14 February, 2020

14 february, 2020 A roundup of the main stories in Romania today.

Conference. Romania's acting prime minister Ludovic Orban has attended as a guest of honour the Munich Europe Conference in Germany where the spoke about his country's "solid European profile". According to a government statement, Orban underlined Romania's active involvement in efforts to consolidate the European Union and its major policies and to improve cohesion among member states. The Europe Conference, which is organised as part of the 56th edition of the Munich Security Conference, has been held for the last 15 years and brings together top level representatives of political and business circles. The prime minister, who is accompanied by foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu, is also due to meet in Munich counterparts from a number of states and representatives of the business community.


Brexit. Almost 500,000 Romanians had applied, by the end of January, for residency in the UK as part of the settlement scheme made available by the UK government to European citizens wishing to continue to live in this country after 31st of December. The foreign ministry in Bucharest said in a statement that 63,000 people applied in January. The deadline for submitting applications is 30th June 2021 for the European citizens reaching UK territory by 31st December this year.


Coronavirus. China's revised death toll of the new coronavirus today neared 1,400. Some 64,000 cases of infection have been recorded so far in continental China, excluding Hong Kong and Macao, which marks a sharp rise over the last two days, as a result of a new benchmark to measure the outbreak. In Bucharest, the health minister has announced that no case of infection has been reported in Romania. The foreign ministry says a Romanian citizen from the Diamond Princess cruise vessel, found in the Japanese territorial waters, tested positive for the new pneumonia virus. He was transferred for isolation and treatment to a Japanese hospital specialising in such situations. Romania's diplomatic mission in Japan is in contact with the Romanian citizen in hospital and the other Romanian nationals on board the vessel.


Protest. A number of environmental groups are today staging a rally in central Bucharest asking the authorities to take urgent measures to reduce air pollution in the capital city. Environmentalists say their action comes amid alarming spikes in pollution levels and in protest against the fact that the authorities provide insufficient air quality data. The organisers of the rally demand environmentally friendly public transport, bike lanes, pedestrian infrastructure, more green areas and proper air quality monitoring. On Thursday, the environment minister Costel Alexe admitted that the national air quality monitoring system does not function properly, which can affect that accuracy of the data collected, especially in big cities. Bucharest's mayor Gabriela Firea claims, however, that air quality has improved in Bucharest in recent years.


Economy. The growth rate of the Romanian economy slowed down to 4.1% last year after rising to 4.4% in 2018 and 7.1% in 2017, according to estimates by the National Institute for Statistics published today. In November last year, the National Commission for Strategy and Prognosis revised its economic growth forecasts for last year down to under 4% compared with the 5.5% level estimated in its spring forecast. On Thursday, the European Commission said Romania saw a 3.9% economic growth rate in 2019 compared with 4.4% in 2018, according to winter forecasts. The economic growth level is expected to continue to slow down in Romania this year and the next.


Corruption. The former Social Democratic health minister Mircea Beuran has been detained by anti-corruption prosecutors for bribe taking. He is accused of receiving 10,000 euros to propose holding a recruitment contest for the position of assistant teacher at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Bucharest and making sure the person giving the bribe gets the job. Beuran was the head of the surgery department at a Bucharest hospital until last month, when he was sacked after a patient died as a result of burns sustained while on the operating table. In 2003 when he was minister, a specialist committee established that one of his books was plagiarised. In another move, the former president of the National Commission for Prognosis, Ion Ghizdeanu, is under criminal investigation for fraud. He is accused of forging  more than 1,000 memos needed by the local authorities around the country to obtain funding under the Development and Investment Fund. (CM)



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