March 29, 2022

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Newsroom, 29.03.2022, 13:55

ECONOMY PM Nicolae Ciucă has a meeting in Bucharest today with the EU
Commissioner for Economy, Paolo Gentiloni. The Romanian official said the
topics approached will include the temporary emergency measures taken recently
by the European Commission and used by the Romanian authorities since the start
of the conflict in Ukraine. Yesterday Paolo Gentiloni discussed with the
finance minister Adrian Câciu the refugee issue as well as the economic
decisions to be made in the event of shocks in supply chains. The EU
Commissioner said the Union is discussing ways to curb inflation and address the
economic consequences of the conflict in Ukraine. There are currently no risks
to food safety in Europe, Paolo Gentiloni also said yesterday. On Monday he was
also received by president Klaus Iohannis, who pleaded for flexibility with
respect to the financial resources earmarked for 2014-2020 and not yet spent, allowing
the money to be used for handling the Ukrainian refugee situation.

UKRAINE A new round of peace talks takes place today and tomorrow in Istanbul,
after several rounds held in Belarus and online. Kyiv says its goals in the
negotiations include the pullout of Russian troops from Ukraine and security
guarantees. In turn, Moscow wants Ukraine to give up its NATO accession plan,
to recognise the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in the east and the
incorporation of Crimea by Russia. In the field, Russian troops continue to
shell the areas around the capital Kyiv, but Ukrainian forces withstand the
attacks. The heaviest bombings were reported near Irpin, north-west of the
capital, where Ukrainians say they have full control. The port city of
Mariupol, in the south, is on the verge of a humanitarian disaster and must be
fully evacuated, said mayor Vadym Boychenko. According to him, nearly 160,000 civilians are stranded
in the city without water, food, medicines and electricity. The Red Cross has
already requested Russia and Ukraine to secure a
humanitarian corridor.

REFUGEES EU interior ministers Monday approved a plan for better coordination with respect to
Ukrainian war refugees. The EU Commissioner for home
affairs, Ylva Johansson, has announced that so far 3.8 million people,
especially women, children and elderly people, have fled Ukraine. Member states
requested additional funding from the Commission to manage the inflows, with
the Commission announcing additional aid is already being prepared. EU interior
ministers also agreed to launch a EU-wide platform for the registration of
refugees arriving in the Union and applying for temporary protection. They also
put together unified rules for receiving and supporting children, including
unaccompanied minors, and a plan against human trafficking. In this context,
Romania continues to support Ukrainian refugees and the authorities in that
country. Since the start of the war, over 570,000 Ukrainian nationals have
entered Romania. Most of them only transited the country, while around 4,300 applied for asylum in Romania.

COVID-19 Over 4,000 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed for
the past 24 hours in Romania, the authorities announced on Tuesday, almost
double the previous day’s figure. Little over 2,700 patients are being treated
in hospitals for Covid, of whom 400 in intensive care. The authorities also
announced 45 fatalities, one of which from a previous date. The health minister
Alexandru Rafila said COVID-19 hospitals will gradually resume their regular
operations by the end of September.

FOOTBALL
Romania’s national football team plays against Israel today, away from home, in
a friendly match. This is the second test match played by the national squad
under the management of Edward Iordanescu. In his first game as a coach, the
team lost against Greece, 1-0 in Bucharest on Friday. (A.M.P.)