November 12, 2021
A roundup of domestic and international news
România Internațional, 12.11.2021, 13:55
Government. The leadership of the ruling National Liberal Party is today assessing the outcome of the negotiations carried out so far with the opposition Social Democratic Party and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians over the formation of a new government and parliamentary majority. Similar meetings are to be held by the other parties involved in the negotiations. After three days of talks, the three parties would like to finalize their common governing program. There are many chapters on which they have a common stand, but there are still many disagreements, such as with regard to the flat tax or the dismantling of the special service for the investigation of magistrates. After establishing the governing program, the talks will focus on the configuration of the new Executive. We recall that after the Save Romania Union decided to leave the governing coalition in September, the minority cabinet was sacked by means of a motion of no-confidence filed by the Social Democrats.
Corruption. Romanian deputy Gheorghe Miutescu, president of the Arges branch of the National Liberal Party (PNL) (south),is being prosecuted by the National Anticorruption Directorate for influence peddling. In total, Miutescu is accused of eight offenses. Along with him, the vice-president of the PNL organization, Cristian Mitrofan, and the deputy mayor of Pitesti, Gelu Tofan, are also being prosecuted. Recently, Miutescu has resigned from the PNL parliamentary group and joined the group led by Ludovic Orban, the former party leader and a virulent critic of the current leader, Florin Citu. On Friday, the PNL Executive Bureau decided to propose the exclusion of Orban from the party. The proposal is to be submitted to the National Council of the National Liberal Party.
Covid-19Ro. The Romanian health-care system is under pressure, with more than 16,500 Covid-19 patients hospitalized, of whom 1,733 in intensive care. On the other hand, the number of daily new cases of infection has continued to drop. Some 4,844 have been reported today, as well as 307 related deaths. In another development, prosecutors have started a criminal case for the fire that occurred on Thursday morning at the Covid Unit of the emergency hospital in Ploiesti, in which 2 patients died and one nurse was injured. Investigations are underway. The fire occurred less than one a half month since the one in Constanta, where 7 patients died. It’s actually the fourth such tragedy in less than a year, after those in Piatra Neamt and at the Matei Bals Institute in Bucharest.
Migrants. The USA and the European countries members of the UN Security Council have condemned Belarus actions related to the migrant crisis on the border with Poland. Their representatives accuse Belarus of staging the situation by sending migrants to the border in order to destabilize the EU border and to divert attention from the human rights violations committed by the Minsk regime. The joint statement issued following the emergency meeting of the Council calls for a strong international reaction, despite the call for dialogue previously launched by the Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russias ambassador to the UN has said that neither his country nor Belarus is helping migrants reach the border with Poland and has denied that Moscow would plan to invade Ukraine, even if Russian troops are again amassed at the common border. The EU, which has repeatedly accused Minsk of bringing migrants and then sending them back into EU territory in retaliation for sanctions imposed on it, is determined to adopt new sanctions against Belarus starting next week. Under these conditions, the president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, has threatened to take his own measures, including interrupting gas supplies from Russia to Europe.
Tennis. The pair made up of the Romanian Horia Tecau and the German Kevin Krawietz was assigned to the Green Group of the ATP finals. According to the draw that took place in Italy, in Turin, the group also includes the pairs Nikola Mektic / Mate Pavic (Croatia / N.1), Marcel Granollers / Horacio Zeballos (Spain / Argentina / N. 4) and Ivan Dodig / Filip Polasek (Croatia / Serbia / N.6). The pairs Rajeev Ram / Joe Salisbury (USA / N.2), Pierre-Hugues Herbert / Nicolas Mahut (France / N.3), Juan Sebastian Cabal / Robert Farah (Colombia / N.5) and Jamie Murray / Bruno Soares (Great Britain / Brazil / N.7) will play in the Red Group. Horia Tecău and Kevin Krawietz (no. 8) will make their debut in the competition on Saturday, when they will face the first seeds, Croatians Mikola Mektic and Mate Pavic.
Football. Romanias national football team ended in a draw the match with the Icelandic team, 0-0, on Thursday evening, in Bucharest, in Group J of the 2022 World Cup preliminaries. In the other group matches, North Macedonia beat Armenia 5-0, and Germany beat Liechtenstein 9-0. Ranking first in Group J is Germany (already qualified for the final tournament), followed by North Macedonia, Romania, Armenia, Iceland and Liechtenstein. The last matches of the Group will be played on Sunday: Armenia-Germany, North Macedonia-Iceland and Liechtenstein-Romania. The Romanians, who have not participated in a World Cup since 1998, need a victory against Liechtenstein and that Iceland does not lose, in order to occupy the second place in the group and to qualify for the next round.
