COVID-19 IN ROMANIA – Restaurants, bars,
\ncinemas, theatres and gambling outlets will reopen in Bucharest staring today.
\nAll these venues will work at reduced capacity and with limited working hours.
\nThe ease in restrictions follows a drop in the infection rate in the capital
\ncity, to under 3 per thousand inhabitants, thus taking Bucharest out of the red
\nzone. Meanwhile the vaccination campaign continues. Over 860,000 people have
\nmade appointments so far, of whom over half have already been immunized. The
\nsixth delivery of over 92,000 Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines arrived earlier today in
\nairports in Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca and Timi\u015foara. The vaccines will then be
\ntaken to regional centers for storing and administration. On Monday, the Group for
\nStrategic Communication announced another 1,500 new confirmed cases of COVID-19
\nand 65 related deaths. 1,000 patients are in intensive care. <\/p>\n
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COVID-19 IN THE
\nWORLD – There are over 10 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the world
\nright now and over 2.1 million associated deaths, the latest worldometers.info
\nupdate indicates. Meanwhile, the new coronavirus strains discovered in Great
\nBritain and South Africa continue to spread around the world, and vaccination
\ncampaigns are slowing down after Pfizer reduced its production capacity, thus
\naffecting its deliveries to European states. EU leaders assure pharmaceutical
\ncompanies will observe delivery deadlines under the signed agreements.
\nMeanwhile authorities in Germany, France, the Netherlands or Belgium are
\nintroducing harsh restrictions. In turn, Spain is facing a third wave of the
\npandemic. According to our correspondent on the ground, the regions of Madrid
\nand Valencia, home to large Romanian communities, are as of today reintroducing
\nrestrictions due to the large number of COVID cases. Restaurants in Valencia
\nare shut down and the Police in Madrid are using drones to check the observance
\nof health safety measures. Nearly all regions will be isolated for the next two
\nweeks. In the United States, President Joe Biden today will sign a decree
\nreintroducing travel restrictions for citizens from the EU, Great Britain and
\nBrazil. With this move the new White House leader wants to keep the mutated
\nstrains of COVID away from the United States. <\/p>\n
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ECONOMY – Romania’s budget is
\nunder a lot of pressure right now, due to the need to observe the 7% deficit
\ntarget agreed upon with the European Commission, Romanian Deputy Prime Minister
\nDan Barna said on Monday. The Romanian official said the Government is working
\non a Reconstruction and Resilience Plan which Romania will advance to the
\nEuropean Commission, under which our country is due to receive some \u20ac30 billion.
\nOn the other hand, the state budget for this year is still under discussion,
\nand the Government wants to adopt it in the first half of February. The
\nGovernment is also due to pass a law providing for a 3% increase in the minimum
\nwage starting January 2021. In another development, Moody’s financial rating
\nagency says the Government in Bucharest passed the most restrictive economic
\nsupport package in Central and Eastern Europe in the context of the COVID
\npandemic. Thus Romania has allotted only 4% of its GDP to economic recovery.
\nThe report also reveals that half of this package accounts for direct measures
\nor tax breaks or payment deferrals, while the other half represents Government
\nguarantees. <\/p>\n
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MEETING – Romania’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Bogdan Aurescu, is today attending a meeting of EU Foreign Ministers
\nin Brussels. EU officials, alongside the High Representative for Foreign
\nAffairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, will exchange views on the EU
\nstrategy for distributing vaccines to third-world countries, developments in
\nthe case of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, prospects of consolidating
\ntrans-Atlantic ties and EU-Turkey relations. Minister Bogdan Aurescu will also
\nnotify his European counterparts regarding progress on setting up the
\nEuro-Atlantic Resilience Center in Romania. During an informal breakfast
\nmeeting, EU Foreign Affairs Ministers will also tackle EU-UK relations in terms of
\nforeign policy and security, considering the withdrawal of Great Britain from
\nthe community bloc on January 1, 2021. <\/p>\n
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UNEMPLOYMENT – The
\nunemployment rate stood at 3.38% in December 2020, up by 0.06% compared to the
\nprevious month and by 0.41% compared to December 2019, the National Employment
\nAgency reports. The total number of unemployed was close to 300,000, two thirds
\nof them reported in the rural area. People without studies and those with basic
\ntraining account for the largest share in the number of unemployed. <\/p>\n
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SUMMIT – World leaders are
\ntoday meeting online in the first summit devoted to protecting the planet
\nagainst climate change. The summit focuses on the effects of climate change.
\nThe previous such summits were devoted to combating the causes of climate
\nchange, carbon gas emissions in particular. The event is aimed at reducing the
\nvulnerability of state in the face of rising sea levels, a surge in extreme
\nweather phenomena and food shortages all over the world. <\/p>\n
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PORTUGAL – Portugal on Sunday
\nelected the moderate Conservative Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa as its new president,
\nafter a ballot held with the strict observance of COVID-related health safety
\nmeasures. According to AFP, the current president, a 72-year-old law professor,
\nearned public recognition as a TV sports commentator. Sousa won 60.7% of the
\nvote, according to partial results covering nearly all constituencies. In his
\nvictory speech, President Sousa promised he would make it his priority to
\ncombat the COVID pandemic. (V. Palcu)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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