February 8, 2022 UPDATE
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Newsroom, 08.02.2022, 20:00
COVID-19 36,269 new SARS-CoV-2 infections were
reported for the past 24 hours in Romania, along with 193 related fatalities,
the Strategic Communication Group announced on Tuesday. Since the start of the
pandemic 2 years ago, more than 2 million Romanians have had the disease and
over 60,000 died. Meanwhile, since the start of the vaccine roll-out in
December 2020, over 8 million people have received a full vaccination cycle,
and 2.4 million have also got the booster dose.
HEALTHCARE The Romanian health minister Alexandru Rafila will take
part on February 9-10 in a joint conference of EU foreign and health ministers
on global health and in an informal meeting of health ministers, due in Lyon and
Grenoble. According to the ministry, the 2 events are organised by the French
presidency of the EU Council. The participants will discuss the EU measures to
support developing countries in accessing medicines in the context of the COVID-19
pandemic, and to strengthen national healthcare systems. The informal meeting
of health ministers will focus on the intervention and resilience of public
health systems in case of crises, and on the joint development of policies to
create a ‘Union of health.’
TROOPS A first unit of US troops, deployed in order to strengthen
the security of Eastern European Allies amid the Ukraine standoff has reached
Romania, the defence minister Vasile Dîncu announced. He explained that around
100 experts have arrived in order to prepare the deployment of a larger
contingent. Early this month, the US announced it would send an additional
3,000 troops to NATO’s eastern flank, 1,000 of them due to be stationed in Romania.
France also voiced willingness to send troops to Romania.We will get involved in new missions and take all
responsibility, with enhanced presence especially in Romania, should this
decision be made. I reaffirm our solidarity with our European friends in NATO,
president Emmanuel Macron said. A NATO member since 2004, Romania is already
hosting 900 troops from the US, 140 from
Italy and 250 from Poland.
POLITICS The Prosecutor General’s Office announced on Tuesday that a
criminal investigation was initiated with respect to Monday’s incident in
Parliament, where the Romanian energy minister Virgil Popescu was assaulted by
the co-president of the nationalist opposition party AUR, Deputy George Simion.
Popescu had previously filed a criminal complaint against Simion. While
attending a Chamber of Deputies meeting on Monday, the Liberal minister Virgil
Popescu was insulted and assaulted by Simion. The meeting was suspended, and
subsequently resumed with only the opposition MPs from AUR and USR in attendance.
Prosecutors are also investigating Călin Georgescu, rumoured to become the
honorary president of AUR party. A criminal case was opened against him for
promoting fascist views and individuals convicted for genocide and war crimes,
following televised statements Georgescu had made concerning the fascist leader
Corneliu Zelea Codreanu and the former head of state Ion Antonescu.
MOLDOVA
The number of supporters of
the R. of Moldova’s union with Romania is growing, according to an opinion poll
quoted by Radio Chişinău on Tuesday. Over 34%
of the respondents in Moldova would vote in favour of the union, says the poll
commissioned by IDIS Viitorul in Chișinău and the Institute of Political
Sciences and International Relations with the Romanian Academy. This is a
record-high number of union supporters, over 10 times higher than in 2010. According
to the same poll, which focused on citizens’ perception of the relations
between Moldova and Romania, over 62% of the people with dual citizenship would
vote for the union. However, in the case of new tensions similar to the one in
Ukraine, more people would back a military alliance with Russia (22.5%) than
with Romania (12.5%). (A.M.P.)
