COVID-19 IN ROMANIA -
\nSome 2,500 new infections with COVID-19 and 87 related deaths were reported
\nearlier today by the Group for Strategic Communication. Some 594 thousand
\ninfections with COVID-19 have been reported in Romania since the start of the
\npandemic, 84% of people having recovered. The death toll is close to 14,500.
\n1,255 people are currently in intensive care. The capital city and 8 counties
\nremain in the red zone in terms of the high infection rate. The highest
\ninfection rate is reported in Ilfov County around Bucharest, 6.7 per thousand
\ninhabitants. The European Medicines Agency is today expected to approve the
\nanti-COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, already rolled out on
\nthe markets in Great Britain, the United States, Canada and Israel. A first
\nsymbolic batch of 10,000 dozes is expected to reach Romania on December 26.
\nAuthorities say the first shots will be administered to medical staff working
\nin the 10 infectious disease hospitals, who are in the first line of defense
\nagainst the coronavirus. <\/p>\n
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MUTATION
\n– The German Presidency of the Council of the European Union has today summoned
\nrepresentatives of Member States to an emergency meeting to answer the threat
\nposed by the latest mutation to the SARS-CoV-2 virus discovered in the United
\nKingdom. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is also presiding a meeting of
\nthe National Emergency Committee to discuss a possible lockdown as a result as
\nof a new strain of the virus now spreading across the country. The mutated
\nvirus has also been identified in other EU states as well as in other parts of
\nthe world. Numerous countries, including Romania, have temporarily suspended
\nair travel connections with the UK. <\/p>\n
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PARLIAMENT
\n– The two chambers of the Romanian Parliament will convene today for the first
\ntime after the parliamentary election. Before the new legislative session
\nofficially starts, the two chambers have to elect their leading structures and
\nthe members of specialized committees, which will be interviewing the
\ncandidates eying positions in the new Cabinet. 460 MPs representing the
\nSocial-Democratic Party, the National Liberal Party, the Save Romania Union -
\nPLUS Alliance, the Alliance for the Union of Romanians and the Democratic Union
\nof Ethnic Hungarians will officially take office in the Senate and the Chamber
\nof Deputies today. Also today the
\nNational Liberal Party, the Save Romania Union – PLUS Alliance and the
\nDemocratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians are expected to sign an agreement
\nunderlying the new center-right governing coalition. The three parties decided
\nto support a Cabinet led by the current Finance Minister, Liberal Florin C\u00ee\u0163u.
\nThe National Liberal Party will allegedly control nine ministries, six
\nministries have been distributed to the Save Romania Union – PLUS Alliance and
\nthree to the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians. As regards the leadership
\nof the two chambers of Parliament, the Save Romania Union – PLUS Alliance will
\ndesignate the new Senate Speaker while the Liberals will be appointing the
\nSpeaker in the Chamber of Deputies. The Social-Democratic Party grabbed the
\nhighest number of votes in the December 6 parliamentary election, but couldn’t
\nbuild a majority in Parliament. Social-Democrat president Marcel Ciolacu told
\nhis fellow MPs they need to thoroughly prepare for the opposition. <\/p>\n
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1989
\n– 31 years ago, the communist revolution started in Timi\u015foara, western Romania,
\nextended to Bucharest and other big cities, sparking a nation-wide movement
\nthat led to the demise of the communist regime led by dictator Nicolae
\nCeau\u015fescu. A day before, Timi\u015foara had become the first city free of communism.
\nOn December 21, Ceau\u015fescu called a large rally, meant to condemn the events in
\nTimi\u015foara and muster popular support for the party and state leadership. Yet
\nthe reaction of the industrial workers in the capital-city was unexpected.
\nT\u00e2rgu Mure\u015f, in the center, became the third city in Romania where people rose
\nagainst the communist regime. Dozens of people were killed on this day all over
\nthe country and hundreds were injured. Over a thousand people were arrested at
\nthe time. <\/p>\n
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BREXIT
\n– The European Union and Great Britain are today resuming talks for a new trade
\nagreement, after the initial deadline set by the European Parliament passed
\nlast night. Parliament needs time to analyze the agreement. Last night’s round
\nof negotiations bore no results, as the EU Chief Negotiator for Brexit Michel
\nBarnier, posted on Twitter We respect the sovereignty of the UK. And we expect
\nthe same. Significant divergences still remain over fishing rights and fair
\ncompetition rules. The trade deal comprises all sectors of cooperation between
\nthe EU and the UK. The absence of consensus in any of the sectors would thus
\nrender an agreement impossible. (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":[35935,35855,14005,35374,35934,35856,29122,29967,32402],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-104802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-anticommunist-revolution-of-1989","tag-biontech","tag-brexit","tag-covid-19","tag-mutation","tag-pfizer","tag-romanian-parliament","tag-uk","tag-vaccine"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n