A roundup of domestic and international news
DESIGNATION - President Klaus Iohannis on Tuesday designated the current Finance Minister, Liberal Florin Cîţu, as the country's new Prime Minister. The announcement came after the second round of talks held on Tuesday with parliamentary parties. Florin Cîţu was nominated by the leaders of the National Liberal Party, the Save Romania Union - PLUS Alliance and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, who on Monday signed an agreement for government for the next four years. After the talks the coalition leaders said they want the new Cabinet to be sworn in as quickly as possible in order to make the necessary reforms. The Prime Minister designate Florin Cîţu promised he would do everything in his power to ensure stable and long-term governance, also pointing out the priority of his Cabinet would be to overcome the health crisis and economic recovery. Although invited to attend the talks, the Social Democratic Party, which won the largest number of votes in the recent parliamentary elections, did not show up. After the elections, the Social Democrats said the best solution given the coronavirus pandemic is a national unity government led by the doctor Alexandru Rafila, Romania's representative to the World Health Organization. The leaders of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians, which grabbed the fourth largest number of votes in the December 6 parliamentary election, also attended the talks, saying they won't be voting for the Cîţu Cabinet.
COVID-19 IN ROMANIA - Some 5,000 new coronavirus cases were recorded on Tuesday in Romania, with total infections now nearing 600,000. Tuesday also saw 155 new fatalities, taking the death toll to 14,636. 1,252 Covid patients are in intensive care.
RESTRICTIONS - Globally, there are over 77.7 million confirmed coronavirus cases and some 1.7 million fatalities. There are over 320,000 deaths in the United States. In Europe, governments have imposed special restrictions around the winter holidays to prevent the further spread of the virus. Non-essential shops are closed in Germany until January 10, Italy is under lockdown around Christmas and New Year. In France, people will be allowed to leave their homes and the night-time curfew will be lifted. In Poland, schools, restaurants and ski slopes remain closed until January 17, a travel ban is in place in Croatia and tourism is banned in Bulgaria until the end of January. The emergence of a new strain of the virus in Great Britain has caused panic around the world. The World Health Organisation says, however, that this new strain is not "out of control".
VACCINE - The European Medicines Agency on Monday approved the Covid Pfizer BioNTech vaccine which is already being rolled out in the UK and the United States. The authorization is valid in all 27 EU member states and provides solid scientific foundation for the implementation of vaccination programmes and a framework for continuous supervision and control, said the Agency chief Emer Cooke. European countries are planning to kick-start the vaccination campaign on December 27. The Romanian authorities say they are also ready to begin mass vaccination on this date. The first 10,000 doses are expected to reach Romania on Saturday, and the first to receive the vaccine are medical workers in infectious diseases hospitals.
1989 - The heroes of the 1989 anti-communist Revolution were honored on Tuesday in Bucharest and other cities in Romania on the 31st anniversary of the fall of communism. A remembrance service and other events were held in Bucharest, including outside the headquarters of the public radio and television stations. Military festivities were held around the country, and flowers were laid at the memorials dedicated to the heroes of the Revolution, in strict observance of the physical distancing rules in place. President Klaus Iohannis issued a statement saying justice must do its duty in the case of those guilty for the bloody reprisals in December 1989. The Romanian anti-communist uprising began in Timișoara (west) on December 16 and on the 21st began to spread to Bucharest and other cities. Romania was the only country in the former eastern bloc where the regime change occurred through bloodshed and where the former communist leaders were executed. More than 1,000 people were killed in the uprising and some 3,000 wounded. (C. Mateescu & V. Palcu)
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