May 7, 2021

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 07.05.2021, 13:55

Vaccination. A vaccination
marathon gets under way in Bucharest today involving some 1,200 volunteers,
doctors, nurses, junior doctors and medical students. The event comes to an end
on Monday. Also from today, people who wish to get the vaccine can do so
without an appointment. On Thursday, Romania passed the 100,000 mark of daily
jabs for the first time. To date, over 2 million Romanians are fully
vaccinated. As for new infections, Romania today saw more than 1,400 new cases
and 89 related fatalities, while more than 1,000 Covid patients are still in
intensive care.

EU. Romanian president Klaus Iohannis is
attending a social summit as part of an informal meeting of the European
Council hosted by the Portuguese city of Porto on Saturday and Sunday. He is
also taking part in the EU-India summit with prime minister Narendra Modi held
in videoconference format. According to the president’s office, the social
summit in Porto will discuss the optimal implementation of the European Pillar
of Social Rights and outline the priorities of the EU’s social agenda for the
next decade to meet the challenges of the green and digital transition.
President Iohannis will address the meeting at the second thematic session of
the meeting on competencies and innovation during a panel on education, skills
and innovation. The informal meeting of the European Council is also expected
to discuss the relations between the Union and India in the run-up to the EU-India
informal summit and aspects related to the management of the coronavirus
pandemic. The EU-India summit aims to consolidate cooperation to combat the
pandemic, reiterate both parties’ wish to continue developing commercial ties,
promote efficient multilateralism, consolidate cooperation on the major foreign
policy and security challenges and encourage cooperation in the area of
connectivity.

Moldova. Maia Sandu, the
pro-western president of the majority-Romanian speaking Republic of Moldova,
again thanked Romania for its constant support during the pandemic in an
interview to the Romanian public television. On Wednesday, the Romanian
government said it would donate another 100,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine to
Moldova and is preparing a similar action for Ukraine, another ex-Soviet
republic neighbour. Prime minister Florin Cîţu said that Romania is also
willing to sell 200,000 vaccine doses a month to Moldova. Romania has so far
delivered to this neighbouring country all the 200,000 vaccine doses promised
last December by president Klaus Iohannis at a meeting with his counterpart in
Chișinău.

Volleyball. The Romanian men’s volleyball side
defeated Albania 3-nil on Thursday evening in a qualifying tournament in Nitra,
in Slovakia, in Group E of the 2021 Men’s European Volleyball Champions
preliminaries. The host country also won 3-nil against Switzerland. Romania
will today be facing Slovakia, while Switzerland are playing Albania. The
second qualifying tournament is due next weekend in Ploieşti, in southern Romania. Qualifying matches were initially
scheduled for last summer but because of the coronavirus pandemic, they were first postponed and then grouped into two
tournaments. The winners of the seven preliminary groups and five of the best
second-ranked sides will qualify for the championship, which will be hosted
jointly by four countries, Poland, the Czech Republic, Estonia and Finland
between 1st and 19th September.

Football. The Romanian football world is today
celebrating 35 years since Steaua Bucharest won the European Champions’ Cup in
Seville, on 7th May 1986. The all-Romanian side defeated FC
Barcelona 2-nil after penalty shoot-outs. Steaua’s goal keeper Helmuth Duckadam
then made it to the book of records for saving all four penalty shoots. Steaua
went on to win the European Super Cup in February 1987 in Monte Carlo,
defeating Dinamo Kiev 1-nil. Two of the players who contributed to this unique
achievement in Romanian football, midfielder Lucian Bălan and defender Ilie
Bărbulescu, are no longer with us. (CM)