The green certificate, compulsory in Romania
In the context of an alarming spread of the Covid-19 infection in Romania, the Bucharest Government has taken new measures.
Daniela Budu, 20.09.2021, 14:00
The green certificate, attesting vaccination, negative testing or recovery from Covid-19 is compulsory in Romania upon entering cinemas, restaurants, gyms, or attending public and private events, such as sports competitions or weddings and baptisms, in areas where the infection rate is between 3 to 6 per thousand. Children below the age of 6 are the only category exempted from this rule. The decision was taken by Government Order on Friday. In keeping with the new measures in place, access to cinemas and theatres is allowed at half capacity and face masks are compulsory indoors. In bars, clubs and discos, the allowed capacity is 30% while protests can be attended by 100 participants at the most.
State Secretary with the Interior Ministry, Raed Arafat, has said that the recent measures taken by the Government do not create discrimination: “First of all, I would like to emphasizes the fact that this Order has not imposed restrictions. Instead of shutting down economic activity when the infection rate of 3 per thousand is exceeded, we came up with solutions to keep economy open and have sanitary monitoring. This means we cannot speak of discrimination. We allow all categories to participate, on one condition: to be either vaccinated, have a negative test or having recovered from the disease. “
PM Florin Cîţu said that by making the green certificate compulsory, the Government has tried to keep the schools and the economy open. On the other hand, representatives of the National Council for Combating Discrimination say that the green certificate should have not been adopted by Government Order, but by law passed in Parliament, arguing that it restricts some basic rights. They have given the example of France, which, at the beginning of August, implemented similar measures, after passing a law in this respect in parliament.
The National Council for Combating Discrimination does not rule out the possibility for some people to file complaints against the state, for discrimination. In his turn, the former head of the Constitutional Court of Romania, Augustin Zegrean, believes that the measures taken through administrative acts and not by law in Parliament could become useless, if this controversy reaches the Constitutional Court.
In Europe, Italy, one of the countries most affected by coronavirus, is the first country that made the Covid-19 green certificate compulsory for all employees in the public and private system. The measure will be implemented as of October 15, and will be in force until the end of the year. We remind you that starting August 13, 2021, only digital certificates are the documents recognized as proofs of vaccination, negative testing or recovery from Covid-19. Crossing the borders is also possible without presenting these certificates, but with the observance of the restrictions in place in every state. (EE)
