February 2, 2022

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 02.02.2022, 13:50

Covid-19Ro. Romania registered, today, almost 36 thousand new cases of infection with the Sars-CoV-2 virus in 24 hours and 120 related deaths, out of which 13 from the previous reporting period. About 10,000 people diagnosed with COVID-19 are hospitalized across the country, and less than a thousand are in intensive care. The incidence of COVID cases in Bucharest has exceeded 23 per thousand inhabitants – the highest since the beginning of the pandemic. In the previous wave, the maximum value had been 16.5 on October 22. We recall that, on Tuesday, Romania exceeded the threshold of 40,000 new infections in 24 hours, out of 122 thousand tests performed. It is the absolute record since the beginning of the pandemic and more than double the peak of the previous wave. More on this after the news.

Anniversary. The French
Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian is on a two-day formal visit to Romania. Today, he participates in
the solemn sitting of the Parliament in Bucharest dedicated to the 15th
anniversary of Romania’s accession to the European Union. We recall, in this
context, that France took over the rotating six-month presidency of the Council
of the European Union at the beginning of January. Romania became a member of
the European Union on January 1, 2007, after a long process of negotiation and
adherence to Community standards, that is almost 14 years after the signing of
the Association Agreement, on February 1, 1993. Also today, Jean-Yves Le Drian will
hold consultations with his Romanian counterpart, Bogdan Aurescu. The latter
will host, on Thursday, a meeting on the worrying security situation in the
vicinity of Ukraine and the Black Sea in the Bucharest Format (B9), which will
also be attended by the head of the Ukrainian diplomacy, Dmytro Kuleba. B9
includes NATO member states from the Eastern Flank of the Alliance: Bulgaria,
the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and
Hungary.

Protest. More than 2000
police and prison staff, as well as reserve police officers, have protested
today in front of the Government headquarters in Bucharest, demanding higher
salaries and pensions. Employees in
public order structures want salary increases and bonuses, the indexation of
state military pensions according to the inflation rate and quality medical
care. Other claims concern the adoption of measures to reduce the shortage of
police personnel or to equip the police officers with intervention and physical
protection equipment adequate for the accomplishment of their missions. Last
but not least, they challenge the imposition, during the pandemic, of
medical-sanitary tasks for which they do not have the necessary training.

Government. The PNL-PSD-UDMR
coalition government convenes today for the second meeting this week, largely
dedicated to the adoption of legislation to support farmers. Thus, the Executive
intends to adopt a state aid scheme that would reduce the excise duty on diesel
used in agriculture. Another normative act refers to an aid granted to garlic
producers who will be able to receive a maximum of 3,000 euros per hectare, but
not more than 20,000 euros in total. The amount that the Government will
allocate to this financial aid is 4.5 million euros. Also on the agenda is the
draft of a decision that will support this year’s vegetable production in
protected areas. The total amount earmarked for this State aid is 45 million
Euro.

Ukraine. US President Joe
Biden has selected Bridget Brink, the current US ambassador to Slovakia, as
ambassador to Kiev, euractiv.com reports. Bloomberg News had previously
announced that Bridget Brink was considered for the post, adding that the Biden
administration wanted to have in Kiev a career diplomat with experience in
Eastern European affairs in the context of the growing tensions between Ukraine
and Russia. Bridget Brink has been stationed in Slovakia since July 2019. She
has previously served on the National Security Council and at US embassies in
Serbia, Uzbekistan and Georgia. Bridget Brink has been actively involved in
negotiating assistance for Ukraine, especially in the energy sector. The United
States has not had an ambassador to Kiev since 2019, when former President
Donald Trump withdrew Marie Yovanovitch. Since then, the embassy has been run
by a charge d’affaires.

Olympics. The Olympic torch
relay for the Winter Olympics in Beijing, to be held between February 4-20, continues
its journey today in the Chinese capital, which is preparing for the start of
the great world sporting event, despite the diplomatic boycott of several
countries, including the USA , Australia, the United Kingdom and Canada, but
also concerns about the Covid-19 pandemic. More than 1,000 people carry the
Olympic torch through various venues that will host the competitions, ahead of
the opening ceremony, scheduled for Friday night. The torch’s journey began in
October at the ancient Greek site of Olympia, where the ceremony was disrupted
by protesters accusing China of human rights violations. Romania will
participate in the Winter Olympics with 22 athletes, in the sledding, bobsled, skeleton,
cross country skiing, alpine skiing, ski jumping, biathlon and speed skating
events. (MI)