April 16, 2020 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 16.04.2020, 19:54

EXTENSION
The Romanian MPs debated
and approved by a landslide majority on Thursday a presidential decree on
extending the state of emergency by another 30 days. The Parliament’s approval
of the state of emergency also contains several recommendations for the government,
which have been passed by Parliament in plenary session. The opposition has
called on the Executive to present a weekly report on the measures for fighting
the COVID pandemic and the reasons behind these measures. Within 30 days from
the end of the state of emergency, the government must present a complete
report about the actions taken and their consequences, while the Court of
Accounts must check on the way in which public resources have been spent. The
country’s president Klaus Iohannis has criticized the attitude of those MPs who
conditioned the Parliament voting and has reiterated his appeal to Romanians to
spend Easter by strictly observing the conditions stipulated by the military
ordinances. COVID has so far killed 392 people in Romania, where the number of
infections exceeds 77 hundred. According to the authorities 1357 people have
been declared cured and released from hospitals.

NATO The Romanian Defence Minister,
Nicolae Ciucă, took part on Wednesday in a meeting of the North-Atlantic
Council defence ministers, convened by the NATO secretary general Jens
Stoltenberg. The meeting, held by conference call, focused on the implications
of the COVID-19 for the Alliance. Minister Ciucă presented the efforts made to
contain the virus in Romania, with support granted by the Army to the national
authorities. Nicolae Ciucă also reiterated Romania’s commitment to a continuing
participation in NATO’s operations, missions and activities, where Allied
troops are facing not only specific threats in theatres of operations, but also
ones related to the spread of the coronavirus, and in this context he requested
close monitoring of the situation by the Alliance. The NATO defence ministers
decided to put together a pandemic response plan, based on the lessons derived
from the experience and best practices of the Allied states and international
organisations in the context of the current crisis.

ORDINANCE Romanian
Interior Minister Marcel Velea on Thursday announced in the context of the
cornavirus pandemic the approval of Military Ordinance 9, which is banning
flights from and to Austria, Britain, the USA, Belgium, Switzerland, Turkey and
Iran. Flights from and to Italy will be banned for another 14 days starting
April 19th. Flights to France and Germany are also banned for 14 days starting
April 21st. Under the same ordinance
workers at the border between Romania and Bulgaria can be exempted from staying
in quarantine unless they have COVID symptoms. The ordinance lifted the
interdiction for exports with cereals as food safety has been assured until the
next harvest. Minister Velea has cautioned those willing to come to Romania for
Easter that they will be placed in institutionalized quarantine. He urged the
Romanians to avoid crowded places and interaction with other people and refrain
from paying visits or receiving guests. We recall that the former agreement
between the Interior Ministry and the Romanian Orthodox Church, which would
have allowed citizens to attend outdoor religious services has been amended
after sharp criticism from the presidency and the medical professionals.
Believers have been banned from participating in outdoor religious sermons;
they will be able to watch live transmissions on TV or on the Internet.

(translated by bill)