May 8, 2020

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 08.05.2020, 13:55

Economy.
A meeting was held in Bucharest today to assess the economic situation in the
context of the crisis generated by the Covid-19 outbreak. President Klaus
Iohannis had talks with prime minister Ludovic Orban, the governor of the
National Bank Mugur Isarescu and the finance minister Florin Citu. After the meeting, president Klaus Iohannis said he was optimistic about the
country’s economy and that solutions were found to tackle the current challenges.
There exist programmes, solutions to finance the deficit, to achieve economic
recovery and we believe that if we do things right, as we intend to, then Romania’s
economy stands good chances of recovery and of getting out soon of the unpleasant,
crisis situation it is now facing, he said. Also today, the government is expected to submit draft legislation to
regulate the transition from the state of emergency to the state of alert after
15th May. The proposals in question will also be subject to public
debate so that companies and employers targeted by the lifting of restrictions
may be able to voice their opinions. In the meantime, public health and work
safety experts are finalising a set of specific norms to be implemented by each
sector for work to be resumed.

Pandemic Romania. Ten more people infected with the novel coronavirus have died in Romania, taking the death toll to 898. The
number of confirmed cases passes 14,800, while more than 6,400 people have
recovered. Among the Romanians living abroad, number of infections reaches 2,444,
mostly reported in Italy and Spain, while the death toll is 96.

Pandemic world. The number of
infections worldwide passes 3.9 million, while the death toll is 270,000.
The United States is the worst hit country in the world, with 2,400 deaths reported in 24
hours, taking the death toll to more than 75,500. The UK is the worst
hit country in Europe, with over 30,000 deaths, followed by Italy, Spain,
France and Germany. Russia, where 10,000 new cases were reported in the last 24
hours, is now fifth in the world in terms of the number of infections, with
over 187,000, overtaking Germany and France. In another move, restrictions
are being eased in Norway and Denmark, where schools and shopping centres are
reopening.

VE Day. Romania’s foreign minister
Bogdan Aurescu is today attending, via video conference, an informal meting of
the UN Security Council to mark the 75th anniversary of the end of
WWII in Europe. On Thursday, the foreign ministers of nine European countries,
including Romania, as well as the United States signed a joint declaration on
this anniversary in which they paid tribute to the victims of war and the
soldiers who fought to defeat Nazi Germany and put an end to the Holocaust.
Because of the coronavirus restrictions, European states are holding low-key events
to mark Victory in Europe Day.

EU funding. The European Union has
approved 750 million euros to be made available to small and medium sized
enterprises in Romania, on top of co-funding from the Romanian state and
possible contributions from the beneficiaries, leading to a total intervention
sum of 1 billion euros, said the minister for European funds Marcel Bolos. The
way in which these funds may be accessed will be finalised soon, with four
options currently on the table, the minister added.

Republic of Moldova. The
Constitutional Court in the Republic of Moldova has cancelled the agreement for
a loan from the Russian Federation worth 200 million euros. The ruling has been
criticised by president Igor Dodon, who accused the Court of political bias, while
the opposition has praised the Court’s judges for giving a fair ruling despite
the pressures that were put on them. The agreement in question had been
ratified by Parliament with the votes of the Party of Socialists and the
Democratic Party. The opposition warned, however, that the agreement with
Moscow would have allowed Moldova’s debts to also include the debt accumulated
by the break-away region of Transnistria for the gas delivered by Russia and
amounting to 6.5 billion dollars. (CM)