September 17, 2021 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 17.09.2021, 20:00

CORONAVIRUS The government Friday passed a resolution making
the green certificate, attesting vaccination, negative testing or recovery from
COVID-19, compulsory upon entering
restaurants, gyms, or attending public and private events in areas where the infection rate is over 3 per
thousand. This is the same digital certificate required this summer for travel
within the EU. On Friday, authorities announced 4,478 new cases of COVID-19
infection in 24 hours, from over 46,000 tests.
In the same interval, 73 related fatalities were also reported and 762
patients treated in intensive care. Bucharest exceeded, on Friday, the
threshold of 2 per thousand inhabitants cumulated in 14 days, which brings the
capital city in the yellow zone. Meanwhile, on Thursday the National Committee
on Emergency Situations approved a new list of high-risk countries, valid as of
September 19. Bulgaria and France are now back in the yellow zone, and Spain is
listed as a green-zone country.

CONNECTING EUROPE Romania needs to step up investments in the rail
infrastructure, the European Commissioner for Transport Adina Vălean said on
Friday. Attending the arrival in Bucharest’s main railway station of Connecting
Europe Express, a special train designed in the European Year of Rail, she
explained that Romania must plan its investments well, come up to solid
projects and manage these investments as efficiently as possible. I am aware of
the situation of railways in Romania and I undertake to do everything in my
power to help finance and develop it, the interim transport minister Dan Vîlceanu
said in his turn. Connecting Europe Express will stop in stations in 26
countries during its five-week, 20,000-km journey, before arriving in Paris on
October 7. The train departed from Lisbon and, before reaching Paris, it will
stop in Ljubljana, connecting the Portuguese, Slovenian and French presidencies
of the Council of the EU.

VISIT The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, will be in
Bucharest on September 27, the EC deputy spokesperson Dana Spinant announced on
Friday. She added that in the coming days the Commission will complete its
assessment of Romania’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan. Under the Plan,
Bucharest is set to receive over 29 billion euro, half of it in grants and half
in loans. Romania plans reforms and investments in transports, environment,
agriculture, healthcare, education, business environment, research, innovation,
digitisation as well as resilience in crisis situations. According to the
Commission, 18 states have already seen their national recovery plans approved,
and 12 of them have already received the first instalments of the funds for
investment projects.

COURT Romania’s Constitutional Court will discuss on September 28 the notification filed by the Liberal Prime
Minister Florin Cîţu’s Cabinet, in connection with an alleged constitutional
conflict with Parliament concerning the no-confidence motion filed by the
USR-PLUS alliance, a former junior coalition partner, and AUR, a nationalist
party, in the opposition. The Government denounced Parliament’s alleged
unconstitutional, disloyal and abusive behaviour towards the Government, as the
no-confidence motion tabled by the latter had allegedly been initiated, tabled
and communicated in terms that are against the Constitution. Pending the Court’s ruling, the debate and
vote on the motion are in standby, Parliament decided.

NEW
MEDIA ART The
biggest new media art event in Romania will be held on Saturday. iMapp
Bucharest – Winners league is also among the top three international video
mapping competitions. The works of teams from the US, Germany, Ukraine, Japan
and Hungary will be presented on the world’s biggest screening area, namely,
the façade of the Parliament Palace in Bucharest, of 23,000 sqm. The theme of
this year’s edition is The Show Must Go On and celebrates through works that
blend light, technology and music, the way in which people have been returning
to normal life.

NATO Chief of General Staff, Lieutenant-General Daniel
Petrescu is taking part over September 17-19 in the conference of the NATO
Military Committee, which brings together in Athens, Greece heads of military
from Allied countries. Talks will tackle NATO operations, missions and
activities. Additionally, the conference will also address means of
implementing the Deterrence and Defence of the Euro-Atlantic Area, and NATO’s
Warfighting Capstone Concept. According to the Romanian Defence Ministry, the
Military Committee will analyze the NATO 2030 initiative and all its military
implications and opportunities. (tr. A.M. Popescu)