December 24, 2020

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 24.12.2020, 13:55

COVID-19 IN ROMANIA – Romania has
reported over 600 thousand infections with COVID-19 since the start of the
pandemic. Nearly 85% of the people infected have recovered. Over 4,300 new
cases and 146 related fatalities were announced on Thursday by the Group for
Strategic Communication. The national death toll has exceeded 14,900. 1,234
patients are in intensive care. The first symbolic batch of 10,000 dozes of
anti-Covid vaccine is due to arrive soon. The vaccine will be delivered to
infectious disease hospitals. The College of Physicians has argued in favor of
administering the vaccine, which it sees as the best solution to fight the
virus.

COVID-19 IN THE WORLD – Mobility
restrictions are in place around the winter holidays in numerous EU states. In
Germany, public gatherings are limited to family members only until Saturday,
while the authorities in the Netherlands have reintroduced the lockdown until
mid-January. Italy is now a red zone, the authorities there have introduced a
series of measures marking the country with a high risk of contamination.
Similar measures were applied in March and April, when the country was
seriously affected by the pandemic. According to our correspondent in Rome,
Italian citizens are forbidden from moving between cities and leaving home
without justified reason. People are nevertheless allowed to attend mass in
Church for Christmas. For four days, stores, restaurants, bars and other venues
remain closed. With the recent discovery of a new strain of COVID-19, the
United Kingdom remains isolated. Dozens of countries have shut down their
borders to British citizens, fearing the spread of the mutated virus.

GOVERNMENT – The new
center-right Government led by Liberal Florin Cîţu is today taking office.
Supported by the National Liberal Party, the Save Romania Union – PLUS Alliance
and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians, the Cabinet was voted on
Wednesday in Parliament and was sworn in later that evening. The top priorities
of the new Government include combating the pandemic and economic recovery.

DIASPORA – One of the priorities
of the Foreign Ministry presented in the governing program for the next four
years is a number of policies focusing on the Diaspora, including increasing
the number of MPs representing Romanians living outside the country’s borders.
A wider section in the Foreign Ministry’s strategy is devoted to Romanians
abroad, and one of the headlines reads the Diaspora is Romania. Over 4
million Romanian citizens currently live in communities in Romania’s vicinity,
accounting for 20% of Romania’s total population. The Ministry also wants to
focus on Romanian citizens born abroad. We will be keeping a record of
Romanian children born abroad and make sure, together with local authorities
and via community centers, that these children are given access to information
on the Romanian language, identity and culture, when and should the parents
give their consent, including by means of a dedicated section of scholarships,
the Ministry also notes.

MOLDOVA – The
Moldovan Parliament on Thursday convened in an extraordinary session to invest
the president elect, pro-Western Maia Sandu, who won the presidential runoff on
November 15, winning 57% of the vote, thus defeating the former head of state,
Socialist Igor Dodon. A former Prime Minister of Moldova, an economist with an
MA in public administration of Harvard University and a former advisor to the
World Bank executive director, Maia Sandu is the first woman to become
president of the Republic of Moldova, three decades after the country
proclaimed its independence from Moscow. Shortly after the investiture, President
Sandu invited Romania’s President, Klaus Iohannis, on a visit to Chişinău.

BREXIT – The European Union
and Great Britain could finalize a post-Brexit trade deal today, although
negotiations are still underway concerning certain details, Reuters reports.
Member States have still to give their approval over the negotiated fishing
rights, but this will further require a meeting with EU ambassadors. Should EU
members greenlight the negotiated variant, the trade deal will take effect on
January 1, 2021 on a temporary basis, pending the ratification from the
European Parliament. (V. Palcu)