December 13, 2020

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 13.12.2020, 14:01

ROMANIAN PARLIAMENT. The procedure for assigning parliamentary mandates is due to start next week in Romania, after the redistribution of the unused votes from the parties that failed to go beyond the electoral threshold. After resolving the appeals, the Central Electoral Bureau announced the official final results and only five parties entered the new parliament. No party has a majority to form its own government. The Social Democratic Party ranks first, both in the Chamber of Deputies and in the Senate, as it got a third of the over 5.9 million votes cast in the election a week ago. It is followed by the National Liberal Party, with 25% and the Save Romania Union – PLUS Alliance with 15%. The Alliance for the Unity of Romanians and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians also got enough votes to be represented in parliament.

NEGOTIATIONS. Representatives of the National Liberal Party (PNL), the Save Romania Union – PLUS Alliance (USR PLUS) and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians (UDMR ) continue, today, in Bucharest, the negotiations for the formation of a future center-right government. On Saturday, the structure of the governing program was established, as well as the coordinates of the joint activity at parliamentary level, which are the basis for the functioning of the majority. Negotiations remain difficult as the Liberals, now in power and in second place in the December 6 parliamentary elections, are unwilling to give up a number of ministries such as finance, justice, transport, development and European funds, while USR PLUS, the third force in the future legislature, targets some of these portfolios. UDMR would like to take over health, culture or the environment, areas that it has managed before, but the party also wants other ministries. Negotiations should be completed ahead of the consultations scheduled for Monday by President Klaus Iohannis, with a view to appointing a prime minister to form the new government. They will start with the Social Democratic Party (PSD), which won the biggest number of votes in the recent elections. The future Parliament also includes the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), a party founded a year ago and which, with over half a million votes obtained last Sunday, will be the fourth political force in Parliament. The legislature will be supplemented by representatives of national minorities, other than the Hungarian one. The Social Democrats have not begun negotiations with any other party to form a majority. They will go to consultations with the proposal that doctor Alexandru Rafila, Romanias representative at the World Health Organization, lead a PSD minority government or a national union government. On the other hand, the PNL appointed the current Minister of Finance, Florin Cîțu, as Prime Minister.

COVID-19 ROMANIA. In Romania, the state of alert declared because of the Covid-19 pandemic, in force since mid-May, will be maintained for at least another month, starting December 14. During this period, the current restrictions will remain in force, including quarantine at night. The authorities have called on the Romanians to limit interactions during the winter holidays, to avoid caroling and the New Years Eve parties. Some 13,400 deaths associated with COVID-19 have been recorded in Romania since the beginning of the pandemic. The latest reports indicate at least 4,400 new cases in 24 hours, mostly in Bucharest. Romania has exceeded 556,000 people diagnosed with COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. Almost 1300 patients are currently in intensive care.

PANDEMIC. The total number of cases of Covid-19 has exceeded 72 million worldwide, the number of deaths has gone past 1.6 million, and the number of people cured is over 50 million, according to Worldometers.info. In the United States, the worlds most affected country by the pandemic, there are over 16.5 million cases and 305 thousand deaths. US authorities have begun delivering the authorized COFID-Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for emergency use. The serum, which provides up to 95% protection, is already being administered in the UK. The first doses in the massive vaccination campaign against COVID-19 will be administered starting Monday. Healthcare workers and nursing home residents will be the main beneficiaries of the 2.9 million doses of vaccine this month. The United States thus becomes the sixth country to approve the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine, after the United Kingdom, Canada, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Mexico. The European Medicines Agency should issue an opinion by the end of December. Italy ranks first in the number of deaths by COVID-19 (64,036), surpassing the dramatic record held so far by the United Kingdom (64,026). South Korea has reported more than 1,000 new cases of coronavirus today, a record that shows the difficulties facing Seoul in curbing its third epidemic wave. South Korea was one of the first countries to be hit by the China-born pandemic earlier this year, but it managed the situation without ever imposing harsh restrictions as in Europe or other parts of the world.

BREXIT. The EU and Britain continue to negotiate the post-Brexit trade agreement today and are expected to announce, by the end of the day, either the failure or the extension of negotiations. According to the media, the atmosphere is pessimistic, after British government sources declared, on Saturday evening, that the European offer remains unacceptable. The major points of disagreement are the rules of competition and fishing. The government led by Boris Johnson has confirmed that four British Navy ships and several helicopters are ready to patrol its territorial waters, starting in January, to block access to fishermen from Europe. European fishing fleets have had access to British territorial waters for decades or even centuries. The London authorities insist that their access will end if no trade agreement is reached with the EU. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has asked to speak directly with the French President Emmanuel Macron and the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, but he has been told that negotiations are being led by Michel Barnier on behalf of the entire EU. Since the UKs official exit from the EU in January, London has continued to apply EU rules.

FILM AWARDS. Collective, directed by Alexander Nanau – a Romanian-born German director – was designated the best documentary at the European Film Academy Awards on Saturday night, at a ceremony held online in Berlin, without audience. Collective tells the story of the first year after the fire at the Colectiv club in Bucharest, which took place on October 30, 2015. Among the other five documentaries nominated was another Romanian film – Acasă (At Home), Radu Ciorniciucs feature film debut. It describes the story of a family that lived for 20 years in the wilderness of the Văcăreşti Delta in Bucharest, until the place acquired the status of a protected area. The best European film of 2020 was the Danish production Another Round, directed by Thomas Vinterberg, a drama in which four good friends, high school teachers, want to test the theory that you live and work better if you manage to maintain a constant blood alcohol level. Winner of many awards, Collective is Romanias proposal for the 2021 Oscars, in the Best International Feature Film section, previously called The Best Foreign Film. It is the first time that a documentary is Romanias proposal in the race for the American Film Academy awards. (M. Ignatescu)