COVID-19
\nIN ROMANIA – 2,019 new cases of COVID-19 have been reported in the
\nlast 24 hours, according to the Group for Strategic Communication. Another 172
\nrelated fatalities have also been reported, while 1,336 patients are currently
\nin intensive care. Nearly 10,000 patients are being treated for COVID-19 in
\nhospitals across Romania. Since the start of the pandemic, over 1 million infections
\nhave been confirmed in Romania, 95% of the people who got sick having
\nrecovered. The third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic is slowing down in Romania,
\nPrime Minister Florin C\u00ee\u0163u said, stressing the need to observe health
\nsafety regulations – the mandatory wearing of face masks and physical
\ndistancing, including during the Orthodox Easter holidays. <\/p>\n
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COVID-19 IN THE WORLD – Several aircraft carrying emergency
\nmedical equipment are expected to arrive today in India, which is facing severe
\ndifficulties created by the COVID-19 pandemic. Medical equipment, mechanical
\nventilators, oxygen generators, liquefied oxygen tanks as well as equipment
\nrequired to produce COVID-19 vaccines have been sent to India by the EU, the
\nUSA, France, the UK, Germany and other countries. India on Monday reported a
\nworld record-high number of over 350 thousand new cases of COVID-19 over the
\ncourse of 24 hours, and a new record-high death toll of 2,800 people at
\nnational level. The WHO says the
\nsituation in this country is beyond heartbreaking and insists that
\nvaccination is key. <\/p>\n
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DEFENSE – The Country’s Supreme Defense
\nCouncil is today convening in a meeting chaired by president Klaus Iohannis.
\nThe meeting’s agenda includes topics pertaining to the security of the Black
\nSea region and their impact on Romania, and the completion of the NATO Resolute
\nSupport mission in Afghanistan. Last week President Iohannis expressed concern
\nwith the developments in the Black Sea region, referring to tension building up
\nin Eastern Ukraine, a situation Romania is carefully monitoring. According to
\nWestern estimates, Russia has rallied around 100 thousand military on the
\nUkrainian border, in occupied Crimea and in the Black Sea. On Thursday, Russian
\nDefense Minister Sergey Shoygu announced the withdrawal of all Russian troops
\nby May 1. <\/p>\n
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REACTION – Romania’s ambassador to Moscow,
\nCristian Istrate, is familiar with the standard response to acts of hostility
\nagainst Russia, the Russian MFA spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in response
\nto Romania’s decision to declare Russia’s military attach\u00e9 at the Russian
\nEmbassy in Bucharest, Alexey Grishaev, persona non grata in Romania. Russia’s
\nambassador to Romania, Valery Kuzmin, in turn told TASS news agency that the
\nRomanian authorities’ decision is undoubtedly inimical, one that won’t help
\nrestore healthy relations between the two countries, and that Russia has a
\nright to respond in line with the Vienna Convention of 1961 regarding
\ndiplomatic relations. The Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in turn said
\nGrishaev’s actions go against the provisions of the Convention. Dozens of
\nRussian diplomats have been expelled from European states recently after their
\nactions were labeled as incompatible with a diplomat’s activity, also against
\nthe backdrop of the espionage scandal in the Czech Republic. Prague authorities
\nannounced they have discovered new evidence that Russian spies, working as
\ndiplomats, were behind the explosion of a weapons depot in 2014. In response,
\nRussia expelled a number of Czech diplomats. <\/p>\n
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MOLDOVA – The Moldovan Parliament’s vote on
\nremoving the president of the Constitutional Court is a blatant attack on
\ndemocratic standards and constitutional order in the Republic of Moldova, a
\ndeclaration of the US State Department reads. Friday’s vote in Moldova followed
\na ruling of the Constitutional Court in favor of president Maia Sandu’s request
\nto hold early elections, which risks further escalating the conflict between
\nMoldova’s pro-European president and the Moldovan Parliament, dominated by
\nsupporters of the former pro-Russian president, Igor Dodon. The US State
\nDepartment urged Moldovan leaders and MPs to observe the rule of law, defend
\ndemocratic institutions and work together towards solving the challenges facing
\nthis country, including the COVID-19 pandemic. The European Union too condemned
\nFriday’s vote as an attack on constitutional order in the Republic of Moldova.<\/p>\n
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BREXIT – The European Parliament today is
\nexpected to vote on the post-Brexit agreement between the European Union and
\nthe United Kingdom, which creates the new framework for cooperation between the
\ntwo parties. Additionally, MEPs will debate and vote a resolution on evaluating
\nthe agreement, in which they insist on the full enactment of the agreement,
\ntogether with Britain’s withdrawal agreement, also underlining Parliament’s
\nmonitoring role in the enactment of these documents. In December, the EU and UK
\nnegotiators for Brexit agreed on a Trade and Cooperation Agreement setting the
\nrules for upcoming cooperation in terms of tariff-free trade and fair
\ncompetition standards in the fishing, energy, domestic security sectors. To
\navoid any potential disruptions in two-way trade, both sides agree to enact the
\nagreement temporarily over January 1 – April 30, 2021. Parliament’s vote is
\nrequired for the agreement to take full effect. (V.P.)<\/p>\n
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\n<\/p><\/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":[34235,36169,35878,36167,29000,36168,32263],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-105052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-brexit-agreement","tag-constitutional-court-in-moldova","tag-covid-19-in-romania","tag-medical-assistance-to-india","tag-president-klaus-iohannis","tag-romania-russia-relations","tag-supreme-defense-council"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n