August 17, 2020 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 17.08.2020, 19:55

No-confidence motion Romania’s largest opposition party, the Social Democratic Party — PSD on Monday tabled in parliament a motion of no confidence against the Liberal cabinet led by Ludovic Orban. The PSD interim leader Marcel Ciolacu claims that Romania has the most disastrous government of the past 30 years and accused the government representatives of having infringed all the rules imposed to the Romanian citizens during the pandemic. According to PSD, Romania is drifting, and the government has zero credibility, against the background of the present chaotic situation, collapsing economy and rampant unemployment. The document has been signed by 205 MPs and will be read in the plenum of Parliament on Thursday. It needs 233 votes to pass. The PSD is supported by the center rightist Alliance of Liberals and Democrats and the center leftist PRO Romania, also in opposition, as well as by independent MPs while the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania has not decided on their vote. In exchange, the motion is criticized by the Save Romania Union and the Peoples Movement Party that claim that this is not the right moment to replace the government given the pandemic, the upcoming start of the school year and the local elections scheduled for September 27. The National Liberal Party has stated that the PSD, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats and PRO Romania have deliberately sabotaged the Orban government, at parliamentary level, during the health crisis. The PM believes the PSD’s move is irresponsible and says that the Liberal Party is considering the opportunity to notify the Constitutional Court given that a censure motion cannot be initiated during the parliamentary break.

Coronaviurs Ro In Romania, 733 new cases of COVID-19 were reported on Monday by the Strategic Communication Group. Therefore, more than 71 thousand cases of infection with the new coronavirus have been confirmed in the country since the coronavirus outbreak at the end of February. More than 32,700 patients have recovered. Monday saw another 38 deaths which takes the total death toll to 3,029. 497 patients are in intensive care. The PM Ludovic Orban said Monday that the number of beds in ICUs would be increased in several hospitals.

CCR The Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has challenged at the Constitutional Court the law stipulating that the Parliament is the body that establishes the date of general elections and not the Government, as has happened in the past 30 years. The law, initiated by the Social Democratic Party, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania was adopted on July 27 by the two chambers of Parliament. The President claims that the law violates constitutional provisions since it changes the responsibility of setting the date of the elections only a few months ahead of the elections. He has drawn attention, among other things, that in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, if due to various reasons Parliament does not pass in due time the law establishing the date of the elections, the context will be created for senators and deputies to extend their mandate by a law which they adopt themselves.

Minsk An extraordinary summit of the leaders of the 27 EU member states will take place on Wednesday, through a videoconference, to discuss the situation in Belarus, the president of the European Council Charles Michel announced on Monday. The US President Donald Trump announced he was closely following the terrible situation in Belarus and the UK announced it did not recognize the result of the vote in that country. Belarus is currently going through a big crisis following the re-election as president of Aleksandr Lukashenko who has been ruling the country for 26 years. The opposition, which claims that the election of August 9 was rigged, called for a strike, after a weekend of protests. According to Reuters news agency 200 thousand regime opponents participated in Minsk in a freedom march while Lukashenko’s supporters gathered to listen to his appeal to defend the country against alleged foreign interference. He announced on Monday that there would be no other presidential election but said he was willing to share the power and change the Constitution but not under the street’s pressure. Last week the police intervened brutally to end the protests. At least two people were killed as almost 7 thousand were arrested.

Tennis The Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, world’s no. 2, last night jumped in the Vltava River dressed in sports clothing after winning the tennis tournament in Prague. The image has gone viral. She thus kept the promise she made before the final with the Belgian player Elise Mertens, whom she defeated 6-2, 7-5. The Prague tournament was the first played by Simona since February, after the interruption of the womens competition due to the coronavirus pandemic. For Simona Halep, the Prague Open trophy is the 21st in her career and the 2nd this year. On Monday she announced in a Twitter post that she would not participate in the US Open due to the risks of contamination generated by the COVID-19 pandemic. (translation and update by L. Simion)