Travel. Border checkpoints for entering Romania by road are becoming
\neven busier as the winter holidays are nearing, especially on the western
\nborder. The authorities say the infrastructure is used to the maximum and the
\nnumber of staff has been beefed up. The country’s biggest airport near
\nBucharest is also getting busier, with new measures to manage passenger flow in
\nplace from Saturday. Passengers can only disembark in groups of 50, at an
\ninterval of 15 minutes. EU citizens holding Covid green certificates are in a
\nspecial fast track lane, while the others have to undergo public health checks.
\nTo simplify procedures, a new document becomes mandatory from Monday, the
\nso-called PLF, passenger locator form, which everyone entering the country must
\nfill in. The form, which is also used in other European countries, helps to
\nquickly identify persons who came into contact with someone infected with
\nCovid. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Covid-19. Romania reported almost 500 new daily Covid cases today, as
\nwell as 53 new deaths, while the pace of vaccination is again slowing down.
\nAccording to the coordinator of the mass vaccination campaign, Valeriu
\nGheorghi\u0163\u0103, a 15-20% drop in the number of those who receive the first jab is
\nseen from one week to the next. Over 7.7 million Romanians are fully vaccinated
\nto date, but Romania has the second lowest vaccination rate in the European
\nUnion. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Restrictions. As the Omicron variant
\nis spreading fast, governments around Europe are tightening measures, with
\nborders closing, the introduction of tough curbs on public events and speeding
\nup of vaccination rates. Producing a negative Covid test result is now
\nmandatory for everyone entering Italy, Portugal, Greece and Ireland, while
\nFrance and some German lands only allow essential travel to and from the UK,
\nwhere record infection numbers have been reported over the last few days. Spain
\nis also expecting Omicron to become dominant by Christmas and access to bars
\nand restaurants is only permitted to those holding the Covid green certificate.
\nThe Netherlands and Denmark are in full lockdown. World Health Organisation experts
\nsay Omicron infection cases double within three days in areas with community
\ntransmission. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Budget. The 2022 budget and social security bills will be submitted to
\nParliament on Monday, to be debated and approved by Christmas, said the finance
\nminister Adrian C\u00e2ciu. Prime
\nminister Nicolae Ciuc\u0103 said earlier that his government is seeking to maintain the
\nbudget balance and to comply with the commitment made before the European
\nCommission to keep the budget deficit level at 5.84% of GDP. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Cooperation.
\nVocational and teacher training, pupil and teacher mobility, the recognition of
\nstudies and digitalisation were the main subjects discussed by the Romanian and
\nFrench education ministers Sorin C\u00eempeanu and Jean-Michel Blanquer,
\nrespectively, at a meeting in Paris. The consolidation of French universities
\nwill be one of the priorities of the French presidency of the European Council
\nand Romania is already part of a number of projects. Around 1 million Romanian
\npupils and students are studying French in school as their first or second
\nforeign language. The Romanian minister focused on the importance of the study
\nof Romanian in France so that the young Romanians living there should not lose
\ncontact with their mother tongue. Between 300,000 and 400,000 Romanians live in
\nFrance. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Enescu. A Paris square not far from the Paris Opera
\nwill be named after the great Romanian composer George Enescu, the city’s
\ndeputy mayor Laurence
\nPatrice announced on Twitter. Romania’s ambassador to Paris Luca Niculescu
\nwelcome to the move, which forms part of the 140th anniversary this
\nyear of the composer’s birth. Enescu’s life and work is closely linked to
\nParis, where he lived for many years and where he also died. (CM)<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A roundup of local and international news.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":105194,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-105577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n