of the migrants on the border between Turkey and Greece. The tension on the border grew after, a week earlier, Ankara had announced it was opening the border for migrants, against the background of the situation in the Idlib region, in Syria. On Monday, the EC President Ursula von der Leyen said that Turkey must withdraw the migrants and refugees from the border with Greece. On Friday, in Zagreb, the EU foreign ministers adopted a joint declaration in which they voiced solidarity with Greece, Bulgaria and Cyprus and their wish to further support the protection of the Unions external borders. The EU will further support Turkey for the huge number of refugees it hosted on its territory and is expecting Ankara to observe its commitments taken under the accord signed in 2016.

REPORT – In 2018 Romania had the highest mortality rate in the EU, that is 6 deaths per 1,000 live births, almost double the level of 3.4% to 1,000 live births in the EU, Eurostat reported on Monday. Bulgaria, with 5.8 deaths and Malta with 5.6 deaths come next, while the lowest mortality rates have been reported in Estonia (1.6 deaths) and Slovenia (1.7 deaths). During the 10 years from 2008 to 2018, the infant mortality rate in the EU fell from 4.2 deaths per 1,000 live births to 3.4 deaths per 1,000 live births. Extending the analysis to the last 20 years, the infant mortality rate was almost halved (6.6 deaths per 1 000 in 1998).

TENNIS – The BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells will not take place due to concerns about the coronavirus outbreak, organizers have announced. Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Serena Williams and Ashleigh Barty were among the players expected to take part in the tournament which was due to start in California on Monday. Indian Wells is the first Premier Mandatory event of the WTA season and is a Masters 1000 event on the mens tour. Romanian Simona Halep, no. 2 in the world, had withdrawn from the competition due to health problems, just as the Romanian born Canadian Bianca Andreescu, no. 4 in the world and title holder. Simona Halep has been designated by the WTA website best player of February, due to her winning the title in Dubai.