August 21, 2020 UPDATE

Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 21.08.2020, 20:17

VOTE The Social Democrats (PSD), the party with the largest
number of seats in the Romanian Parliament didn’t set a timetable, as was expected
on Friday, for the voting session over a censure motion the PSD tabled against
the Liberal cabinet led by Ludovic Orban. According to the PSD spokesman Lucian
Romascanu, talks are being held with all the Parliament groups and a date for
voting the document is to be set most likely on Tuesday. The PSD official said
a decision in this respect would be made next week by the new Executive
Committee endorsed during the PSD congress on Saturday. ‘We’d like the voting
to start as soon as possible Romascanu went on to say. The motion was read
before the Legislature on Thursday and it blames the executive for the way it
handled the medical crisis caused by the novel coronavirus. In another
development, the National Liberal Party PNL on Friday notified the
Constitutional Court over an alleged legal conflict of a constitutional nature
between the government and Parliament, as the PSD tabled their motion during
the summer recess.

FUNDING In a first for Romania, the
European Commission has approved the total EU funding of investments in the
country’s transport infrastructure and not only 85% as before. According to the
Transport Ministry in Bucharest, the move, which is temporary, was justified by
the impact the Covid-19 pandemic had over the state budget. The most important
investments with European funds to benefit from this temporary exemption are
two motorway sections and a railway. In another development, the European
Commission has approved a five billion euro loan for supporting the business
environment and jobs in Romania. The announcement has been made by the
country’s Prime Minister Ludovic Orban who’s said the money is used to fund
active measures such as flexible timetables, technical unemployment and cover other
expenses aimed at supporting the employees and companies. Orban said the loan
must be reimbursed in 15 years and has a very advantageous interest.

MOSCOW A medically equipped plane landed in
the Siberian city of Omsk to take the leading opposition figure Alexei Navalny,
who supporters believe was poisoned, to a hospital in Berlin. According to the
Russian doctors, Navalny is too ill to be moved to Germany for treatment. A
prominent critic of president Putin, Navalny has consistently exposed official
corruption in Russia and has served many prison terms. According to his
spokeswoman, Navalny faced another poisoning attempt while in police custody
last year. Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitri Peskov says that if the poisoning is
confirmed the authorities are to start an investigation.

TENNIS A pair made up of the Romanian Horia
Tecau and the Dutch Jean-Julien Rojer are playing against the French pair
Jeremy Chardy/Fabrice Martin in the first round of the ATP Masters 1000 doubles
tournament in Cincinnati which offers total prizes worth more than 4.2 million
dollars. The tournament is hosted this year by Flushing Meadows Corona-Park in
New York. Tecau and Rojer last year lost in the first round of the Cincinnati tournament
to the pair Feliciano Lopez (Spain)/Andy Murray (Great Britain). The Romanian -
Dutch pair won a final in Cincinnati in 2016 when they defeated the pair Ivan
Dodig (Croatia)/Marcelo Melo (Brazil) 7-6 (5), 6-7 (5), 10-6. Tecau got a title
in Cincinnati in 2012 alongside the Swedish player Robert Lindstedt.

(translated by bill)