COVID-19 IN
\nROMANIA – Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis on Tuesday said the first
\nbatch of the 3 million COVID-19 ordered tests will be arriving within the week.
\nDays from now the authorities are also expecting the delivery of the 300
\nventilators for intensive care units. The President on Tuesday met with interim
\nPrime Minister, Nicolae Ciuc\u0103 and with Health Minister, Nelu T\u0103taru to discuss
\nthe COVID-19 pandemic and the vaccination campaign. On Tuesday another 7,439
\nnew COVID-19 infections and 213 related deaths were announced. 1,276 people are
\nin intensive care. The total number of infections has exceeded 524 thousand.
\nNearly 80% of people infected have recovered. The National Committee for
\nEmergency Situations decided to extend remote teaching for all education
\nsystems in Romania until December 23. <\/p>\n
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ELECTION
\n– Defense Minister Nicolae Ciuc\u0103 on Tuesday took over his mandate as interim Prime Minister
\nof Romania, designated by President Klaus Iohannis following the resignation of
\nPrime Minister Ludovic Orban. Nicolae Ciuc\u0103 will hold this position pending the
\nswearing-in of the new Cabinet. In his first press conference, Prime Minister Nicolae
\nCiuc\u0103 said the Government’s immediate priorities include anti-COVID-19
\nmeasures, the vaccination strategy, the end of the 2020 budget year and
\npreparing the 2021 budget year. Outgoing Prime Minister Ludovic Orban on Monday
\ndecided to resign, over a year since he took over this position. Orban said he
\nstepped down because he wants to start negotiations over the designation of a
\nnew Government following the result obtained by the National Liberal Party in
\nSunday’s parliamentary election. After centralizing over 99% of the votes, the
\nCentral Election Bureau announced the Social-Democratic Party grabbed 29.81% of
\nthe vote in the Senate and 29.38% of the vote in the Chamber of Deputies. The
\nNational Liberal Party is in second place with 25.56% of the vote in the Senate
\nand 25.16% in the Chamber of Deputies. The Save Romania Union – PLUS Alliance
\ncame in third with 15.44% in the Senate and 14.96% in the Chamber of Deputies.
\nThe Alliance for the Union of Romanians won 9.1% of the vote in the Senate and
\n8.69% in the Chamber of Deputies. Finally, the Democratic Union of Ethnic
\nHungarians grabbed 6% of the vote in the Senate and 5.98% in the Chamber of
\nDeputies. <\/p>\n
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MOLDOVA – Moldovan acting
\nPresident Igor Dodon on Tuesday ratified the law whereby the Intelligence and
\nSecurity Service is transferred from the President’s control back under
\nParliament’s jurisdiction, despite a Constitutional Court ruling against this
\nmove. Moldova’s Socialist-controlled Parliament recently passed this law, along
\nwith legislation limiting the president’s prerogatives and strengthening the
\nstatute of the Russian language. The move is seen as an attempt by Socialist
\nPresident Dodon to preserve control over the Intelligence and Security Service
\nafter losing the presidential race to pro-European Maia Sandu. This piece of
\nlegislation, together with other controversial bills tabled by the Socialists,
\nhave sparked massive street protests in the capital-city Chi\u015fin\u0103u in the last few days. Protesters are calling for early elections,
\nsomething which the opposition in Parliament, as well as the President elect,
\nMaia Sandu, both want. <\/p>\n
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EUROSTAT
\n– The number of employees went up by 1% in the Eurozone and by 0.9% at European
\nUnion level in the third quarter of the year, compared to the previous three
\nmonths, a Eurostat report published on Tuesday reveals. The increase is the
\nmost significant reported since the Eurostat started tracking these figures in
\n1995. The biggest increases in the number of employees in the European Union
\nwere reported in Ireland, Spain and Austria, while the biggest decreases were
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VACCINATION
\n– The anti-COVID-19 vaccination campaign started in Great Britain on Tuesday.
\nMargaret Keenan, a 90-year-old grandmother, became the first person in the
\nworld to be given the anti-COVID Pfizer jab outside clinical trials. British
\nHealth Minister Matt Hancock said vulnerable categories and people over 80
\nyears of age will be vaccinated first, along with health workers and care
\nstaff. Britain has ordered 40 million doses of vaccine which will be
\nadministered to 20 million people, as two courses are needed. 800,000 doses of
\nthe Pfizer vaccine have been dispensed in the UK so far. <\/p>\n
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BREXIT -
\nEuropean Commission Vice-President Maro\u0161 \u0160ef\u010dovi\u010d on Tuesday hailed Britain’s
\ndecision to ditch internal market clauses going against a potential UK-EU trade
\ndeal, as well as Britain’s promise not to introduce similar measures in its
\ntaxation bill. The EU official said British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and
\nCommission President Ursula von der Leyen will be trying to overcome the
\ndeadlock in negotiations in an upcoming meeting over the coming days. Britain
\nand the EU have reached an agreement in principle, especially with regard to
\nthe protocol on Northern Ireland. Prime Minister Johnson however said a trade
\ndeal with the EU is still looking very difficult at the moment. (V. Palcu)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A roundup of domestic and international news<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":75903,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[14005,35374,29594,31175,35906,28945,35773,29130,33029,35907],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-104777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-brexit","tag-covid-19","tag-eurostat","tag-igor-dodon","tag-intelligence-and-security-service","tag-klaus-iohannis","tag-legislative-election","tag-moldova","tag-nicolae-ciuca","tag-vaccination-campaign-in-great-britain"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n