March 2, 2021 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news.
Newsroom, 02.03.2021, 20:00
BUDGET – Parliament on Tuesday passed this years state budget bill in the version proposed by the government, passing none of the amendments filed by the opposition. The Liberal PM Florin Citu rejected the idea of austerity budget, saying the budget is focused on investment and pushes for reform in central and local public administration. The Social Democratic senator Lucian Romascanu, in the opposition, said the 2021 state budget is anti-economic, anti-social, illegal, illegitimate and anti-national. This budget has been built on a deficit of 7.16% of GDP, a staff expenditure of 9.8% and a 4.31% economic growth rate.
VACCINATION – The number of people immunized against Covid-19 in Romania will exceed 1 million on Wednesday, the head of the mass vaccination campaign, Valeriu Gheorghita said in a news conference on Tuesday. Most people have been given the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, but the Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines have also been used. Gheorghita also said that over 1.2 million people have made an appointment for vaccination on the dedicated platform. The general population will be able to make an appointment from the middle of the month, with actual vaccination as part of phase three due to begin in April. On the other hand, specialists are warning that Romania is on the verge of the third wave of the Covid pandemic and are calling on the population to comply with the restrictions in place and continue to observe the three basic rules: wear facemasks, wash hands and maintain physical distance. Total coronavirus infections surpassed 800,000 in Romania, as almost 4,000 new infections and over 100 deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours. More than 1,000 Covid patients are in intensive care.
PANDEMIC – The European Commission will this month present a proposal on the creation of a digital vaccination passport for the European Union which would allow Europeans to travel more freely during the summer holidays. The Commission president Ursula von der Leyen announced this legislative proposal in an address to the German Conservatives and provided some additional information on Twitter. The so-called “digital green pass” would show that the person carrying it has been given the Covid vaccine and will contain the result of Covid tests for persons who have not yet had the vaccine, as well as information about the recovery of persons who have had the virus. Globally, coronavirus infections surpassed 115 million, while the death toll passed 2.5 million since the beginning of the outbreak one year ago.
CORRUPTION – Ioana Băsescu, the daughter of Romanias former president Traian Băsescu, was sentenced to 5 years in prison for abetting embezzlement and money laundering as part of a court case looking into the funding of Traian Băsescus presidential election campaign in 2009, when he won a second term. The ruling is not final and can be appealed. As part of the same case, the former government minister Elena Udrea was convicted to 8 years in prison for abetting bribery and money laundering. Udrea has a previous conviction and is also under investigation in other corruption cases.
EC – On Tuesday, all 33 Romanians in the European Parliament asked the European Commission chief and the High EU Representative for foreign affairs to take concrete action so as to ensure a better representation of Romanians in the leading positions of the European institutions, according to a communique by USR-PLUS, which is part of the government coalition in Romania. The initiative comes from a number of USR-PLUS MEPs, who noticed that, 14 years since their country’s EU accession, Romanians are underrepresented in the management positions of the European institutions, just like other representatives of some member states that joined the bloc in 2004. The Romanian MEPs have asked for a meeting with the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, to find together the solutions to this problem.
PROTESTS — Unless the Government unblocks negotiations with the trade unions in the healthcare sector, the employees will call lightning strikes in front of hospitals against the trade union leaders’ advice, head of the Sanitas Trade Union Federation in Bucharest, Viorel Husanu, said on Tuesday. He also said the protest action staged on Tuesday in front of the Parliament building was aimed at convincing the MPs to increase the budget allocated to healthcare. Solidaritatea Sanitara Trade Union federation also protested on Tuesday, for the second consecutive day. (EE)
