December 12, 2021
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 12.12.2021, 13:49
COVID-19 — On Sunday Romania reported 716 cases of COVID- infection, a lower number as against the previous day, and 60 deaths, of which 15 registered in the previous day. The number of hospitalized Covid patients has dropped to around 4,000, of whom 722 are in ICUs. The COVID incidence rate calculated for a period of 14 days for Bucharest has dropped below one case per thousand inhabitants, according to the Public Health Directorate. The highest infection rate in Bucharest, over 16.5, was recorded on October 22. At national level, the incidence rate has also fallen below the threshold of one case per thousand inhabitants. In another development, four athletes returning from South Africa were confirmed, on Saturday, with the new variant of the coronavirus, so that Romania now has a total of 7 cases of Omicron infection. On the other hand, Hungary, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, France, the United Kingdom and Bulgaria remain on the red list of countries with a high epidemiological risk. The National Committee for Emergency Situations has published a new list which includes Spain, Italy, the Maldives and the Dominican Republic in the yellow zone.
Brussels — The Romanian foreign minister, Bogdan Aurescu, will attend, on Monday, the meeting of the foreign ministers of the EU member states, meeting within the Foreign Affairs Council (EAC), which will take place in Brussels. They will exchange opinions on a number of current issues such as the developments in Ukraine, the situation in Belarus, the Cypriot case (Varosha) and Ethiopia. The European foreign ministers will address the situation regarding Ukraine from the perspective of the developments on Ukraine’s eastern border with Russia, which raises a high degree of concern at European and Euro-Atlantic levels. According to the Romanian Foreign Ministry, Bogdan Aurescu will reiterate his concern about the security situation in the vicinity of Ukraine and the Black Sea and will emphasize the need to prepare an appropriate response from the EU, which must remain united and firm. The discussion on Belarus is taking place in the context of the continued deterioration of the internal situation there and the instrumentalisation of migration by the Minsk regime on the EUs eastern border. High on the agenda of the meeting are also the relations EU-Africa, EU-Central Asia and EU-Venezuela.
Film – The co-production Quo Vadis, Aida? with Romanian participation won the 2021 best European film award at the European Film Academy (EFA) Awards Gala, held on Saturday evening in Berlin. The film, which had seven nominations, won another two major European awards for Best Director – Jasmila Zbanic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and for Best Actress – Jasna Duricic. Quo Vadis, Aida? is a co-production of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Austria, the Netherlands, France, Poland, Norway, Germany, Romania and Turkey which tells the story of a UN translator in Srebrenica (Bosnia) when the Serbian army took control of the city in 1995. Another co-production, Nanu Tudor, directed by Belgian-based Moldovan filmmaker Olga Lucovnicova, was nominated Best European Short Film. In the film, the director travels, after 20 years of silence, back to the house of her ancestors, where she experienced unfortunate events that marked her memory forever. Anthony Hopkins received the Best Actor Award for his portrayal of a dementia patient in The Father. This film also brought the Best Screenplay Award to its authors, the Frenchman Florian Zeller and the Portuguese Christopher Hampton.
G7 – Russia will face major consequences in case of invading Ukraine, warned on Sunday, the British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss at the end of the G7 meeting, the group of the most industrialized countries of the world, held in Liverpool, a city in northern England. This meeting showed, according to Truss, “the very united voice of the G7 countries, which account for 50% of the world GDP, and which are very clear (on the fact) that there will be major consequences for Russia in the event of an incursion into Ukraine.” At the same time, Truss said the United Kingdom was considering all options for how to respond if Russia invaded Ukraine, reminding that London had in the past resorted to economic sanctions to send diplomatic messages to Moscow. In the meantime, the Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs with the US Department of State, Karen Donfried, will travel to Ukraine and Russia next week, where she will have talks about the strengthening of Moscows military presence on the border with Ukraine. The US Department of State has stressed that, in Russia, Ms. Donfried will reiterate Washingtons commitment to defending Ukraines sovereignty.
Agriculture – The Romanian Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Adrian Chesnoiu, participates, Sunday and Monday, in Brussels, in the Agriculture and Fisheries Council. He will have a meeting with Janusz Wojciechowski, the line European Commissioner, and various meetings with his counterparts from France and Belgium. High on the Councils agenda are other issues such as fishing opportunities for 2022, unfair trade practices in the food supply chain and the emergency plan for food security in times of crisis. At the same time, the Commission will present the main objectives of the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund and encourage Member States to develop a long-term investment strategy to ensure the efficient use of funds. (LS)
