November 20, 2021 UPDATE

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 20.11.2021, 18:55

Politics.
President Klaus Iohannis invited all parliamentary parties for talks on
Monday to nominate a prime minister. The Social
Democratic Party and the National Liberal Party, the biggest parties in
Parliament, as well as the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania
said they would see the president together after they agreed to form a
government led by Nicolae Ciucă from the Liberal Party. The
president will also receive the Save Romania Union, formerly in the ruling
coalition, and the Alliance for the Union of Romanians, as well as the group of
ethnic minorities other than Hungarian. If he becomes prime minister, reserve
army general Nicolae Ciucă would be the first career military to lead a
government in post-communist Romania.

Covid-19.
Romania reported almost 2,700 new Covid cases on Saturday, as well as 214
related fatalities, including 43 recorded earlier. Almost 1,600 Covid patients
are in intensive care. Bucharest’s incidence rate in the last fortnight is 4.05
cases per 1,000 inhabitants, having peaked at 16.54 on 22nd October.
The National Committee for Emergency Situations approved a proposal to allow
all schools to reopen for in-person teaching in places where the incidence rate
is below 3 per thousand, regardless of the vaccination rate among the school
staff. The Committee also agreed to lift the ban on certain activities and
events pending government’s final decision. These include sports events,
concerts, outdoor performances and festivals, conferences and courses, and
which can only be attended by persons holding the Covid green pass and at only
30% of the capacity of those spaces. If the situation continues to improve, the
winter holidays may be celebrated without many restrictions, said the head of
the Department for Emergency Situations Raed Arafat.

Moldova. The pro-western president of the Republic of Moldova Maia
Sandu will be travelling to Romania on Tuesday at the invitation of her
counterpart Klaus Iohannis. This is her first visit to Romania after the early
parliamentary elections last July, which were categorically won by her Action
and Solidarity Party and comes amid the 30th anniversary this year
of diplomatic relations between the two countries. According to a statement
from the Romanian president’s office, the visit will be a good opportunity to
reconfirm the special, privileged relationship and the Strategic Partnership
for the European integration of the Republic of Moldova based on shared
language, culture and history. The talks between Sandu is Iohannis are expected
to consolidate the excellent and substantial bilateral cooperation at
political, economic and sectoral level and boost progress with respect to joint
strategic projects in the areas of energy, transport, healthcare, education and
information society.

Handball. Romanian
handball champion CSM Bucharest defeated the Hungarian side FTC-Rail Cargo 27-21
in a Champions League Group A match on Saturday. This was their last match this
year, with the competition to be resumed in 2022. The World Championship will
be held in the meantime in Spain, between 1st and 20th
December. Romania are in Group C and will be facing Iran on 3rd
December, Kazakhstan on 5th and Norway on 7th. The three
best-placed teams will qualify to the main groups. At the previous edition
hosted by Japan in 2019, Romania finished in 12th place. (CM)