February 15, 2021
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Newsroom, 15.02.2021, 13:55
VACCINE Romania carries on its anti-Covid campaign,
which kicked off on December 27th 2020 with 687 thousand vaccinated
so far. 1.1 million doses have been given in Romania so far mostly produced by
Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna. The AstraZeneca vaccine starts being used as of
today. According to the authorities, Romania comes sixth in an EU ranking in
terms of the number of doses used. On the other hand the number of infections
in Romania is coming near 762 thousand since the beginning of the pandemic with
a death toll of 19,400. As of today, people coming to Romania from countries in
the so-called yellow zone, with an infection rate higher than Romania’s, must
comply with fresh rules.
PROTESTS ‘Many countries in Europe are resorting to the system of holiday
gift vouchers in order to support the
HoReCa industry heavily affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, whereas Romania
eliminates them without any reason whatsoever’, employers’ associations in
Romania’s HoReCa domain are saying in a communiqué. Last week, the country’s
Liberal Prime Minister announced that the gift vouchers that should be given
this year would be issued next year stirring discontent among hotel owners who
believe the measure will contribute to deepening the crisis already affecting
this sector. Representatives of these organizations are today having talks with
the country’s economy minister Claudiu Nasui and have planned a nation-wide
protest in front of hotels and restaurants in Romania.
MOTION A simple motion tabled against Romania’s incumbent Health
Minister Vlad Voiculescu, (member of the co-ruling USR-PLUS alliance) is being
discussed in Bucharest today. Under a suggestive title, ‘Incompetence and the
lack of responsibility kill – Vlad Voiculescu puts the life and health of the
Romanians at risk’, the motion has been tabled by the opposition PSD 2 months
after the government led by Liberal Florin Citu came to power. The USR-PLUS
co-president Dan Barna has said the alliance firmly supports all the ministers
it has in this cabinet while Liberal leader Ludovic Orban said the Liberal MPs
would be voting against the motion on Wednesday.
BUDGET The Romanian government wants the draft
budget it subjected to public debates last week to get Parliament approval by
February 20th along with the amendments accompanying it, including
an emergency ordinance on the cancellation of holiday gift vouchers as well as
other on freezing pensions to the level of last year. According to the
government, the present draft budget is set to lay the foundations for a
multi-annual approach of the reforms and public finances with a gradual
reduction of the deficit from 7.16% this year to 3.4% in 2024. At the same
time, the budget proposes investment funds of 5.5% of the GDP, the largest so
far. According to Prime Minister Citu, the aforementioned draft budget enjoys
support from the European Commission, from where the biggest part of the funds
destined for reform and investment is to arrive.
TENNIS The world’s number two tennis player, Romanian Simona Halep is expected
to take on US challenger Serena Williams in the quarter finals of the
Australian Open, the year’s first Grand Slam tournament. The American had a 9-2
wins in head-to-head matches although Simona won a major Wimbledon tournament
in 2019. In the doubles eighth finals, a Romanian-Brazilian pair Horia
Tecau/Marcelo Melo lost to Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Filip Polasek of Slovakia
4-6, 3-6.
(bill)
