November 10, 2021 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

România Internațional, 10.11.2021, 19:32

Covid-19. The number of new cases of Covid-19 has continued to drop. 6300 new cases and 405 related deaths – of which 8 from the previous reference timeframe – were reported in the past 24 hours, the Strategic Communication Group announced on Wednesday. So far, a little over 6.6 million people have been fully vaccinated in Romania. According to the President of the National Committee for Vaccination, the army doctor Valeriu Gheorghita, Bucharest has a vaccination coverage of 63% of the eligible population over the age of 12. If the current pace of vaccination is maintained, some 50% of the countrys eligible population will have been vaccinated by the end of the year, which is, however, not enough. 1.25 million doses of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines are expected to arrive in Romania on Wednesday and Thursday.

Inflation. The annual inflation rate in Romania rose to 7.9% in October 2021, from 6.3% in September – the National Institute of Statistics announced on Wednesday. According to the NIS, prices of electricity, natural gas, fuels and edible oil have risen the most in the past year, and October is the first month in which there was no drop registered compared to the same month last year. On Tuesday, the National Bank decided to increase the reference interest rate from 1.5 to 1.75% per annum and to increase the interest rate at which commercial banks can borrow from the Central Bank from 2 to 2.5% per annum, in an attempt to fight rising inflation.

NRRP. On Wednesday, the Romanian Government approved the first two documents for the start of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. They are memoranda by means of which the Executive mandates the Ministry of Investment and European Projects and the Ministry of Finance to sign the Agreement on Non-reimbursable Financial Assistance and the Loan Agreement between the EC and Romania. By the end of the year, Romania will benefit from a pre-funding of 3.79 billion Euro, an din 2022 the funding will be worth 6.17 billion. The National Recovery and Resilience Plan is based on 6 pillars: green transition, digital transformation, smart growth, social and territorial cohesion, health and economic, social and institutional resilience, policies for the next generation, youth and children.

Government. The National Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party, fierce political opponents until recently, carry on negotiatons over the formation of a new Government and parliamentary majority. The talks are attended by representatives of the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians and of the other national minorities, who will part of the alliance. Negotiations are now being carried out by chapters. After establishing a common governing program, the talks will focus on the structure of the new cabinet. The Social Democratic Party, which won the parliamentary elections a year ago, but is currently in the opposition, would like a number of ministers proportional to its share of seats in parliament. The Liberals, on the ther hand, wouldnt give up the office of Prime Minister. Following the National Liberal Partys decision to form a new government with the Social Democrats, the Save Romania Union, a coalition partner before Septembers breakup, has announced it becomes an opposition party, criticizing the current coalition. We recall that after the Save Romania Union left the Government, the minority cabinet was sacked by means of a non-confidence motion filed by the Social Democratic Party.

Visit. Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu, who is on a visit to Washington to strengthen security cooperation with the United States, presented Romanias stand on the Black Sea region. In a public discussion in the Atlantic Council, he drew attention to old, unresolved conflicts. “More cohesion is needed for the entire eastern flank of NATO”, Bogdan Aurescu said. On Monday, Minister Aurescu asked Secretary of State Antony Blinken to increase the American presence in the region and in Romania.

Revolution. The High Court of Cassation and Justice of Romania gave a final ruling on Wednesday, to return to the Military Prosecutors Office the so-called file of the Revolution, in which the former president of Romania, Ion Iliescu and the former deputy prime minister Gelu Voican Voiculescu are accused of committing crimes against humanity. In May, a preliminary chamber judge ruled that the case should be returned to investigators after finding irregularities in the indictment, but the ruling was challenged by military prosecutors and several injured parties. The file was sent to court in 2019, in the process being cited over 5,000 civil parties. The trial stalled for more than a year, to discuss requests and exceptions raised by the parties to the case. Ion Iliescu did not attend any hearing part of the trial. According to the investigation, by establishing a generalized terrorism psychosis, numerous situations of fire, fratricide, chaotic shootings, contradictory military orders were allegedly created. Military prosecutors claim that the terrorist psychosis was intentionally induced by diversions and misinformation and caused, after December 22, 1989, more than 860 deaths, 2150 injuries, the severe deprivation of liberty of hundreds of people and mental injuries.

Warsaw. The ambassadors of the 27 EU member states agreed on Wednesday that Belarus action to encourage migrants from the Middle East to enter Poland could legally be considered a “hybrid attack” to serve as a basis for a new set of European sanctions against Minsk. The new sanctions package is due to be discussed on Thursday and could target about 30 people and entities in Belarus, including the Foreign Minister and the Belavia airline. European Council President Charles Michel called on Poland to act swiftly and decisively in the migration crisis on the Belarusian-Polish border, where, he says, a hybrid, brutal, violent and vile attack is taking place. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet also called on the states involved to resolve the “intolerable” crisis and said that under international law, people should not be prevented from seeking asylum. Poland has deployed large military forces on the border with Belarus, where there are now about 2,000 migrants from the Middle East, Afghanistan and Africa, who want to enter the EU. Belarusian authorities have been accused of staging the chaos, with Russias support, in response to the sanctions imposed on the regime headed by President Lukashenko, dubbed Europes last dictator.