September 6, 2021 UPDATE
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Newsroom, 06.09.2021, 20:29
COVID-19 The number of Covid-19
infections is on the rise in Romania. 1035 fresh cases were reported on Monday
out of roughly 18 thousand tests. 25 new fatalities have been announced in the
past 24 hours while 33 hundred patients are being treated in hospitals. 405
patients are reportedly in IC units. 5.1 million people have been fully vaccinated
since Romania’s vaccine rollout kicked off in late December last year, which
means under a third of the eligible population.
RESIGNATIONS The
co-president of Romanian political group USR PLUS, deputy Prime Minister Dan
Barna, on Monday announced that ministers of this political group would
withdraw from the cabinet headed by Liberal Prime Minister Florin Citu. The
ministers who will be tendering their resignations on Tuesday morning are
Cristian Ghinea from the Ministry of Investment and European Projects,
Transport Minister Catalin Drula, the Minister of Economy Claudiu Nasui, the
Minister of Research Ciprian Teleman and Ioana Mihaila from the Health
Ministry. The lack of quorum on Monday prevented the Parliament’s Permanent
Bureaus from making a decision on the timetable of debating and voting on the
censure motion tabled by the USR PLUS and the nationalist opposition AUR. The
USR PLUS wants to maintain the coalition with the National Liberal Party and
the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania but without Prime Minister
Catu after the latter sacked the USR Justice Minister Stelian Ion. Romanian
president Klaus Iohannis on Saturday called on the USR PLUS to stage talks in
the coalition and find a viable and rational solution to the present political deadlock.
VISIT Romanian president Klaus Iohannis will be paying a formal visit
to Switzerland on Thursday, at the invitation of his Swiss counterpart Guy
Parmelin. According to the presidential administration in Bucharest, the visit
comes as part of the consistent high-level bilateral dialogue in the past years
as well as in the context of celebrating this year 110 years of diplomatic
relations between the two countries. The two heads of state will be having
political talks on strengthening the bilateral relations, including the economic
cooperation with emphasis on investment. Switzerland comes 10th in
an investor ranking in Romania. Also high on the agenda are topical issues on
the international arena, such as the latest political and security developments
in the EU’s eastern vicinity, in the West Balkans as well as the Romanian-Swiss
cooperation inside international organizations.
DIPLOMACY The
foreign ministers of the Republic of Moldova, Greece, Italy and India are the
special guests of this year’s edition of the Annual Meeting of the Romanian
Diplomacy which is getting under way in Bucharest on Tuesday. Participants will
discuss the role of diplomacy to consolidate Romania’s resilience. The event,
which is traditionally held by the foreign ministry around the date of Romanian
Diplomacy Day, is held this time online. It brings together the heads of
Romania’s diplomatic missions and consular offices abroad and its special
guests will include the vice-president of the European Commission for Democracy
and Demography Dubravka Šuica and the Secretary General of the Organisation for
Security and Co-operation in Europe Helga Schmid.
(bill)
