VACCINE Romania carries on its anti-Covid campaign,
\nwhich kicked off on December 27th 2020 with 687 thousand vaccinated
\nso far. 1.1 million doses have been given in Romania so far mostly produced by
\nPfizer\/BioNTech and Moderna. The AstraZeneca vaccine starts being used as of
\ntoday. According to the authorities, Romania comes sixth in an EU ranking in
\nterms of the number of doses used. On the other hand the number of infections
\nin Romania is coming near 762 thousand since the beginning of the pandemic with
\na death toll of 19,400. As of today, people coming to Romania from countries in
\nthe so-called yellow zone, with an infection rate higher than Romania’s, must
\ncomply with fresh rules. <\/p>\n
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PROTESTS ‘Many countries in Europe are resorting to the system of holiday
\ngift vouchers in order to support the
\nHoReCa industry heavily affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, whereas Romania
\neliminates them without any reason whatsoever’, employers’ associations in
\nRomania’s HoReCa domain are saying in a communiqu\u00e9. Last week, the country’s
\nLiberal Prime Minister announced that the gift vouchers that should be given
\nthis year would be issued next year stirring discontent among hotel owners who
\nbelieve the measure will contribute to deepening the crisis already affecting
\nthis sector. Representatives of these organizations are today having talks with
\nthe country’s economy minister Claudiu Nasui and have planned a nation-wide
\nprotest in front of hotels and restaurants in Romania. <\/p>\n
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MOTION A simple motion tabled against Romania’s incumbent Health
\nMinister Vlad Voiculescu, (member of the co-ruling USR-PLUS alliance) is being
\ndiscussed in Bucharest today. Under a suggestive title, ‘Incompetence and the
\nlack of responsibility kill – Vlad Voiculescu puts the life and health of the
\nRomanians at risk’, the motion has been tabled by the opposition PSD 2 months
\nafter the government led by Liberal Florin Citu came to power. The USR-PLUS
\nco-president Dan Barna has said the alliance firmly supports all the ministers
\nit has in this cabinet while Liberal leader Ludovic Orban said the Liberal MPs
\nwould be voting against the motion on Wednesday. <\/p>\n
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BUDGET The Romanian government wants the draft
\nbudget it subjected to public debates last week to get Parliament approval by
\nFebruary 20th along with the amendments accompanying it, including
\nan emergency ordinance on the cancellation of holiday gift vouchers as well as
\nother on freezing pensions to the level of last year. According to the
\ngovernment, the present draft budget is set to lay the foundations for a
\nmulti-annual approach of the reforms and public finances with a gradual
\nreduction of the deficit from 7.16% this year to 3.4% in 2024. At the same
\ntime, the budget proposes investment funds of 5.5% of the GDP, the largest so
\nfar. According to Prime Minister Citu, the aforementioned draft budget enjoys
\nsupport from the European Commission, from where the biggest part of the funds
\ndestined for reform and investment is to arrive. <\/p>\n
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TENNIS The world’s number two tennis player, Romanian Simona Halep is expected
\nto take on US challenger Serena Williams in the quarter finals of the
\nAustralian Open, the year’s first Grand Slam tournament. The American had a 9-2
\nwins in head-to-head matches although Simona won a major Wimbledon tournament
\nin 2019. In the doubles eighth finals, a Romanian-Brazilian pair Horia
\nTecau\/Marcelo Melo lost to Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Filip Polasek of Slovakia
\n4-6, 3-6. <\/p>\n
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(bill)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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