MEETING The Annual meeting of the Romanian diplomacy continued in a
\ndigital format in Bucharest on Tuesday. NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea
\nGeoana has conveyed a video message to the participants in the event
\nunderlining that Romania is a vital NATO ally playing the role of a regional
\npivot in terms of defence and deterring the threats against the alliance. On
\nthe sidelines of the event, Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu on Tuesday held
\ntalks with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba. The two officials announced
\nthe decision to set up a working group on energy issues, pointing out to a
\nseries of ambitious common projects. The Ukrainian official thanked Romania for
\nsupporting Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty underlining the
\nimportance of security at the Black Sea. Also on Tuesday the head of the
\nUkrainian diplomacy met Romanian Prime Minister Ludovic Orban who said that he
\nexpected the authorities in the neighboring country to protect and promote the
\nrights of the Romanian community living in Ukraine. <\/p>\n
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DECLARATION The Chamber of Deputies in Bucharest on
\nTuesday passed a declaration concerning the violation of fundamental rights in
\nthe Republic of Belarus. Through the document, the Romanian Parliament proves
\nits solidarity with the people of Belarus at the same time calling for the
\ncessation of violence against peaceful protests and for a more articulated
\nresponse from the international community unless the situation improves. Last
\nweek, the Romanian Senate passed a similar document. In another development,
\nthe head of the European diplomacy Josep Borrell has made an appeal to the
\nauthorities in Belarus to release immediately the people detained for political
\nreasons before and after the presidential election of August 9th. He recalled
\nthe fact that the EU would impose sanctions on those responsible for violence,
\nreprisals and the rigged election. More than 100 thousand people took to the
\nstreets of Minsk on Sunday for the fourth weekend in a row, despite the
\ndeployment of a significant number of riot police and army troops. According to
\nthe authorities, over 600 people have been detained. Alexander Lukashenko, 66,
\nwho has been ruling Belarus for the past 26 years continues to rule out any
\nform of dialogue. <\/p>\n
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GDP In the second quarter of 2020, still marked by COVID-19
\ncontainment measures in most Member States, seasonally adjusted GDP decreased
\nby 11.8% in the euro area and by 11.4% in the EU compared with the previous
\nquarter, according to an estimate published by Eurostat, the statistical office
\nof the European Union. These were by far the sharpest declines observed since
\nthe time series started in 1995. In the first quarter of 2020, GDP had
\ndecreased by 3.7% in the euro area and by 3.3% in the EU. Among Member States
\nfor which data are available for the second quarter of 2020, Spain (-18.5%)
\nrecorded the sharpest decline of GDP compared to the previous quarter, followed
\nby Croatia (-14.9%), Hungary (-14.5%), Greece, Portugal, France, Italy and
\nRomania. The lowest declines of GDP were observed in Finland, Lithuania and
\nEstonia followed by Ireland, Latvia and Denmark. In Romania, according to the
\nnational Statistics Institute, the GDP in the second quarter was by 12.3%
\nsmaller than in the first quarter of the year. Finance Minister Florin Citu has
\nreminded that in Q2 economy was severely affected, for almost two months, by
\nthe state of emergency. However, he said investment had a positive contribution
\nto the economic growth.<\/p>\n
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COVID-19 Authorities in Romania are making the
\nlatest assessments of the situation so that they can announce by Thursday how
\nthe school year begins on September 14 in every school. The National Institute
\nof Public Health presented on Monday the epidemiological situation across the
\ncountry for the past 14 days. Results show that in most of Romania, classes can
\nbe held with the students present at school or a combination of normal school
\nattendance and online classes. Health Minister Nelu Tataru has said that the
\nnext few weeks will be critical due to the beginning of the school year and the
\nlocal elections of September 27th. However, in his opinion, if rules are
\nobserved, the number of coronavirus infections might decrease as of mid-October.
\nThe most recent report shows a total number of confirmed infections in Romania
\nof 97 thousand and almost 4 thousand deaths. 460 patients are in intensive
\ncare.<\/p>\n
(translated by bill)<\/p>\n
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