GOVERNMENT <\/b>The president of Romania
\nKlaus Iohannis invited parliamentary parties to consultations on Monday to
\nappoint a new PM designate. The Social
\nDemocrats and the Liberals, which have the largest number of seats in
\nParliament, carry on negotiations today to form a new cabinet jointly with the
\nDemocratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania. The 3 parties have a
\npolitical agreement and a governing programme in place. According to the
\nNational Liberal Party, no tax raises are planned, but the special department
\ninvestigating offences in the judiciary will be dismantled by March 31. Public
\npensions, salaries and child allowances will be increased. One decision yet to
\nbe made is which party will appoint the prime minister in the new PM rotation
\nsystem. The Liberals nominated the interim defence minister Nicolae Ciuc\u0103 for
\nthe post, while the Social Democrats want the position to go to their president
\nMarcel Ciolacu. The 3 parties are still considering 2 scenarios for
\ndistributing cabinet seats. The first option is with a Social Democratic PM and
\nthe Liberals and Social Democrats heading an equal number of ministries, while
\nin the second scenario a Liberal will be PM and the Liberal Party will have
\nfewer cabinet members. The Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians says in both
\nscenarios they will keep the development, environment and sports ministries. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
COVID-19<\/b> Over 1,930 new COVID-19 cases
\nhave been reported in Romania today, along with 121 related fatalities, 16 of
\nthem from an earlier date. As many as 1,573 patients are in intensive care, but
\nthe number of patients is on the decrease. The National Committee on Emergency
\nSituations agreed that in places with infection
\nrates below 3 per thousand schools may resume on-site teaching regardless of
\nthe vaccination rate among teaching staff. Several
\nactivities subject to restrictions in recent weeks may now be resumed, but a
\nfinal decision is to be made by the government. Such activities include sports
\nevents, concerts, performances and outdoor festivals, conferences and training
\nsessions. Only holders of the digital Covid certificate will be permitted to
\ntake part. Should the situation continue to improve, the winter holidays might
\ntake place without many restrictions, the head of the Emergency Committee Raed
\nArafat said. As for the vaccine rollout, over 7.1 million people are
\nfully vaccinated in Romania so far.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
TRAVEL <\/b>The
\nNational Committee on Emergency Situations updated the list of countries and
\nterritories by COVID-19 incidence rates. Germany, Greece, Hungary, Bulgaria and the UK
\nare now red-list countries, while France, Portugal, Monaco, Chile, Lebanon and
\nGuyana were included in the medium-risk category. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
PANDEMIC <\/strong>Meanwhile in Europe the new pandemic wave has prompted states to
<\/p>\n
MOLDOVA <\/b>The president of the Republic of Moldova Maia Sandu
Click here for a roundup of local and world 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":[35374,35342,29130,29244,28990,29710,36074,31166,32402,29295,35822],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-105514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-covid-19","tag-lockdown","tag-moldova","tag-president","tag-protests","tag-restrictions","tag-rollout","tag-sandu","tag-vaccine","tag-visit","tag-wave"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nreintroduce restrictions, which in turn led to large-scale protests. In Austria
\nand Netherlands people took to the streets to protest the ‘corona dictatorship’.
\nIn Austria, where a full lockdown takes effect on Monday, tensions deepen
\nbetween citizens and the authorities that try to step up the vaccine rollout so
\nas to help hospitals cope with the record-large number of cases. Some 40,000 people
\nrallied in Vienna on Saturday. The Netherlands saw the most violent clashes in
\nEurope, with 3 people hospitalised in Rotterdam and over 50 arrested during the
\nclashes with police. The country has a partial lockdown and further
\nrestrictions are being considered, such as prohibiting access to restaurants
\nand events for the unvaccinated. Anti-Covid restriction protests also took
\nplace in Belgium and Denmark. Infection rates are surging in Eastern Europe as
\nwell, including in Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nwill be on an official visit to Romania on Tuesday, at the invitation of her
\nRomanian counterpart Klaus Iohannis. This is Sandu’s first visit to Romania
\nsince July’s early election won by her party Action and Solidarity (PAS), and
\nit takes place in the context of the celebration of 30 years of diplomatic
\nrelations, after in 1991, the ex-Soviet republic proclaimed its independence
\nfrom Moscow. According to the Romanian presidency, this is an opportunity to
\nreconfirm the special, privileged Strategic Partnership between the 2 countries,
\nbased on common linguistic, cultural and historical elements. The talks between
\nIohannis and Sandu will encourage the development of joint projects in the
\nfields of energy, transport, healthcare, education and information society, with
\na focus on projects designed to help connect the Republic of Moldova with the
\nEU to the benefit of all its citizens. (tr.
\nA.M. Popescu)<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"