A roundup of domestic and international news
COVID-19 - Some 900 new cases of SARS CoV-2 have been reported in the last 24 hours in Romania, taking the total number of infections to some 96.000. The official death toll has exceeded 3.900. 465 patients are currently in intensive care. 6.600 Romanians living abroad have tested positive for COVID-19, mostly in Germany, Italy and Spain. Of these 126 have died.
CAMPAIGN - The campaign for the local election due on September 27 continues in Romania with the observance of measures aimed at preventing the pandemic from spreading. According to the Interior Ministry, face masks are compulsory, while all people attending election events and meetings will undergo triage and will have to sanitize their hands. Access rules and individual health safety measures will be publicly displayed. Participants will also have to observe the minimum 1-meter distance. A maximum of 50 people are admitted for indoor activities for a maximum duration of 2 hours. In the case of outdoor events, the participation is limited to a hundred people. Candidates are vying for one of the 41 positions of presidents of county councils, 3.200 mayor seats, 1.300 county councilmen and 40.000 local councilmen. Originally slated for June, the local election was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, while the mandates of local officials were extended by another six months.
ELECTION - The Permanent Election Authority on Monday announced some 3.032 Romanians living abroad have enrolled for postal voting, while 1.059 voters have registered for casting votes in the polls. The Authority recalls that eligible voters can register for physical or postal voting over April 1 - September 21. The president of the Permanent Election Authority, Constantin-Florin Mituleţu-Buică has recommended all citizens in the diaspora opt for postal voting, the safest way to cast their vote remotely, at zero costs and risks, all the more so in the given crisis generated by the coronavirus pandemic.
DIPLOMACY - 'Increasing Romania's role inside the EU and NATO and also consolidating and expanding the Strategic Partnership with the United States remain the key lines in Romania's foreign policy', is the message conveyed by the country's president, Klaus Iohannis at the Romanian Diplomacy Annual Meeting. According to the president, in the wake of the pandemic crisis, the Romanian diplomacy is going to embrace some new facets and that involves additional ingenuity and flexibility. The present Annual Meeting of Romanian Diplomacy has been held online for the first time as videoconference and is going to last three days under the title, 'The impact of the pandemic over the international tendencies and the Romanian diplomacy response'. High on the agenda are the impact of the medical crisis over the international relations and global tendencies as well as the adjustment of the Romanian diplomacy instruments in this context. The guest list this year includes the head of the European diplomacy Josep Borrell and NATO's deputy secretary general, Romanian Mircea Geoana.
SCHOOL YEAR - Romania's Prime Minister Ludovic Orban has said the school year begins on September 14, at the same time underlining that people's right to education is fundamental. The Romanian official has explained local authorities are allowed to establish their own scenarios depending on the epidemiological situation in their region. In Bucharest the infection rate in the past two weeks has stood at 1.19 per thousand, which places the capital city in the yellow zone and that allows for the students' return to schools. 43 localities have been placed in the red zone, where students are taking only online courses, while over 27 hundred localities are in the green zone, allowing normal school attendance. The Health Ministry will this week provide direction lines for the organization of activity in education institutions to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
BREXIT - Negotiations on post-Brexit relations between the EU and the UK will resume on Tuesday in London. British chief negotiator for Brexit, David Frost, has recently said that London does not fear a failure in reaching an agreement on trade. On the other hand, EU chief negotiator for Brexit, Michel Barnier, expressed concern and disappointment with the progress of negotiations. The two parties have only weeks at their disposal to settle the negotiations. According to officials in Brussels, negotiations will end next month. If an agreement is reached, Member States will require time to ratify it before taking effect on January 1, 2021, when the EU will officially leave the EU.
(Translated by D. Bilt & V. Palcu)
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