October 10, 2021

A roundup of domestic and international news

România Internațional, 10.10.2021, 17:46

Covid-19Ro. The health situation has worsened rapidly in Romania in the last two weeks. The average daily number of cases of COVID-19 infection now stands at about 14,000, up from about 6,000 two weeks ago. The number of related deaths has also risen from 770 to more than 1,800 a week. The national average incidence rose to 6.9, which is more than double as compared to two weeks ago. Currently, 39 counties are in the red zone and only two are in the yellow scenario – Harghita and Covasna, both in the center of the country. The pressure on hospitals has also steadily increased. Today there are 60% more people hospitalized than two weeks ago, and the number of patients in intensive care has reached. 1,593. There are no free beds left in intensive care anywhere in the country. The activity of the Intensive Care Unit of the Craiova County Emergency Hospital (south) was affected, on Saturday, by a 10-minute power outage, because of grid overload. The medical staff had to manually ventilate the patients until the problem was remedied.

Negotiations. Romanias President Klaus Iohannis is meeting on Monday with representatives of the parliamentary parties, for a first round of consultations on settling the current governmental crisis. We recall that on Tuesday, the PNl-UDMR Cabinet, headed by the Liberal Florin Citu, was dismissed by Parliament, by adopting a motion of no-confidence filed by the Social-Democrat opposition. The motion was voted by an impressive number of parliamentarians, 281, out of a total of 467, representing the Social Democratic Party, the Save Romania Union (former junior partner in the ruling coalition) and of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians. As regards the current situation, 81% of the Romanians believe that the country is heading in the wrong direction, as compared to only 12.5% who believe that Romania is on the right track, according to an INSCOP Research survey, conducted in partnership with Verifield, commissioned by the Strategic Thinking Group think-tank. The president of the Strategic Thinking Group, Remus Stefureac, says that the overlapping of three big crises, the pandemic, the economical-social crisis and the political one, is the reason why the public perception has become so pessimistic.

Holocaust Day. The Israeli Minister of Diaspora, Nachman Schai, is visiting Romania. According to the Radio Romania correspondent in Israel, in Bucharest, he will participate, on Monday, in the commemoration ceremony at the Holocaust Memorial. The Minister will meet with members of the Jewish community in Romania, with representatives of the presidential administration, the government and the diplomatic corps. On Saturday, the President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, signed a series of decoration decrees on the occasion of the National Day of Commemorating the Holocaust. The decorations were awarded to Holocaust survivors, “as a token of special respect for the suffering they endured during World War II, for the high moral standing they showed throughout their lives, and for their efforts to keep alive the memory of the victims of the Holocaust – a tragedy that humanity must never experience again”, a communiqué issued by the Presidential Administration reads. This year marks eight decades since the regime of Marshal Ion Antonescu, allied with Nazi Germany, deported the Jews from Bessarabia and Bukovina to Transnistria (east).

Pilgrimage. The biggest Orthodox pilgrimage in Romania and one of the biggest in Europe continues in the eastern town of Iasi at the Saint Parascheva reliquary. The saint, born in the 11 century near Constantinople, has been known as the protector of the Medieval Principality of Moldavia since 1641, when her relics were brought to Iasi by the ruler Vasile Lupu. He received them from the Ecumenical Patriarch, after the Romanian ruler had paid the Patriarchys debts to the Ottoman administration. Saint Parascheva is celebrated in Romania on October 14.

Resignation. The Austrian Conservative Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, suspected of corruption, announced his resignation on Saturday night. He said he was proposing Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg as his successor. Initially, Kurz ruled out resignation, but the Greens, the Conservatives junior governing partners, said he was “no longer fit to hold office”. According to the accusations, between 2016 and 2018, praiseworthy articles and partially manipulated opinion polls were published in exchange for the purchase of advertising space by the Ministry of Finance, led at the time by the Conservatives. Kurz and nine other suspects, as well as three organizations, are being investigated for various offences related to the case. The Prosecutors Office has searched the headquarters of the Conservative ÖVP party and of the Government.

Elections. The incumbent Czech Prime Minister, the populist billionaire Andrej Babis, is meeting today with President Milos Zeman, after his party, ANO 2011, narrowly lost the parliamentary elections. Babis congratulated the victors, the Liberal and center-right members of a coalition called Together, but said he would continue to try and form a government if asked to do so. Together, another center-left opposition coalition, called Mayors and Pirates, won enough seats to form a new parliamentary majority.

Handball. Romanias womens handball national team is playing, tonight, in Vienna, against the Austrian squad, a new match from Group 2 of next years European Championship preliminaries. On Wednesday, in the debut match, the Romanians defeated, at home, the Faroe Islands 26-19. Denmark is also part of the group, winning, on Thursday, the match with Austria, 27-22. Cristina Neagu, declared four times the best handball player in the world, is not part of the team coached by Adrian Vasile. She decided to take a break from the national team this year. Of the 14 editions of the European Womens Handball Championship, Romania only once qualified for the final tournament, in 2006. The best result is the bronze medal won in 2010. At the latest edition, held in 2020, in Denmark, Romania ranked 12th.

Football. Romanias national football team will play, on Monday evening, in Bucharest, with the Armenian national team, a new match in Group J of the preliminaries of the World Cup in Qatar, next year. On Friday, Romania lost, in Hamburg, with 1-2, the match with the multiple world and European champion Germany, and Armenia ended in a draw the match against Iceland, 1-1. In the same group, also on Friday, the match Liechtenstein – Northern Macedonia was played, 0-4. After seven matches played by each team, Germany is the group leader, with 18 points, followed by Armenia and Northern Macedonia, with 12. The ranking also includes Romania, with 10, Iceland, with 5, and Lichetenstein, with one point. Only the winner of the group goes directly to the final tournament, while the team on the second position will play in the qualifiers. Romania has not participated in a World Cup since the 1998 edition in France. (MI)