November 25, 2021 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 25.11.2021, 20:00

GOVERNMENT – The PNL – PSD – UDMR government led by Liberal Nicolae Ciucă was sworn
in on Thursday after receiving Parliament’s investiture vote earlier that day.
President Klaus Iohannis said the new government must quickly solve the health
and energy crises and capitalize on the opportunities provided under the
National Recovery and Resilience Plan. PNL will control the Foreign Ministry,
the Interior Ministry, Education and Energy, in addition to four other
ministries. The Social-Democrats have a total of nine ministries, including
Finance, Defense and the Economy. UDMR will control the Development,
Environment and Sports ministries. The governing program is based on the
principles of resilience, stability, transparency, equity and efficiency. The
new cabinet pledged to increase pensions, the minimum social benefits, the
minimum wage and child-rearing allowances. On Thursday, the Ciucă Cabinet also convened in its first session.

COVID – 2,104 new cases of Covid-19 – a sharp drop compared to the previous day -
were reported in Romania on Thursday. At the same time, 212 deaths were
announced, of which 35 registered prior to the reference period. 1,314 patients
are currently in intensive care. The incidence rate at national level has
dropped to 2.57 per thousand inhabitants. The National Public Health Institute
announced that over 70% of the cases registered in the last week were
unvaccinated people. Since the onset of the vaccination campaign, nearly 7.7
million people have received at least one dose of the Covid vaccine.

EMA – The European Medicines Agency (EMA) on Thursday green-lit
the anti-COVID-19 vaccine produced by Pfizer for administration in children
aged 5-11. This is the first anti-COVID serum authorized for administration in
this age bracket. The vaccine will be administered in two doses with a
concentration of 30% of the original serum. The European Medicines agency
authorized the vaccine amidst a resurge of COVID-19 infections across the EU.

VISIT – Princess Margaret, Custodian of the Crown of Romania, and her husband,
Prince Radu, as of Wednesday are paying a visit to the UK. The royal couple was
received at Windsor Castle by Queen Elizabeth II. At the same time, they
visited the Royal Defense College, where they talked with students on topics
related to European and Euro-Atlantic current affairs. The Custodian of the
Crown of Romania and Prince Radu also met with the Lord Mayor of London,
Vincent Thomas Keaveny, at his residence. The first visit of the Royal Family
of Romania to London took place in 1874, when the Sovereign Prince Charles I
and Princess Elisabeth met with the Prince and Princess of Wales (later King
Edward VII and Queen Alexandra). The first British royal visit to Romania took
place at Peleș Castle in Sinaia
(central Romania), in 1888, when the future King Edward VII was the guest of
King Charles I.

MOLDOVA – The Russian consortium Gazprom will continue
to deliver gas to the Republic of Moldova, after the Moldovan government on
Friday committed to paying an outstanding debt. Gazprom had threatened to cut
off gas supplies if it did not receive its money. Gazprom spokesman Sergey
Kupriyanov, quoted by Radio Romania’s correspondent in Moscow, said that the
deferment of payment was an exception and an expression of the Russian
consortium goodwill. He underlined, however, that Gazprom strongly hoped that,
in the future, the Republic of Moldova would fully comply with its contractual
commitments and make payments in due time. Gazprom recalled that the signing,
last month, of a new gas contract with the Republic of Moldova was conditioned
by the full and timely payment of current bills. The contract provides for a
price of about 450 dollars per one thousand cubic meters of gas, deferred
payment, a five-year rescheduling of the 700 million dollar debt and its
independent audit. (LS & VP)