<\/b><\/p>\n
COVID-19 <\/b>– Over 6,000 new cases of COVID infection and 111
\nrelated fatalities were reported on Sunday in Romania. Over 1,200 people are
\ncurrently in intensive care. In Bucharest, the incidence rate has exceeded 4
\nper thousand inhabitants, which entails additional restrictions, including the
\nmandatory wearing of face masks in public areas. A weekend quarantine has been
\ndeclared in a number of towns and villages where the incidence rate exceeded 6
\nper thousand. The COVID vaccination certificate is now mandatory in a number of
\ncities in the country for certain types of activities, which has slightly
\nboosted the vaccination campaign. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
VISIT <\/b>– European
ACADEMIC YEAR<\/b> – A number of university centers are today hosting
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
RESIGNATION <\/b>– Chamber of Deputies Speaker Ludovic Orban today
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
ENERGY <\/b>– The significant increase in
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
ELECTION IN GERMANY <\/b>– Official preliminary results of Sunday’s
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
ROMANIA-GERMANY RELATIONS<\/b> – Relations between Romania and Germany
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
ENESCU FESTIVAL<\/b> – The 25th
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A roundup of domestic and international news<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":105208,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[35374,30052,29196,36403,35307,36089],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-105392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-covid-19","tag-elections-in-germany","tag-george-enescu-festival","tag-new-academic-year","tag-ursula-von-der-leyen","tag-virgil-popescu"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nCommission president, Ursula von der Leyen, is later today expected to arrive in Bucharest in order to officially present Brussels’ assessment on Romania’s
\nNational Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR). Romania is due to receive close
\nto 30 billion Euro worth of development funds. PNRR is to be signed today by
\npresident von der Leyen, who is also expected to meet president Klaus Iohannis
\nand Prime Minister Florin
\nC\u00ee\u0163u. Also attending will be Cristian Ghinea, the former Minister for European
\nFunds and Projects, who coordinated the negotiations and the elaboration of
\nRomania’s plan. PNRR also stipulates that all funds received must be spent by
\n2026 on reforms and investments in the fields of green and digital transitions,
\nsmart economic growth, social cohesion, healthcare and education.<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nopening ceremonies for the new academic year, with the strict observance of
\nhealth safety restrictions. Most higher education institutions have opted to
\nhold classes in hybrid format, both online and with physical attendance. Things
\nwill change depending on the epidemiological context, and universities have a
\nnumber of restrictions already in place. Vaccinated students will be given
\npriority for hostel accommodation, while the number of vacancies will be cut
\ndown. Approximately 78% of teaching staff, some 24,000 people, have completed
\nthe full vaccine scheme. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nannounced that his decision to resign is irreversible. Orban said that the new
\npresident of the National Liberal Party (PNL), Florin C\u00ee\u0163u, has 15 days to take note of his resignation,
\nafter which date he will personally submit it to Parliamnet. In turn, Prime
\nMinister Florin C\u00ee\u0163u said that
\nhis party will discuss in Tuesday’s meeting all the options for the new
\nleadership of the Chamber of Deputies. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nnatural gas and electricity prices, as well as the measures the Government is
\nconsidering to help the population, are today being discussed in Parliament.
\nEnergy Minister, Virgil Popescu, will appear before the Chamber of Deputies to
\nclarify the situation. Talks were postponed last week, when the minister
\ncouldn’t attend because he presented the draft emergency bill on introducing a
\ncompensation mechanism to help both natural persons and SMEs pay energy bills.
\nSome 13 million Romanians with average income and energy consumption will
\nbenefit from this bill, which the Government is expected to adopt later this
\nweek. Households with a monthly energy consumption between 30 and 200 Kw will
\nbe eligible. The Government wants a simple and quick mechanism that should
\ninvolve consumers as least as possible. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nelection show that the Social-Democrats (SPD) are in lead with 25.7% of the
\nvote, followed by the conservative camp, CDU\/CSU, with a historic low of merely
\n24.1%. The Greens are in third place with 15%, followed by the
\nLiberal-Democrats with 11.5%. SPD leader, Olaf Scholz, has already claimed
\nvictory based on preliminary results. We are doing everything in our power to
\nget the new coalition up and running by Christmas, if not earlier, says Scholz,
\nthe deputy chancellor and finance minister of Angela Merkel’s Cabinet. The
\neconomic sector has also demanded the swift installation of the new Government.
\n<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nwill remain excellent after the election as well, Germany’s ambassador to
\nRomania, Peer Gebauer has told Radio Romania on Sunday evening, as the exit
\npoll results were made public. Irrespective of the color of the new Cabinet and
\nwho the future chancellor will be, Romania and Germany are bound by a solid
\nfriendship, the German ambassador said. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nedition of the George Enescu International Music Festival has come to a
\nclose. Yesterday, the Concertgebouw Royal Orchestra of Amsterdam, conducted by
\nDaniel Harding of Great Britain, gave the last concert in the Great World
\nOrchestras series. The 2021 edition of the festival brought together over 3,500
\nRomanian and foreign artists and 32 of the world’s top orchestras from 14
\ncountries. (VP)<\/p>\n