September 15, 2021 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

România Internațional, 15.09.2021, 20:28

Covid-19. The number of new cases of Covid-19 registered in
one day is on the rise in Romania, with 4004 registered on Wednesday, in some
44,000 tests. 83 related deaths were also reported, as well as 696 patients in
intensive care. New outbreaks are also reported across the country. Authorities
have started to put in place additional protection measures in those places
where the incidence of 2 cases per one thousand inhabitants has been exceeded.
On the other hand, the vaccination pace remains low, despite repeated calls
made by specialists. The Delta variant, which is starting to become dominant, is
spreading more rapidly than the previous ones. Authorities expect the number of
infected people to keep growing.

Electricity. The Romanian state will compensate electricity bills for about
13 million people who have a monthly consumption between 30 kWh and 200 kWh,
Energy Minister Virgil Popescu announced on Wednesday. He stressed that the
measure would not benefit those falling under the Law on Vulnerable Consumers, which
means about half a million households, who would receive financial aid from the
government to cover part of their bills. Popescu also stated that he was not a
supporter of capping prices, after, previously, Prime Minister Florin Cîţu had
said that the option was being considered. Price capping means discouraging
investors from coming to Romania to produce energy and extract gas, the
minister said. Minister Virgil Popescu has also stated that the energy market
is ready for winter, and Romania will not run out of gas, as rumored recently in
the public space.

Motion. The Romanian Constitutional Court is to announce when it will
debate the notification filed by the Liberal Prime Minister Florin Cîţu
regarding the existence of a legal conflict between Parliament and Government with
regard to the no-confidence motion tabled by USR-PLUS (former number two in the
governing coalition) and AUR (nationalist, in the opposition). A deadline was set
for Wednesday for the parties to submit their views to the Court. In the view
of the Permanent Bureaus of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, in the case
of the no-confidence motion there is a conflict of a constitutional nature. However,
the President of the Senate, Anca Dragu (USR-PLUS), and the Speaker of the
Chamber of Deputies, Ludovic Orban (PNL), do not agree with this point of view so
they sent separate documents to the Court. Ms. Dragu claims there is a
political conflict that the Government wants to turn into a constitutional one.
The predominantly Liberal executive claims that the no-confidence motion did
not have the minimum number of valid signatures and that the Speaker of the
Chamber of Deputies did not inform the Government about the document on the
same day it was tabled. AUR demanded that the debate and vote on the motion be
included on Parliament’s agenda and announced that it would go on parliamentary
strike until a timetable was set. Entitled Dismissal of the Cîţu Government,
Romania’s only chance to live!, the motion of no-confidence accuses the prime
minister of plunging Romania into a serious economic and social crisis.

Internet. Romania has dropped three places in a global ranking of
countries with the fastest fixed internet, based on over one billion speed
tests. Romania reached the 29th place in the global hierarchy, down from the
26th position occupied last year. On the other hand, Romania climbed to the second
place in the regional ranking based on the speed of fixed internet services,
being overtaken only by neighboring Hungary

Football. The Romanian football champion, CFR Cluj (northwest), plays,
tomorrow night, away from home, its first match in Group D of the Conference
League, against FK Jablonec, of the Czech Republic. CFR Cluj, the only
representative of Romania in the European competitions, is the championship
leader and has won the last 4 titles. FK Jablonec ranked 3rd in the Czech
championship last season. In the other Group D match, the Danish team Randers
FC receives the visit of the Dutch team AZ Alkmaar. (MI)