May 18, 2020 UPDATE
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Newsroom, 18.05.2020, 19:50
Government – On Monday the Romanian government adopted a decision on instating the state of alert based on the law approved last week by Parliament. The decision includes measures aimed at containing the spread of the new coronavirus as well as sanctions for those who infringe the laws. The PM Ludovic Orban said that the coming period will be a state of maximum alert and that the authorities have all the means and instruments to ensure the observance of the measures and rules established for the protection of the citizens’ health and life. Also on Monday the PM announced that the government was preparing a plan for economic recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic, given that in the first 3 months of the year Romania reported the highest economic growth within the EU. Several MPs asked for the PM’s resignation accusing him of not having adopted the right measures in due time.
EU — Romania will support identifying the most adequate solutions for the EU regaining economic force, the Romanian President Klaus Iohannis told the head of the EC, Ursula von der Leyen on Monday, in a phone conversation. Discussions focused mainly on the proposals the EC is going to present by the end of May in relation to the plan for the EU’s economic re-launch and on the revised version of the draft EU budget for the period 2021-2027. The Romanian president said the proposals should take into account the needs of each member state, should be balanced, proportionate and correctly prioritized. He also pleaded for a strong health infrastructure within the EU, thus supporting the use of financial instruments aimed at dealing with this challenge, within the framework of the future economic recovery.
Motion – The Romanian Senate adopted on Monday the simple motion tabled by the opposition Social Democratic Party against the Agriculture Minister Adrian Oros. The Social Democrat Petre Daea, a former agriculture minister, says that since the Orban Liberal Government took power, the normal course of programs in agriculture has been disrupted. He has shown that farmers are now in a difficult situation, also because the authorities have blocked or delayed several running projects. Also, the Social Democrats blame the agriculture minister for failing to take concrete measures to address drought and the export of cereals during the COVID crisis. In turn, Adrian Oros claims that PSD’s motion clearly shows that his actions ran counter to certain groups of interests, which had controlled the ministry in the past years. The PSD announced it was considering further motions against other members of the Government, such as the education, health and interior ministers.
Berlin — The Romanian labor minister Violeta Alexandru on Monday started a working visit to Germany. The agenda of her visit includes talks with the federal minister of labor and social affairs Hubertus Heil and with the federal minister of food and agriculture, Julia Klockner. The Romanian official will also visit asparagus farms in the State of Brandenburg and will talk with the representatives of the German Farmers’ Union. Labor minister Violeta Alexandru also met with the representatives of the Fair Mobilitat Project, the talks focusing on the issues faced by the Romanian citizens who work in Germany related to labor legislation, contractual conditions as well as to the support this organization’s counseling centers provide to the Romanian citizens through the Fair Mobilitat counseling network. The Romanian official’s working visit to Germany ends on Tuesday evening.
Border check points — Monday was the second day with traffic congestion at the border check points between Hungary and Romania, but the waiting time was reduced considerably. According to the Border Police, at the Nadlac check point people waited 4 hours to enter Romania, although 7 lanes were open. Another 8 mobile check points have been set up for the vehicles entering Romania. To exit Romania, people waited for about 50 minutes, with 4 lanes open for checking documents. (tr. by L. Simion)
