August 30, 2021 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 30.08.2021, 20:00

COVID-19 -Valeriu Gheorghiţă, the man in charge
of Romania’s vaccine rollout, has told a private TV channel that the daily
number of Covid infections in Romania is expected to go above 2,000 in
mid-September instead of the initial estimates of 1,500 – 1,600. Gheorghiţă expects
the situation to worsen because of the Delta strain, which is to become
dominant even in Romania. According to him, the high degree of mobility and
people interaction largely contribute to spreading the virus. 700 new cases of
COVID-19 were reported by the authorities on Monday in addition to 19 related
fatalities. More than 2,000 patients are being treated in hospitals, 280 people
in ICUs. In spite of these alarming figures, the interest of the Romanians in
getting the vaccine is still low, only 5,600 hundred people got the jab
yesterday. And since the rollout kicked off in late December last year only 5.1
million Romanians have been fully vaccinated. The Government on Monday adopted
a decree providing 20-Euro meal vouchers to people taking the anti-COVID shot
and announced the organization of a vaccination lottery. The decree also
validates the use of European Green Certificates on Romanian territory.

PARLIAMENT -
Romania’s Parliament this week is due to start its autumn session. Attending
the opening sitting on Wednesday will be Moldovan Parliament Speaker Igor
Grosu. Wednesday’s agenda includes the law on vulnerable consumers. Chamber of
Deputies Speaker, Liberal leader Ludovic Orban, recently said the document is
aimed at supporting families with low income pay one energy bill. According to
the said law, vulnerable consumers are defined as people who live alone and
with a monthly income below 1,445 Lei, or families with an average monthly
income of 810 Lei per person. The Social-Democrats in opposition have called
for the debate and swift adoption of the document, saying the law should come
into force by the end of the year, instead of January next year, as the
Government originally proposed. Senators await the ruling coalition to decide
on the way they want to handle the elimination of the Special Section for
Investigating Crime in Justice. All have agreed the section must be disbanded,
although for the time being, no clear solution has been found at coalition
level, despite numerous meetings.

MIGRANTS -
Interior Minister Lucian Bode on Monday said Romania has the capacity of
receiving and accommodating Afghan migrants, provided the check-ups be
conducted by Romanian security structures. Bucharest can receive journalists,
magistrates and students studying in Romania and at-risk people in Afghanistan.
Romania is on the transit route to the Western Balkans, the Romanian official
has recalled. Since January 1, some 47 thousand migrants have tried to
illegally cross into Romania, of whom 10,000 were picked up within the
country’s borders, at the border or trying to leave Romania. 37,000 of them
were turned back.

FIREFIGHTERS -
Romanian Prime Minister, Florin Cîţu, on Monday congratulated the Romanian
firefighters who joined the international efforts aimed at putting out
wildfires in Greece. According to a post on the government’s Facebook page,
firefighters from Romania did an excellent job in Greece. We recall that
Romania had deployed to Greece 142 firefighters, 8 fire engines, three tankers,
a command center as well as equipment and other elements of logistics. The 142
Romanian firefighters got promoted on Monday upon a request by the Interior
Minister Lucian Bode and the head of the Department for Emergency Situations
(DSU), Raed Arafat. They have also been awarded the DSU Honorary Medal. This is
the second squad of firefighters from Romania to intervene in Greece. In early
August, Romania had deployed 100 firefighters to Greece and 23 fire engines.

FESTIVAL – On the third day of the ‘George Enescu’ Festival,
music lovers enjoyed on the stage of the Romanian Athenaeum, the performances
offered by the Baltic Sea Philharmonic Orchestra, an orchestra with artists
from 10 countries in Northern Europe, such as Sweden, Estonia, Denmark and
Russia. Pianist Maria Joao Pires performed pieces of Mozart at the Athenaeum
accompanied by the Baltic Sea Philharmonic. Under the baton of conductor
Kristjan Jarvi, music lovers listened to Enescu’s second symphony in A major as
well as to his own creation entitled ‘Aurora’. Also on Monday, the Palace Hall
in Bucharest hosted a concert given by London Symphony Orchestra. On Sunday, this
famous orchestra presented Ondrej Adamek’s ‘Where are you’, a piece specially
made for mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kozena and the great conductor Sir. Simon
Rattle. 32 orchestras from 14 countries are participating in this anniversary
edition of the George Enescu International Festival. (DB & VP)