June 16, 2020 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 16.06.2020, 19:45
COVID-19 – The
government in Bucharest extended by another 30 days the state of alert, at the
same time easing some lockdown restrictions. Church services will resume inside
the churches with the observance of physical distancing and the mandatory
wearing of masks. Certain border crossing points will also reopen. Liberal
Prime Minister Ludovic Orban has explained that most experts believe the state
of alert is necessary given the present epidemiological context. The
government’s decision must be approved by Parliament and the largest opposition
force, the Social-Democratic Party, have announced their intention not to
endorse an extension longer than 15 days. The Social-Democrats also believe the
relaxation measures proposed by the government are not enough. Romania has so
far reported 22,415 infections and a number of fatalities that has gone up to
1,437. Over 16 thousand patients have been cured. 34 hundred Romanians have
been confirmed infected abroad and 114 of them died.
FESTIVAL – The first weekend of the International Theatre
Festival in Sibiu, central Romania, which has this year been staged exclusively
online due to the COVID pandemic has registered an impressive audience. The
festival’s shows and other events posted on its Facebook or webpage at
sibfest.ro have registered roughly 181 thousand visitors. The event continues
until June 21 with prestigious dance, music, opera and street performances,
circus and special conferences, all broadcast online. The festival’s present
edition unfolds under the motto ‘The Power to Believe’. The International
Theatre Festival in Sibiu is the first big performing arts festival in Central
and Eastern Europe.
WEATHER – Romania is still facing extreme weather phenomena
in most of its territory, where meteorologists are expecting heavy downpours
and thunderstorms for the entire week. Scores of towns and villages have been
affected by the weather in 20 Romanian counties. Firefighters have been
deployed to pump water out of hundreds of households and public institutions or
to remove the fallen trees from the streets. Traffic has been temporarily
disrupted on national and county roads.
NATO – The Romanian Navy has handed over the command of
Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group Two, a press release issued by the
Navy Chief of Staff on Tuesday announced. By assuming the command of the
aforementioned military force, Romania proved its capabilities as a security
provider for the defence of the allies as this navy force has made a major
contribution to maintaining the alliance’s battle and immediate response
capabilities in crisis situations as well as to the promotion of NATO’s images
and values. In the past six months, the group has carried out missions in the
Black Sea, the Aegean and the Mediterranean Sea involving the participation of
military vessels from Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Romania and Turkey.
FORESTS – The Senate on Tuesday passed the law on creating the
Directorate for Investigating Environment-related Crimes. The scope of
environment-related crime demands the specialization of prosecuting bodies in
this field and the allocation of resources for the creation of an institution
with specific and clear competences, the initiators of the draft law explain,
saying that in the last 5 years over 20 million cubic meters of forests have
disappeared illegally, causing a prejudice of hundreds of millions of Euro
every year. All Parliamentary groups have voted in favor of the project, with
the exception of the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians.
BORDER – According to the Romanian authorities, 65,200
Romanian and foreign nationals transited Romania’s border checkpoints on
Monday. The traffic has increased by 60% as compared to the month of May.
Romania’s border with Hungary proved to be the busiest, as it has been crossed
by roughly 43,800 people. According to the same sources, the number of people
who entered Romania has doubled as compared to the previous state-of-alert
period.
(Translated
by D. Bilt & V. Palcu)
