July 14, 2021 UPDATE

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 14.07.2021, 20:00

Covid-19 update. Romania on Wednesday reported 79 new
Covid infections from over 13,000 tests and 3 new related fatalities. Most
cases were recorded in Cluj and Ilfov counties and in the capital Bucharest. 51
Covid patients are in intensive care. Also,
Romania has recorded to date 87 cases of infection with the Delta strain and three related
deaths. More than half of these cases are linked to outbreaks, while the source
of infection is unknown in 31 cases. Most Delta variant cases were recorded in
Bucharest and three other counties in the south of Romania.

Donation. Romania will donate
100,000 Covid vaccine doses to Vietnam, the Romanian authorities announced on
Wednesday. Earlier, Romania donated half a million doses to the
majority-Romanian speaking Republic of Moldova, as well as smaller batches to
Ukraine and Serbia. At the beginning of the month, the Irish government said it
agreed on principle to purchase one million doses of vaccine doses from Romania, days after Bucharest had
sold some one million doses to Denmark. Romania’s vaccine supply exceed demand,
owing to a high degree of reluctance to vaccination among the population.

Education. The Romanian government on Wednesday approved
a memorandum committing to the Educated Romania project launched by president
Klaus Iohannis. An inter-ministerial working group will be created chaired by
prime minister Florin Cîţu and co-chaired by education minister Sorin Câmpeanu
to work on the project’s implementation. President Iohannis said the project aims to reduce early school leaving
and functional illiteracy rates, ensure basic digital skills for both pupils
and teachers, develop vocational education and boost the number of higher
education graduates. The project already has significant financial support
under the 3.6 billion euro National Recovery and Resilience Plan, the president
also said.

Economy. The
post-pandemic recovery plans of 12 EU countries were green-lighted by the EU economy
and finance ministers. This is the final stage of the process, allowing these
countries to conclude advantageous loan agreements with EU institutions in
order to implement their recovery plans. These countries are Austria, Belgium,
Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Portugal, Slovakia
and Spain. According to Romanian MEP Dragoş Pâslaru, a member of the Save
Romania Union and PLUS Alliance, in the ruling coalition, the European
Commission is in direct dialogue with Bucharest, working on the final details of
Romania’s recovery and resilience plan. He said the plan is
expected to be approved in September. From opposition, the Social-Democrat MEP
Victor Negrescu says the government should explain why Romania requested the
Commission to extend the plan’s assessment deadline.

Bastille Day. Romania and France faced the pandemic together and
continued to consolidate and intensify their bilateral relations, said French
ambassador to Bucharest Laurence Auer at a reception
to celebrate France’s National Day. She recalled that the bilateral strategic
partnership was extended last year and that the European recovery plan, the
green transition package and the debate on the future of Europe are important
areas of cooperation between Romania and France. Romanian president Klaus
Iohannis also spoke about Romanian-French solidarity during the pandemic and emphasised
that Bucharest and Paris have a common vision on the European project and a
host of EU policies. In Paris, France’s National Day parade returned after a
one-year interruption because of the pandemic.

Football. Gibraltar’s football champions Lincoln Red Imps
will be facing the Romanian champions CFR Cluj in the second Champions League
qualifying round. Lincoln qualified after defeating the Luxembourg side Fola
Esch 5-nil at home, after 2-all away. CFR’s qualification was hard-won, having
lost the first leg against the Bosnian side Borac Banja Luka 1-2 and then
winning on Tuesday 3-1 at home, leading to 3-all on aggregate, which meant the
match had to go into extra-time. Starting with the current season of the
European cups, the advantage of home-scored goals no longer applies, so in the
event of a tie, the match goes into extra-time and penalty shoot-outs, if
necessary. (CM)