A roundup of domestic and international news
COVID-19 IN ROMANIA - 128 thousand doses of Moderna are scheduled to arrive today in Romania. Since December, 2020, over 4.3 million people have taken the anti-COVID-19 vaccine, most of whom with both doses. The number of infections remains low. On Friday, 225 new cases of infection were reported, in addition to 113 fatalities. 341 people are still in intensive care. The European green certificate will officially be launched starting July 1 at European level, and Romania is on schedule with implementation proceedings, Andrei Baciu, Secretary of State with the Health Ministry, has said. The certificate attests that a person is vaccinated with the anti-COVID vaccine, that he/she had the disease, confirmed by a recent PCR test, or that he/she does not have the virus, also confirmed by a PCR test.
VISIT - Romania's president, Klaus Iohannis, on Tuesday will receive his Israeli counterpart, Reuven Rivlin, who will pay an official visit to Romania. According to a report made public on Friday by the presidency, the visit confirms the high level of bilateral cooperation between the two countries. The two presidents last met on the sidelines of the 2020 World Holocaust Forum hosted by Jerusalem in January last year and talked on the phone in March and June, 2020. The meeting's agenda will focus on economic cooperation and efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, Holocaust education and other measures to combat anti-Semitism in Romania, as well as cultural exchanges between the two states. High on the agenda are also the developments in the Middle East.
PNRR - Romania's National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), submitted to Brussels this week, provides for an increase of low pensions and the recalculation of all pensions, Minister for Investments and European Projects, Cristian Ghinea has said. The Romanian official told the public radio that pensions will not be slashed, whereas the retirement age and taxes will not go up. According to Minister Ghinea, the EU will disburse funds to member states provided national governments undertake reforms to correct imbalances. Education, healthcare, transport and infrastructure, digitization and the reform of public administration are the main fields in which Romania has pledged to invest the nearly €30 billion earmarked by the European Commission. Under the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism, Romania plans to implement reforms of its fiscal and pension systems. Romania's plan provides measures in the fields of sustainable transport, education, medical assistance, the renovation of buildings and the digitization of public administration. All projects must be finalized by 2026.
CANNES - Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu will be presiding the jury of the section Semaine de la Critique at the International Film Festival in Cannes, to be held over July 6-17. In 2002, Cristian Mungiu presented his debut feature in Cannes, "West" in the Quinzaine de Realisateurs. In 2007 he scooped the Palme d'Or for his feature, "4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days" and grabbed the award for best scenario for his feature "Beyond the Hills" in 2012. In 2016 he won the award for best director for "Baccalaureate". A screen writer and producer, he was also jury president in the Cinefondation and Short Films section in 2017. The feature film, "La Civil", is a Romanian-Belgian-Mexican co-production directed by Teodora Ana Mihai and co-produced by Cristian Mungiu, and has been selected in the Un Certain Regard section. The film tells the story of a mother whose daughter is kidnapped and who decides to take action in order to save her, after the Mexican authorities refuse to help.
EXHIBITION - India's Ambassador in Romania, Rahul Shrivastava, will attend the opening of the Indian photo art exhibition, organized by the "Euro Foto Art" International Association (AIEFA). Titled "LensVision", the exhibition comprises 72 black-and-white and color photos "of high artistic value", taken by the president of the "Bengal" Photography Institute in Calcutta, Sanjoy Bhattacharya and 36 of his students. The event is held under the patronage of the International Photo Art Federation and the Indian Embassy in Romania. The official opening will be held at the Euro Foto Art Gallery in Oradea on Friday, June 4, and can be visited until July 6.
EURO 2020 - Romanian Minister for Youth and Sports, Eduard Novak, said matches Bucharest will host as part of EURO 2020 will be played with the physical attendance of fans up to 25% of the capacity of National Arena Stadium in Bucharest. For the match counting towards the round of 16, the capacity will be increased to 50%. The decision falls in line with UEFA recommendations regarding security plans. Bucharest will be hosting three matches in Group C: Austria vs. North Macedonia, Ukraine vs. North Macedonia and Ukraine vs. Austria, as well as one match in the round of 16. Originally scheduled for 2020, the competition was postponed for 2021 as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. EURO 2020 celebrates 60 years since the organization of the first European Championship and will take place over June 11 - July 11 in 11 European cities.
TENNIS - Two Romanian tennis players are today competing in the women's singles in the third round at Roland Garros. Sorana Cîrstea will play Daria Kasatkina of Russia, while Ana Bogdan will take on Paula Badosa Gibert of Spain. Also today, in the men's doubles, Horia Tecău of Romania and Kevin Krawietz of Germany are playing Yen-Hsun Lu of Taiwan and Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan. Yesterday, in the women's doubles, Irina Begu of Romania and Nadia Podoroska of Argentina qualified to the second round after defeating Estelle Cascino and Jessika Ponchet of France, 6-3, 6-1. Also yesterday, Monica Niculescu of Romania and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated 6-0, 6-3 the pair made up of Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine. (VP)
Useful Links
Copyright © . All rights reserved