The Week in Review 21 – 27 June

The main events in the week that passed

România Internațional, 26.06.2021, 12:00

New
Relaxation Measures starting July 1st

Against the latest significant drop in the infection
rate with the novel coronavirus (under 100 in the past 24 hours) the government
in Bucharest has endorsed a new series of relaxation measures. So, private
events will be attended by a larger number of people, restaurants, cafes and
clubs will remain open for more hours, while sporting facilities are allowed to
function at 50% of their capacity. Hotels and guest houses as well as other
accommodation facilities are allowed to function at their full capacity.
Outdoor fairs and similar events will also be allowed. In another development,
a quarter of the Romanians above 12 years old have been vaccinated, while
others are presently immune after having suffered from the disease in the past.
Experts believe that herd immunity will be obtained after 2 out of 3 Romanians
have got the jab and authorities are presently targeting the young people, urging
parents to vaccinate their kids. They also want to step up the vaccine rollout
in the countryside as only 4.7 Romanians have fully vaccinated and authorities
aren’t satisfied with the figures.

Valeriu Gheorghita, the physician in charge of
Romania’s vaccine rollout, says that authorities expect a higher number of
infections in the colder season but a significant increase could be avoided if
people got the vaccine in larger numbers in the next couple of months.
According to the Romanian official, vaccination is a prevention measure and
Romanians shouldn’t get the vaccine only when the number of infections is high.
Romanian president Klaus Iohannis has also admitted that the people’s interest
in vaccination has diminished.

Klaus Iohannis: The vaccine rollout has been a success and
we have practically stopped the pandemic in its tracks. Now that we are having
a smaller number of cases, the interest in getting the vaccine has diminished.
So, our success somehow can be seen in this low interest, but I still believe
that vaccination is vital.

The
government led by Florin Cîțu faces its first no-confidence vote

Six months after its inauguration,
the Florin Cîțu Government faces the first motion of no confidence filed by the
main opposition party in Romania on Wednesday. The Social Democrats accuse the
government of implementing measures that have led to the impoverishment of the
population and a free fall of the economy. They recall the freezing of
pensions, salaries and child allowances and criticize the way in which the
executive drafted the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, under which, they
say, the population will pay more to benefit from European funds. The Social
Democratic Party also accuses the lack of effective measures for the economic,
health-care and education sectors. According to PSD First Vice-president, Sorin
Grindeanu, the Romanians have become poorer in the past six months.

Sorin
Grindeanu: The Romanians have become poorer in the
past months and it’s only in the mind of Prime Minister Citu that they are
faring any better. Prices in electricity and gas have almost doubled while 70%
of the Romanians believe the country goes in the wrong direction.

The leadership of the Social
Democratic Party considers that the move has chances of success and says that,
currently, they are negotiating with parliamentarians from other parties to
support the motion. In response to the statements made by the Social Democrat
leader Marcel Ciolacu, according to which negotiations are underway, including
with several parliamentarians from the governing coalition, the USR-PLUS
co-president Dan Barna says that no senator or deputy of his party will support
the motion.

Dan
Barna: We
have not been contacted and I doubt that Mr. Ciolacu has any hope, other than
as a joke, that any USR-PLUS parliamentarian would support this motion that
they have announced. This is the role of the PSD, to remain in opposition,
always ready, and I agree with this line.

The
no-confidence motion is to be voted and debated upon on Tuesday.

New
Facilities in the Public Pension System

A
law on purchasing seniority in work was promulgated by Romanian President Klaus
Iohannis on Tuesday. The law establishes the legal framework for completing, by
the persons who do not have the quality of pensioner yet, the contribution period
in the public pension system necessary for granting an old-age pension, an
early retirement pension or a partial early retirement pension. Among the potential beneficiaries are
the millions of Romanian expatriates, looking for a better life, usually in
Western Europe, and who have incomplete contributions to the Romanian pension
fund. There are also people in the country with incomplete work seniority
either because, at some point, they remained unemployed or because they chose
to free-lance, found various undeclared jobs and no longer paid contributions
to the pension system. Those interested can
buy a maximum of six years of seniority prior to reaching the standard
retirement age. The payment of this social security contribution can be
made in a single instalment or monthly, until August 31, 2023.

Flooding
and Extremely Hot Weather in Romania

Romania
was in for a-typical summer weather this week, which kicked off with a series
of yellow and orange flood warnings, torrential rain and thunderstorms mainly
in the country’s eastern regions. Even red flood warnings have been issued for
several rivers there. Heavy rainfalls have caused damage to households and numerous
hectares of farmland while road traffic has been disrupted. The week ends with
a first red warning for hot weather and high discomfort indexes in several
counties in western Romania where temperatures soared to all-time highs of
38-40 degrees centigrade. Orange alerts for extremely hot temperatures have
been issued for the country’s western and central regions and yellow alerts for
the rest. The Health Ministry has called on public health authorities in
various counties across Romania to take all the necessary measures to reduce
health risks caused by the hot weather. First-aid centers fitted with
air-conditioning and trained personnel have been opened in many areas.

(bill)