January 24, 2022

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Newsroom, 24.01.2022, 13:10

CELEBRATION
Today Romania celebrates 163 years since the Union of the Romanian
Principalities, the first major step in the formation of the Romanian nation
state, paving the way for the Great Union of 1918. On January 24, 1859,
Alexandru Ioan Cuza was elected ruler of Wallachia, after on January 5 he had
become sovereign of Moldavia. His rule laid the foundations for modern Romania.
January 24 is a banking holiday in Romania. While many people chose to spend
the holiday in mountain resorts, the ones who stayed at home had the option of
attending military and religious ceremonies and celebratory concerts organised
around the country under COVID-19 restrictions. Bucharest’s Patriarchal
Cathedral hosted a service devoted to all those who contributed to the 1859 Union.
Politicians posted messages on this occasion. President Klaus Iohannis said the
Union on January 24, 1859 proves the importance of a project able to bring
together the energy of the Romanian nation, and urged people to work
persistently to consolidate the country’s current European and democratic path.
The Liberal PM Nicolae Ciucă pointed out that the Union was the result of the
untiring efforts of the politicians of the time, driven by the nation’s dream
of unity and of administrative, economic and social progress. This desire
endured with all the following generations, triggering major changes in the
Romanian society, Nicolae Ciucă added. In turn, the speaker of the Chamber of
Deputies and president of the Social Democratic Party Marcel Ciolacu said that,
163 years since the Union of the Romanian Principalities, what Romanians need
more than ever is unity and stability, if they are to handle current economic,
healthcare and security challenges.

COVID-19 Romanian authorities announced today 12,082 new cases of SARS-CoV-2
infections in 24 hours and 41 related deaths. The incidence rate in the capital
Bucharest is on the rise, reaching 10.23 cases per thousand people. The city
has been in the red tier since January 12, when the incidence rate went over 3
per thousand. The COVID-19 testing capacity is set to increase this week to
150,000 tests per day, as over 3,800 family physicians have signed contracts
with public health insurance agencies in this respect. In Bucharest and the
nearby county of Ilfov, where the largest number of cases is reported, testing
centres have already been opened in 20 hospitals. On Wednesday at the latest
COVID-19 testing will also be resumed in schools, after more than 10 million
test kits were received by school inspectorates. The health minister Alexandru
Rafila expects the current (5th) wave of the pandemic to reach its
peak in Romania in about 3 weeks’ time.

UKRAINE The European Union does not intend for the time being to follow in
the footsteps of the US and order the families of its diplomats to leave
Ukraine, the EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said today, according to
France Presse and Reuters. On Sunday night a senior US official justified the
decision saying that a Russian invasion may take place at any time. The US
secretary of state Antony Blinken is to address a meeting of the EU foreign
ministers in Brussels today, via video link, to update them on his recent talks
with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. Attending
the meeting in Brussels is the Romanian foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu. Russia has deployed around 100,000 troops on the Ukrainian border,
which the West reads as a preparation for an attack designed to prevent Ukraine
from joining NATO.

DOCUMENTARY The French public TV channel France 3 tonight airs for the first
time a documentary on Marie of Romania, the amazing queen of the
Carpathians, as part of its highly popular history series Secrets
of history. The production of the documentary took one year and a half.
Archive photos and footage have been collected, along with testimonies by
historians and members of the Royal House of Romania. Scenes have been shot at
the Peleş and Bran castles in the southern Carpathians, at the Cotroceni
National Museum in Bucharest and at the Curtea de Argeş Monastery where Royal
House members have been buried. Queen Marie, the wife of King Ferdinand I, was
acknowledged in Europe as an ambassador of the Romanian nation and a supporter
of the Romanian nation state.

TENNIS The Romanian tennis player Simona Halep lost to Alizé Cornet
of France, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, in the round of 16 of the Australian Open in
Melbourne today. For Halep (15 WTA) this was the first defeat after a string of
8 consecutive wins. Also today, Sorana Cîrstea of Romania takes on seed no. 7 Iga
Swiatek of Poland, in the same competition round. (A.M.P.)