\n
<\/p>\n
COVID-19 IN ROMANIA – The Covid-19 vaccination campaign continues
\nin Romania. Since its start on December 27, more than 1.5 million people have
\nbeen vaccinated, mostly with Pfizer-BioNTech, but also with Moderna and
\nAstraZeneca. Romania has decided to continue the vaccination with AstraZeneca
\nshots, based on scientific data and the recommendations of the European
\nMedicines Agency, the coordinator of the immunization campaign, Valeriu
\nGheorghita, has stated. He’s said the decision was not easy to make, given that
\nso many European countries have decided to temporarily halt the use of the
\nvaccine as a precautionary measure, following reports of blood clotting in
\npeople who got the jab. The third stage of vaccination, for the general
\npopulation, started on Monday. For the time being, people are vaccinated in the
\nlocalities where the incidence of cases is higher than 4.5 per one thousand
\ninhabitants. The rest of the population can register for the waiting lists on
\nthe electronic platform. More than 6.200 new cases of infection were reported
\nin Romania in the last 24 hours, as well as 89 Covid-19 related deaths. 1,266
\npeople are currently in intensive care.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
COVID-19 IN THE WORLD – Several Eastern European countries are
\nfaced with the third wave of the pandemic, which puts pressure on health
\nsystems again. Hungary has a new hospitalization record for COVID-19 related
\ncases. This country with less than 10 million inhabitants currently has over
\n9,800 hospitalized people, of whom about 1,000 in intensive care. Bulgaria is
\nthe fourth country in the EU with the highest number of deaths reported in the
\nlast 14 days, after Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary. The situation is
\nmuch worse in the Czech Republic, which is the country with the highest number
\nof cases of infection in the EU, ie 15.7 per one thousand inhabitants in the
\nlast two weeks. On the other hand, on Tuesday, the European Medicines Agency
\nannounced that it remained firmly convinced that the benefits of the
\nanti-COVID-19 vaccine produced by Astra Zeneca outweighed the risks. Several
\ncountries have suspended the use of Astra Zeneca after signaling possible side
\neffects. Worldwide, according to worldometers, more than 121 million people
\nhave been infected with the new coronavirus. At least 2.6 million people have
\ndied and nearly 97 million have been declared cured since the beginning of the
\npandemic a year ago.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
PLAN – Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis on Wednesday attended a
\nworking meeting on the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR). Attended
\nby the leaders of the ruling coalition, the meeting agreed on the plan, which
\nrepresents a chance for Romania’s development and carrying out reforms that have
\nbeen put off for so many years, the president said. The \u20ac30 billion provided in
\nthe plan will give Romanian economy and society increased resilience in the
\ncase of upcoming crises. Previously, the Minister of European Investments and
\nProjects, Cristian Ghinea, said that one of the important components of the
\nplan is fighting poverty. Cristian Ghinea has also mentioned a program for
\nreducing school dropout, which targets 1,600 schools and a bridge scholarship
\nprogram for high school students, especially those from rural areas. He also
\nspoke about investments to increase Romanians’ access to the health system,
\nincluding the construction of new hospitals and the modernization of existing
\nones.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
GOVERNMENT – The Romanian Government on Wednesday debated the draft
\nlaw banning cumulated pension-salary incomes, put up for public debate by the
\nMinistry of Labor. According to the labour ministry, pensioners in the public
\nsystem will be able to choose to continue working until the age of 70, during
\nwhich time the payment of the pension will be suspended. Labor Minister Raluca
\nTurcan said some 35,000 pensioners who are currently also receiving state-paid
\nsalaries must choose between one of the two within 30 days of the law taking
\neffect. Exempted from this law will be people with certain categories of
\nincome, such as hourly pay or copyrights. Under the draft law, members of the
\nRomanian Academy, Member of Parliament or workers in the local administration
\nwill also be exempted from this law. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
SEA SHIELD 21 – Over 2,400 military from eight countries, 18
\nbattleships and 10 aircraft are taking part over March 19-29 in Sea Shield
\n21, the largest multinational NATO exercise hosted by the Romanian Naval
\nForces in 2021 in the Black Sea area. According to the Romanian Ministry of
\nDefense, navy forces from Bulgaria, Greece, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania,
\nSpain, the United States and Turkey are taking part in drills overseen by Fleet
\nCommand. The purpose of Sea Shield 21 is to verify and consolidate the level of
\ninteroperability and cooperation between the Romanian Naval Forces and the
\nother branches of the Romanian Army, various structures within the Interior
\nMinistry and allied naval forces. The exercises will cover every stage of a
\nstandard NATO maritime response to a geopolitical crisis in the region and is
\naimed at proving the Romanian Army’s constant commitment to strengthening
\nNATO’s maritime posture against a volatile security context. After the illegal
\nannexation of Crimea in 2014 by the Russian Federation, the Romanian Naval
\nForces recommended the introduction of this tactical exercise on NATO’s agenda
\nof collective defense training, in order to develop the interoperability of all
\nits combat forces (maritime, underwater, land and air). The first edition of
\nSea Shield was held in 2015. Over the following years its agenda was adapted to
\nprovide a swift and effective response to a whole array of threats to maritime
\nsecurity and stability in the region. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
BUDGETS – Parliament’s budget and finance committees on Wednesday
\nissued a negative opinion for the activity reports of the public TV and radio
\nbroadcasters in 2018 and 2019. Ruling coalition MPs voted for a negative
\nopinion, while Social-Democrats and AUR MPs in opposition voted against. After
\ngetting the committee’s opinion, the reports will be submitted to Parliament’s
\nculture committee, which must draft a report of its own, which in turn will be
\nsubmitted for debate and vote in Parliament’s plenary sitting. Should
\nParliament reject the two institutions’ activity reports, their management will
\nbe sacked. (M.I. & V.P.)<\/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":[35953,35374,36094,36096,36095,32305],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-104971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-astrazeneca","tag-covid-19","tag-national-recovery-and-resilience-plan","tag-public-broadcasters","tag-sea-shield-21","tag-vaccination-campaign"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n