COVID-19 – Some 13,000 new
\nCOVID infections and 415 related fatalities were reported in the last 24 hours
\nin Romania, the Strategic Communication Group announced on Thursday. The
\nincidence rate in Bucharest has dropped to 15.67 per thousand for the second day
\nin a row. Alternately, the vaccination campaign has picked up, with over 111
\nthousand people taking the first anti-COVID jab in the last 24 hours alone. At this
\nrate, authorities estimate 70% of Romania’s population over the age of 12 might
\nget immunized by the end of the year.<\/p>\n
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ASSISTANCE – Three Danish
\nphysicians and six nurses will come to Romania on a humanitarian mission to
\nsupport health workers deal with the coronacrisis. Over the course of their
\nmission, the nine Danish workers will help treat COVID patients in intensive
\ncare in a hospital in Bucharest and will receive support from the Danish
\nEmergency Management Agency under the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. <\/p>\n
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GOVERNMENT – Talks continue in
\nBucharest with a view to securing support for a minority PNL-UDMR government.
\nPrime Minister designate, Nicolae Ciuc\u0103, announced he would submit to
\nParliament his governing programme and list of ministers on Saturday.
\nNegotiations have so far failed after all parties – PNL, USR and PSD – have
\nmaintained their initial positions. USR is ready to discuss terms for restoring
\nthe center-right ruling coalition if PNL abandons negotiations with PSD in
\nopposition and is willing to renegotiate the governing program. In turn, PSD
\ndoes not rule out an alliance with the Liberals, but is only willing to talk to
\nPrime Minister designate, Nicolae Ciuc\u0103. The Social-Democrats also want the new
\ngoverning program to include 10 measures they say require immediate attention.
\nWe recall that a political deadlock grips Romania after USR stepped down from
\nthe ruling coalition led by outgoing Liberal Prime Minister, Florin C\u00ee\u021bu, and
\nvoted to oust his Cabinet. Nicolae Ciuc\u0103 is the second prime minister
\ndesignated to form a cabinet after earlier this month USR president Dacian
\nCiolo\u0219 failed to rally support for his minority all-USR Cabinet. <\/p>\n
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ENERGY -
\nRomanians will pay the same prices for their energy bills compared to December
\n2020, despite the latest price hikes, says Energy Minister, Virgil Popescu.
\nYesterday, the Chamber of Deputies passed the government draft emergency decree
\nsubsidizing energy costs for home users, hospitals, schools, city halls and
\nNGOs. SMEs too are expected to benefit from the financial assistance scheme, as
\ntheir energy costs will not include distribution or transport fees. The measure
\nwill take effect starting November 1 and will remain in place until March 31,
\n2022. <\/p>\n
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MOLDOVA -
\nThe European Commission has approved a financial assistance package worth 60
\nmillion Euro for the Republic of Moldova to help this country deal with its
\ncurrent energy crisis, European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen said
\nfollowing the meeting she had with Moldova’s Prime minister, Natalia Gavrili\u021ba.
\nThe meeting prefaced today’s EU-Moldova Association Council meeting expected to
\ntake place in Brussels. The Republic of Moldova has recently called on EU
\nMember States for support after the Russian energy giant Gazprom has cut back
\non its gas deliveries to Chi\u015fin\u0103u. Moldovan authorities are unwilling to accept
\nnew terms in Moldova’s contract with the Russian energy corporation, which
\nwould entail significantly larger costs, and prefers to import gas via Romania.
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TENNIS -
\nThree Romanian tennis players are today competing at Transylvania Open, a WTA
\n250 tournament hosted by Cluj and offering some 235 thousand USD in total
\nprizes. The top seed, Simona Halep, is today playing Varvara Gracheva of
\nRussia. In case of a win, Halep will next take on another Romanian, Jaqueline Cristian,
\nwho yesterday ousted fifth-seed Ajla Tomljanovic of Australia. Also today Irina
\nBara will play Rebecca Peterson of Sweden, while Ana Bogdan will take on Emma
\nR\u0103ducanu of UK, this year’s winner at US Open.
\n(VP)<\/p>\n
\n
<\/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":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-105466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n