13 June, 2020

Government to extend state of alert ending on 15 June./ National Bank warns economy to shrink significantly in second quarter of 2020./ PM Ludovic Orban calls on magistrates to shed light into “miners raids of June 1990.

Newsroom, 13.06.2020, 14:01

State of alert. The state of alert declared by the Romanian authorities
on 15th May comes to an end on Monday, but the government says it
plans to extend it, with a decision in this respect to be taken at the next
government meeting. Prime minister Ludovic Orban has reiterated that this is
not a political move, but founded on expert opinion, given the high risk of a
second wave of the coronavirus pandemic. The extension to the state of alert
must be approved by Parliament, but the opposition say they are no longer going
to vote in favour. According to the interim president of the Social Democratic
Party Marcel Ciolacu, there should be an intermediate stage instead lasting no
more than 15 days. Official figures show that 275 new infections were reported
in Romania over the last 24 hours, with 171 people still in intensive care. 1,394
of the around 21,700 people who contracted the virus have died. Among the
Romanian communities abroad, some 3,400 people had the virus and 114 have died.

Coronavirus
world. Around the globe, coronavirus cases pass 7.6 million and the death toll
reaches 425,000. The US is the hardest hit, with over 2 million infections,
followed by Brazil with 800,000. In Europe, the number of
new cases is decreasing. Some European countries are further easing
restrictions beginning on Monday. Germany says it will eliminate border checks
with its neighbours, and France may also open its borders, with president
Macron expected to make an announcement to this effect. Italy opened its
borders on 3rd June. Spain has postponed opening borders until 3rd
July. Greece is preparing to receive
foreign tourists beginning on Monday for the first time since the lockdown was
introduced in March.

Economy. The National Bank of Romania has warned that the Romanian
economy may shrink significantly in the second quarter of the year owing to the
shutdown of many economic sectors and lower domestic and external consumption
as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Many Romanian businesses and even
entire sectors had to interrupt their activity overnight, with transport,
tourism, the hospitality industry, recreational activities, industry and trade
being the hardest hit. Economic demand grew considerably in the first quarter
of the year but the labour market saw a sudden drop in March, its effects being
somewhat alleviated by the government’s furlough scheme, says a National Bank report.
The number of budgeted employment contracts has increased, however, recently,
and the trend may continue as the furlough scheme comes to an end. According to
the National Bank, the annual inflation rate will stay at over 3% this year,
even after a clear drop in the second quarter.

Miner riots. Prime minister Ludovic Orban on Saturday called on
magistrates to shed light into and find out the truth about the miners’ raids
of 13th to 15th June 1990, a case which is yet to be
solved. The prime minister said in a statement that the then communist regime
led by Ion Iliescu, who had just won the presidential elections, first resorted
to the security forces and then to miners to trample the dignity of young
people, intellectuals, people with strong anti-communist convictions. The
miners’ raids of 13th to 15th June put an end to a massive
protest against the leftist government that had come to power after the fall of
the communist dictatorship in December 1989. Violent clashes took place on 13th
June between security forces and protesters. A group of miners from Jiu Valley,
in the centre-west, arrived in Bucharest on the following day, using force
against protesters and passers-by and causing damage to the headquarters of
historical parties and faculties and other buildings. Six people were killed at
the time, almost 1,000 injured and several hundred detained illegally. Some of
the people who were in office at the time, such as president Ion Iliescu, prime
minister Petre Roman and deputy prime minister Gelu Voican Voiculescu and the
then director of the Romanian Intelligence Service Virgil Magureanu are accused
of crimes against humanity as part a court case into the riots. In May last year, the High Court of Cassation and Justice returned the
case to the Prosecutor’s Office to redo the investigation, having ruled that
the case put together by the military prosecutors was nonlegal. In 2014, the
European Court of Human Rights ruled that Romania must continue investigations
into the miners’ raids of 1990. (CM)