November 19, 2020 UPDATE

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 19.11.2020, 20:00

Coronavirus. Romania
on Thursday reported over 10,000 new Covid-19 cases, taking the total number of
cases so far up to 394,000. Nearly 70% of the people infected have so far
recovered. The highest number of new cases were reported in Bucharest and the
counties of Constanţa (south-east) and Cluj (north-west). Another 167
coronavirus-related deaths were also reported, and the number of patients in
intensive care is 1,131. The pandemic has put a spotlight on the long-standing
structural flaws of Romania’s healthcare system, president Klaus Iohannis said.
He previously had talks with officials and experts involved in the management
of medical equipment, who presented reports on the infrastructure and failures
in the national healthcare sector.

Iohannis-Merkel. Romanian president
Klaus Iohannis on Thursday had a telephone conversation with German chancellor
Angela Merkel at the latter’s request to discuss the pandemic and the EU
multiannual budget. According to a statement from the president’s office, the
conversation took place ahead of Thursday night’s meeting of the Council of the
European Union in video format to discuss the coronavirus pandemic. Angela
Merkel conveyed her condolences to the Romanian president for the victims of
the recent fire at a hospital in Piatra Neamț and expressed hope that the
wounded would recover soon. President Iohannis emphasised during the talk that
the spread of the novel coronavirus across the EU remains worrying and that EU
states should consolidate their coordination and cooperation in this respect.
The two officials also discussed the negotiations on the EU multiannual budget
for the 2021-2027 period and the European economic recovery plan. Iohannis said
Romania constantly supported the need to finalise these talks as soon as
possible and that it agreed with the compromise solutions negotiated by the
German presidency of the EU Council with the European Parliament. He said
Romania had supported from the very beginning to idea to link EU funding to the
rule of law and therefore supports the agreement reached by the German presidency
on this issue.

EU. The
Romanian foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu on Thursday attended an informal
meeting of EU foreign ministers held online. According to the Foreign Ministry,
Bogdan Aurescu voiced support for strengthening the EU-USA partnership,
emphasising that only by consolidating trans-Atlantic ties can current and
future global challenges be managed efficiently. Aurescu also presented an
assessment of the presidential election in the Republic of Moldova won by the
pro-European candidate Maia Sandu, highlighting the high turnout, which is a
victory for democracy and European values. He emphasised the need for European
institutions and EU states to intensify efforts in the near future to support the
European and democratic course of the Republic of Moldova and to provide
support for the ambitious reform programme of the president elect Maia Sandu.

NATO. Foreign minister Bogdan
Aurescu on Thursday held a telephone conversation with NATO secretary general
Jens Stoltenberg about the priorities of the upcoming meeting of NATO foreign
ministers in December. According to a statement, Jens Stoltenberg thanked
Romania for its role within NATO, including for spending 2% of its GDP to
defence and hosting the missile defence system at the base in Deveselu. Aurescu
reiterated Romania’s firm commitment to NATO and the need for NATO to continue
to monitor the security situation in the Black Sea area.

Defence. Romania will be receiving in a few
months’ time its own HIMARS rocket systems to become the first allied state to
install these systems on its territory, which were tested successfully in
theatres of operations, said US ambassador to Bucharest Adrian Zuckerman on
Thursday. Together with defence minister Nicolae-Ionel Ciucă and the chief of defence
staff, lieutenant-general Daniel Petrescu Zuckerman attended the Rapid Falcon
joint Romanian-American exercise carried out at the 57th Air Base in
Mihail Kogălniceanu and the Capul Midia air defence training centre, in the
south-east of the country. Over 130 Romanian and American military took part in
the exercise. The activity aims to develop and consolidate military cooperation
between the land forces of Romania and those of the US and is an opportunity to
develop the partnership between the two artillery units in the run-up to the
equipping of the Romanian structures with HIMARS equipment as of next year.