September 8, 2020 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 08.09.2020, 20:08

MEETING The Annual meeting of the Romanian diplomacy continued in a
digital format in Bucharest on Tuesday. NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea
Geoana has conveyed a video message to the participants in the event
underlining that Romania is a vital NATO ally playing the role of a regional
pivot in terms of defence and deterring the threats against the alliance. On
the sidelines of the event, Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu on Tuesday held
talks with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba. The two officials announced
the decision to set up a working group on energy issues, pointing out to a
series of ambitious common projects. The Ukrainian official thanked Romania for
supporting Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty underlining the
importance of security at the Black Sea. Also on Tuesday the head of the
Ukrainian diplomacy met Romanian Prime Minister Ludovic Orban who said that he
expected the authorities in the neighboring country to protect and promote the
rights of the Romanian community living in Ukraine.

DECLARATION The Chamber of Deputies in Bucharest on
Tuesday passed a declaration concerning the violation of fundamental rights in
the Republic of Belarus. Through the document, the Romanian Parliament proves
its solidarity with the people of Belarus at the same time calling for the
cessation of violence against peaceful protests and for a more articulated
response from the international community unless the situation improves. Last
week, the Romanian Senate passed a similar document. In another development,
the head of the European diplomacy Josep Borrell has made an appeal to the
authorities in Belarus to release immediately the people detained for political
reasons before and after the presidential election of August 9th. He recalled
the fact that the EU would impose sanctions on those responsible for violence,
reprisals and the rigged election. More than 100 thousand people took to the
streets of Minsk on Sunday for the fourth weekend in a row, despite the
deployment of a significant number of riot police and army troops. According to
the authorities, over 600 people have been detained. Alexander Lukashenko, 66,
who has been ruling Belarus for the past 26 years continues to rule out any
form of dialogue.

GDP In the second quarter of 2020, still marked by COVID-19
containment measures in most Member States, seasonally adjusted GDP decreased
by 11.8% in the euro area and by 11.4% in the EU compared with the previous
quarter, according to an estimate published by Eurostat, the statistical office
of the European Union. These were by far the sharpest declines observed since
the time series started in 1995. In the first quarter of 2020, GDP had
decreased by 3.7% in the euro area and by 3.3% in the EU. Among Member States
for which data are available for the second quarter of 2020, Spain (-18.5%)
recorded the sharpest decline of GDP compared to the previous quarter, followed
by Croatia (-14.9%), Hungary (-14.5%), Greece, Portugal, France, Italy and
Romania. The lowest declines of GDP were observed in Finland, Lithuania and
Estonia followed by Ireland, Latvia and Denmark. In Romania, according to the
national Statistics Institute, the GDP in the second quarter was by 12.3%
smaller than in the first quarter of the year. Finance Minister Florin Citu has
reminded that in Q2 economy was severely affected, for almost two months, by
the state of emergency. However, he said investment had a positive contribution
to the economic growth.

COVID-19 Authorities in Romania are making the
latest assessments of the situation so that they can announce by Thursday how
the school year begins on September 14 in every school. The National Institute
of Public Health presented on Monday the epidemiological situation across the
country for the past 14 days. Results show that in most of Romania, classes can
be held with the students present at school or a combination of normal school
attendance and online classes. Health Minister Nelu Tataru has said that the
next few weeks will be critical due to the beginning of the school year and the
local elections of September 27th. However, in his opinion, if rules are
observed, the number of coronavirus infections might decrease as of mid-October.
The most recent report shows a total number of confirmed infections in Romania
of 97 thousand and almost 4 thousand deaths. 460 patients are in intensive
care.

(translated by bill)