CORONAVIRUS – Three out of the six people diagnosed with
\ncoronavirus in Romania have been declared cured, authorities say. One was
\ndischarged and two remain under medical care pending their discharge. The other
\nthree are currently in special medical centers for infectious disease in
\nTimisoara, Cluj and Iasi, their condition being stable. According to official
\ndata, 35 people are in quarantine in Romania, and more than 11,700 are in
\nisolation at home. Two Romanian citizens infected with coronavirus and hospitalized
\nin Japan have been declared cured and will be discharged. Meanwhile, Britain
\nhas decided to amend the legislation to ease access to medical leave. In France
\nthe outbreak has spread to all regions while in Israel a quarantine is imposed
\non all persons arriving from several west-European countries. Hungary has
\nannounced its first cases. Italy, the country with the third biggest outbreak
\nafter China and South Korea, has closed down all schools and universities until
\nMarch 15. Schools have been closed in 13 states, affecting 290 million students.
\nIn continental China the death toll has exceeded 3,000. COVID-19 has spread to
\n80 countries and territories. The total number of infections stands at 95,000
\nworldwide, with over 3,300 people having died to the virus. <\/p>\n
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GOVERNMENT – Parliament’s specialist committees on Thursday
\ngave a positive opinion to the nomination of Bogdan Aurescu as Foreign
\nMinister, Marcel Bolos as Minister for European Funds, Marcel Vela as Interior
\nMinister and Virgil Popescu as Economy Minister, who were proposed by Prime Minister
\ndesignate Florin Citu. The candidates for minister of transport, infrastructure
\nand communications, sports, defense, agriculture and the environment have also
\nreceived the green light, while the candidates for minister of labour, health,
\neducation, culture, finance, development and justice have received negative
\nopinions. The opinions are consultative and the vote of investiture is expected
\nnext week. The only change from the Orban government is the position of finance
\nminister, where Lucian Ovidiu Heiu\u015f is proposed to replace the former occupant,
\nthe Prime Minister designate. Citu was nominated by president Klaus Iohannis
\nafter the Constitutional Court ruled as unconstitutional the designation of the
\nacting Prime Minister Ludovic Orban, whose cabinet had been dismissed in a vote
\nof no-confidence.<\/p>\n
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VISIT – Cluj Mayor Emil Boc on Thursday announced the
\ncity would compete in the 2020 European Capital of Innovation, a competition
\nwon last year by Nantes, France. The decision was taken after the European
\ncommissioner for innovation, research, culture, education and youth Mariya
\nGabriel officially opened the competition on the sidelines of the StartupCity
\nCluj-Napoca conference. European cities with over 100,000 inhabitants can
\nenroll. The grand prize is 1 million euros. The European official met with
\nEducation Minister Monica Anisie, who underlined the key role of education in
\nthe Commission’s latest initiatives, namely the European Green Deal and A Strong
\nSocial Europe for Just Transitions. Minister Anisie highlighted the need for
\nthe Commission to disburse proper financial resources to ensure school
\ninfrastructure becomes sustainable. Mariya Gabriel in turn said that research
\nand education are key to creating innovative ecosystems, in partnership with
\nthe business sector. <\/p>\n
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POVERTY – In 2018, children were the age group at highest
\nrisk of poverty and social exclusion in almost half of the EU member states.
\nThe percentage varies from 13.1% in Slovenia and 13.2% in the Czech Republic to
\n38.1% in Romania and 33.7% in Bulgaria, according to the data made public on
\nThursday by the European statistical office Eurostat. The risk of poverty and
\nsocial exclusion affected 23.4% of EU’s children, 22.1% of its adults aged
\nbetween 18 and 64 and 18.4% of people over the age of 65. The biggest gaps were
\nnoted in France, Romania and Slovakia, where the rate among children was more
\nthan 5% higher than the rest of the population.<\/p>\n
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MEMORANDUM – Six EU member states, including Romania, signed
\nin Zagreb a memorandum of understanding on mutual assistance in the field of
\ncyber security, on the sidelines of an informal meeting of EU defense
\nministers. The project, which is coordinated by Lithuania, aims at creating
\nmultinational response networks and teams made up of EU cyber security experts.
\nThe other signatories are Croatia, Poland, Estonia and Holland. In 2017, 25 EU
\nmember states joined PESCO, an initiative allowing countries to cooperate more
\nclosely to consolidate their military capacity, laying the foundations of the
\nso-called European defense union. This covers concrete projects, including the
\ncreation of a medical union, a logistical center and the development of joint
\nstandards for military radio communication. <\/p>\n
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(Translated by C. Mateescu & V. Palcu)<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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