COVID-19 The Strategic Communication Group Wednesday announced 17,158
\nnew Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours. Also, 423 related deaths were
\nreported, of which 9 from before the reference timeframe. The Romanian President
\nKlaus Iohannis has convened a meeting with all those involved in managing the
\npandemic to decide the introduction of more restrictive measures, as the only
\nway to curb the spread of the disease. On Tuesday, the head of state said that
\nthe preparation for the fourth wave of the epidemic in Romania was flawed, and
\nthe vaccination campaign against COVID-19 too slow. Vaccination is the only
\nsolution to stop the pandemic, the head of state said, adding that it is also
\nnecessary for parliament to adopt provisions on the digital certificate or
\nother measures to reduce mobility and human interaction in the short run.<\/p>\n
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GOVERNMENT President Klaus Iohannis invited parliamentary parties to
\ntalks on Thursday morning, to designate a new PM. The talks come after on
\nWednesday the cabinet put together by the head of Save Romania Union, PM
\ndesignate Dacian Ciolo\u015f, failed to get a confidence vote from Parliament. Only 88
\nMPs voted in favour of the executive team presented by Ciolo\u015f, as compared to
\n184 votes against. The nominees in Ciolo\u015f’s team included former ministers in
\nex-PM Florin C\u00ee\u0163u’s coalition government, such as Stelian Ion as justice
\nminister, Ioana Mih\u0103il\u0103 as health minister, and C\u0103t\u0103lin Drul\u0103 as transport
\nminister. Save Romania Union decided to come up with a proposed one-party,
\nminority cabinet list after negotiations with their former partners in the
\nruling coalition failed. The National Liberal Party and the Democratic Union of
\nEthnic Hungarians say they are no longer willing to work with USR, which backed
\na no-confidence motion against the C\u00ee\u0163u government. The Social Democrats and
\nthe nationalist party AUR, in opposition, request early elections. In order for
\nthis to happen, Parliament should reject a second prime minister designated by
\npresident Klaus Iohannis. <\/p>\n
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VISIT President
\nKlaus Iohannis Wednesday received the US Secretary of Defence
\nLloyd J. Austin III on an official visit to Romania. Iohannis appreciated the
\nremarkable bilateral cooperation between the two countries and reiterated the
\nimportance given by Bucharest to strengthening the Strategic Partnership both
\nin terms of political dialogue, and in the defence, economic and energy
\nsectors. The Romanian president also emphasised that Romania will remain a
\nstrategic partner and a reliable Ally, strongly committed to NATO’s political
\nand military consolidation, and to strengthening the Alliance’s defence and
\ndeterrence posture in the Eastern Flank and at the Black Sea. In turn, the US
\nSecretary of Defence Lloyd J. Austin highlighted the US’ interest in further
\ndeveloping and diversifying cooperation with Romania. The US official also had
\na meeting on Wednesday with his Romanian counterpart, Nicolae Ciuc\u0103. Romania
\nhosts US military bases and elements of NATO’s missile defence system. <\/p>\n
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\n
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AWARD Kremlin
\ncritic and anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny was awarded the 2021 Sakharov
\nPrize for Freedom of Thought. The announcement was made in Strasbourg, where the head of the European
\nParliament, David Sassoli, mentioned that Aleksei Navalny fought consistently against
\nthe Putin regime’s corruption, helped unveil abuse and mobilised millions
\nacross Russia. In
\nAugust 2020, Navalny was poisoned and spent several months recovering in Berlin.
\nUpon his return to Moscow in January 2021, he was imprisoned and he is still
\nbehind bars at present. The Sakharov Prize for
\nFreedom of Thoughtis granted every year by the
\nEuropean Parliament as a tribute to human rights defenders.<\/p>\n
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\n
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EU The European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned in
\nStrasbourg on Tuesday that the EU executive would act to defend the ‘common
\nvalues’ of the European Union, following the decision of the Polish
\nConstitutional Court challenging the primacy of European law. In reply, the Polish
\nPrime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has stated that Poland rejects the European
\nUnion’s blackmail’, and that to his country, the Constitution remains the ‘supreme
\nlaw’. Warsaw has been in open conflict with Brussels for several years now over
\ncontroversial judicial reforms implemented by the right-wing populist party Law
\nand Justice. (tr. A.M. Popescu)<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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