January 19, 2024
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Newsroom, 19.01.2024, 13:55
MINISTER Romanias Foreign Minister, Luminita Odobescu has again firmly condemned Russias aggression war and has reiterated Romanias unflinching support for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the neighboring Ukraine. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Romanian official has underlined the risks of the Russian attacks against the Ukrainian civilians and major infrastructure pose to the regional security.
MEASURES The Romanian executive on Thursday approved the first measures requested by transporters and farmers who have been protesting in Romania for several days now. Its clear that all protests are justified and these decisions confirm the fact that many of these claims are absolutely legitimate – Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu has said. In spite of the measures endorsed by the Executive, protests are still going on around the country. The Bucharest city hall has authorised for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday a protest expected to bring together 5 thousand people, 200 tractors and tractor heads. Family physicians and the personnel of the outpatient care units are also protesting the fund cuts for a series of medical services.
TRIAL The Pfizer company has sued Romania in Brussels to force its government to pay for the anti-Covid vaccine doses they contracted during the pandemic. According to the countrys health minister, Alexandru Rafila, Romania has negotiated for 28 million doses in a contract of roughly 550 million Euros. However, Romania failed to place the order and implicitly to get the contracted doses. The minister explains that against the background of a diminished interest for vaccination, Romania lacked the facilities to stockpile and destroy such a large quantity of vaccine. The Romanian official said he expected Pfizers legal action as that was also the case with other two states, Hungary and Poland. Late last year, the Romanian Anti-Corruption Directorate launched a criminal investigation against the former Prime Minister, Florin Citu, former health ministers Vlad Voiculescu and Ioana Mihaila as well as the former state secretary with the Health Ministry, Andrei Baciu. The have been accused of abuse of office for having contracted much larger quantities of vaccine than needed. Prosecutors have estimated a budget prejudice of over one billion Euros in this case.
WEATHER The weather is getting colder in the countrys northern regions, but highs are still above the usual figures for this period of the year mainly in the south and south-east. The sky is overcast and showers have been reported in some isolated regions. Mixed precipitations are also expected in the west, center, north and north-east, while snowfalls have been reported in the mountains. The wind is blowing at speeds of 45-50 km/h and is expected to reach 70 km/h in the mountains creating blizzards. The highs of the day are ranging between 2 and 14 degrees Celsius with a noon reading in Bucharest of 9 degrees.
TENNIS Romanian tennis player Victor Cornea has obtained his first win in a grand slam tournament today in Melbourne. He together with Indian Nsriram Balaji secured a two-set win 6-3, 6-4 against Matteo Arnaldi and Andrea Pellegrino of Italy in the first round of the mens doubles in Australian Open. The two will next take on Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador and Mate Pavic of Croatia. Australian Open has been Corneas third grand slam tournament after Rolland Garros and US Open
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