March 24, 2021 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news.

Newsroom, 24.03.2021, 20:00

EU COUNCIL– Romanian President Klaus Iohannis will attend, via video conference, the two-day European Council meeting in Brussels, which kicks off Thursday. Leaders will take stock of the roll-out of vaccines and the epidemiological situation and pursue the coordinated response to the pandemic crisis. They will also discuss transatlantic relations together with US President Joe Biden. The single market, digital transformation, the situation in the Eastern Mediterranean, relations with Russia and the international role of the euro are also on the agenda.

NATO — On Wednesday, the second day of the NATO foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels, Romanian Foreign Minister, Bogdan Aurescu, pleaded for the consolidation of the Alliance’s deterrence and defence posture on the entire Eastern Flank. Aurescu attended the meeting dedicated to the relations with Russia, regional security and developments in the domain of arms control. The foreign ministers of Finland and Sweden and the High EU Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Joseph Borrell, also attended the meeting alongside NATOs foreign ministers. The Romanian official presented Romania’s analysis of the constant security challenges on the Alliance’s eastern border, including at the Black Sea, and emphasized the need for solutions to the conflicts that destabilize the region’s security. He reiterated Romania’s support for NATO’s current approach to Russia, and insisted on the need to further consolidate NATO’s deterrence and defence posture on the entire Eastern Flank.

CORONAVIRUS – Romanian president Klaus Iohannis said Wednesday that the authorities do not want to impose a national lockdown and called for compliance with the restrictions in place and for the acceleration of the mass vaccination. He said a lockdown in Bucharest is also not a solution, despite growing infection rates, but called for additional measures, such as restricting movement at the weekend and reducing opening hours in shopping centers. Talking about the Easter holidays Iohannis said he does not want to restrict the access of the faithful to church and that he hopes the pandemic will be managed in such way to make this possible. The National Committee for Emergencies convenes on Thursday to decide on the new restrictions to be imposed at national level, in the context of a surge in infections. A Government meeting follows later in the day, to decide on the newly proposed restrictions. The authorities say they are not planning imposing a lockdown in Bucharest for the time being despite the high infection rate of over 6 cases per 1000 inhabitants. On Wednesday, Romania saw more than 6,100 new Covid infections and 174 related fatalities, as well as a new record number of ICU admissions — almost 1,400. Since the start of the pandemic, 913,000 people tested positive to the virus and almost 22,600 have died.

SCHOOLS – The spring break for pupils will be extended from 2nd April to 4th May to include both the Catholic and Orthodox Easter and reduce movement in April, when Covid infections are expected to see a new peak. Education minister Sorin Cîmpeanu also explained that the high school entrance examination will be delayed for 5th-8th July, while the written baccalaureate examinations will be held on the same dates, between 28th June and 1st July. He said schools will also remain open in places with more than 6 cases in every 1,000 people tested and that they would only be closed if the places in question go into lockdown.

BILL – Romanian deputies passed a bill on the dismantling of a special department for the investigation of crimes in the judiciary in the version received from the legal committee and which contains a number of amendments, including one from the group of ethnic minorities stipulating that magistrates can only be prosecuted with approval from the Superior Council of Magistrates. The ruling coalition agreed to this new version to get the bill voted. The Liberal leader Ludovic Organ said dismantling this department was recommended by the European Commission and must be adopted amid discussions on the lifting of the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism. The leader of the opposition Social Democratic Party Marcel Ciolacu said his party would challenge the bill in the Constitutional Court if voted by Parliament. The Senate is the decision-making body for this particular bill. (EE)