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CENSUS Romania has extended its online self-census for another two weeks, until 27 May. Authorities have made this decision after the finalized forms rose by 450 thousand a day. Over 8.4 million Romanians have so far filled in the online forms and those who do not want or cannot do the self-review online are to be reviewed at home between 31 May and 17 July.
NATO Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson is today seeking Parliament support for an application to join NATO, after the ruling Social Democratic Party dropped its long-standing opposition to membership, Reuters and AFP say. Last week, Finnish president Sauli Niisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin announced that Helsinki would apply for NATO membership without delay. Andersson said that "NATO entry was the best thing for the security of Sweden and the Swedish people".
COVID-19 The fourth dose of the anti-Covid vaccine has become available in Romania as of Monday. The inoculation is on request and can be done at vaccination centers across the country and by family physicians. The vaccine, produced by Pfizer-BioNTech, is recommended to people over 60 years old, but is also available to any major individual at least four months after the end of the three-doses vaccination scheme with a messenger RNA vaccine. The number of newly-vaccinated people is still very low against the background of the diminishing medical crisis. Since the onset of the pandemic in Romania, more than two years ago, the virus has killed over 65 thousand people.
REFUGEES About 78 hundred Ukrainians entered Romania on Sunday, 11 percent less than in the previous day, authorities have informed. Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine on 24 February roughly 950 thousand Ukrainians have entered Romania.
WAR Russian forces have carried on their attacks in Donbas, eastern Ukraine, their main objective after the failure they experienced in the Kyiv area. Russia has been trying to entirely occupy the Ukrainian regions of Lugansk and Donetsk, partially controlled by the breakaway republics with the same names. The Ukrainian army has recently won the battle for Kharkiv, the country's second largest city, repelling the Russian troops to such a distance so that their artillery may pose no real threat. According to the BBC, more than a half of those killed during the Russian occupation of the Bucha region had been shot, in what a policeman described, execution style. The bodies of more than one thousand civilians were discovered in April after the pullout of the Russian troops. Moscow denies any war crime allegations, but Ukrainian prosecutors say they have evidence incriminating the Russian army.
LAW The offshore law regulating the operations of oil exploitation in the Black Sea will be debated upon in the Chamber of Deputies in Bucharest tomorrow, after having been adopted by the senators in the form agreed upon by the ruling coalition. Under the document, Romania will have priority in gas exploitation and the profit will be divided between the Romanian state - 60% and investors - 40%. According to Energy Minister Virgil Popescu, the law will contribute to curbing gas prices for household consumers. The legislative council has called into attention the project's constitutionality issues through the inclusion of retroactive provisions, while the Competition Council says that some provisions could be discriminatory for some trade partners.
MEETING Romania's Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu is in Brussels to attend the meeting of the EU Foreign Ministers. According to the Foreign Ministry in Bucharest, the EU ministers will be having a thorough exchange of opinions on Russia's illegal aggression against Ukraine and will be having informal talks with Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. Before the meeting, the Romanian minister will join his European counterparts for the joint Ministerial Committee EU-Canada, which will be presided by the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Josep Borell and by the Foreign Minister of Canada Melanie Joly. Minister Aurescu is expected to reiterate Romania's support for the adoption of the sixth sanction package against Russia and for the EU accession of the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia.He will be presenting the Romanian assessment of the latest security developments in the region, including the recent provocations in the breakaway region of Transdniester in the Republic of Moldova.
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