Under the Sign of the Pandemic<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
In 2021 Romania
\nwas for the second year affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Facing wave after
\nwave of an epidemic caused by the dreadful virus, the Romanians had no choice
\nbut to comply with the restriction measures imposed by the authorities, which
\ndispleased with a vaccine rollout that didn’t go as planned, made decisions
\nthat mainly affected the rights and liberties of those who refused the vaccine.
\nThe low infection rate in summer was followed by another outbreak in autumn
\nwith an increased number of infections and related fatalities. The fourth wave
\ntook a heavy toll on the lives of the Romanians and according to statistics,
\nthe most difficult period since the onset of the pandemic in Romania was
\nregistered in mid-October when ICUs were overwhelmed and Bucharest had to ask
\nfor international assistance. 2021 was also the year of hospital fires, which
\nkilled scores of the infected patients. The first incident took place in Piatra
\nNeamt, north-eastern Romania in 2020, and was followed by others in Bucharest
\nand Constanta the following year. The dark situation prompted the Romanian
\npresident, Klaus Iohannis, to make the famous statement that ‘the state failed
\nin its fundamental mission of protecting its citizens’. Luckily the situation
\nimproved towards the end of 2021 putting Romania in the green tier, a unique
\ncase in Europe. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Political crises <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
In this year of
\nmedical crisis, Romania had no less than four Health Ministers – two from the USR,
\none from UDMR and a PSD representative who started his mandate in late
\nNovember. The political unrest kicked off in April upon the then Prime Minister
\nFlorin Citu’s decision to sack the USR Health Minister Vlad Voiculescu. On
\nSeptember 1st, Justice Minister Stelian Ion was also dismissed and
\nthe political crisis that followed lasted for three months. An enraged USR left
\nthe ruling coalition and in October endorsed a censure motion initiated by the
\nSocial-Democratic opposition. Two attempts to forge a minority cabinet failed
\nand the Romanian politicians resorted to a third alternative no one forecast.
\nFollowing intense negotiations, two political enemies PNL and PSD decided to
\nshake hands and work together with the UDMR part of an Executive headed by the
\nretired army general, Liberal Nicolae Ciuca. Florin Citu headed the Senate and
\nthe National Liberal Party, the presidency of which he won in September against
\nthe former PNL leader Ludovic Orban, who eventually left the party and decided
\nto forge a new political formation. The USR also held its own elections won by
\nthe former European commissioner Dacian Ciolos. <\/p>\n
\n
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\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A Standard of Living going down<\/p>\n
\n
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<\/p>\n
Skyrocketing
\nenergy prices were felt all over Europe with Romania bearing the brunt. The
\nsituation worsened after the liberalization of energy market on January 1st.
\nAfter a chaos of almost half a year, the Romanians and the market apparently
\ncalmed down. Sadly, in summer energy prices went through the roof again and the
\ngovernment had to issue an emergency ordinance to cap energy prices for
\nhouseholds and cover part of the costs through the state budget. The latest price
\nhikes reignited inflation, which in October went up to 7.9% although employees
\nhadn’t seen a pay rise in years. The Romanian economy is expected to register a
\n7% growth in 2021 after a contraction of 3.7% caused by the pandemic in 2020. Salvation
\ncould come from the National Plan of Recovery and Resilience approved by
\nBrussels in autumn, under which Romania would get up to 29 million euros in
\ninvestment until 2026. <\/p>\n
\n
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\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Romanian
\nculture at home and abroad<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
During the 25th
\nedition of the George Enescu International Festival, in September classical
\nmusic lovers from Romania were delighted by the performances of 3.500 artists
\nfrom their country and from abroad. During the prestigious event, 32 orchestras
\nfrom 14 countries performed on stages in Bucharest and other big cities across
\nthe country. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
2021 was also an
\nimportant year for the Romanian cinematography! Director Radu Jude’s film ‘Bad
\nLuck Banging or Loony Porn’ reaped the Golden Bear award at the International
\nFilm Festival in Berlin while Alexander Nanau’s documentary Colectiv got
\nOscar nominations for the best international feature film and best documentary
\nfeature.<\/p>\n
\n
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<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
2021- Not a good year for Romanian
\nathletes<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The National
\nArena in Bucharest hosted four matches, three of group C and one in the round
\nof sixteen of the European Football Championship, a competition for which the
\nRomanian national squad had failed to qualify. And to add insult to injury, athletes
\nfrom Romania managed to walk away only with four medals from the 32nd
\nedition of the Olympic Games in Tokyo, coming only 46th in a nation
\nranking. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The world’s best
\nepee fencer Ana Maria Popescu announced her withdrawal from competitions after a
\nprestigious activity of two decades. Famous tennis player Horia Tecau also
\nwithdrew from competitions in 2021 and so did world-reputed gymnasts Marian
\nDragulescu and Larisa Iordache. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Those who left us …<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Let’s not forget
\nthose who left us in 2021! Actors Ion Dichiseanu and Ion Caramitru – the
\ndirector of the National Theatre in Bucharest and chair of Romania’s Theatre
\nUnion, writer Ileana Vulpescu; multiple kayak-canoe champion Ivan Patzaichin,
\nhistorian Dan Berindei; director and leading figure of Radio Romania, Dan
\nPuican; folk singer Doru St\u0103nculescu and Victor Socaciu as well as the
\nappreciated traditional music singer Benone Sinulescu.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
(bill)<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Some of the highlights of 2021<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":109,"featured_media":124860,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40944],"tags":[31354,32497,30692,29125,40575,42491,34843,29099],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-124889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-week-in-review","tag-berlin","tag-enescu","tag-festival","tag-iohannis","tag-jude","tag-larisa","tag-popescu","tag-tecau"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n