October 12, 2020
A roundup of domestic and international news.
Newsroom, 12.10.2020, 13:55
MEETING – Romanias Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu is today attending a meeting of EU Foreign Ministers in Luxembourg. According to a press release, Aurescu will talk about topics such as the conflict in Nagorno-Karabah and will underline Romania’s stand for a peaceful solution to the conflict and the observance of the principles and norms of international law. Also, he will encourage the parties to respect the recent ceasefire agreement and resume negotiations. As regards the situation in Belarus, minister Aurescu will emphasize the need for reaction and firm and quick action on the side of the EU, with Romania being among the members who co-sponsored an initiative requiring additional sanctions to be imposed on the regime in Minsk. Also, the Romanian official will reiterate his country’s solidarity with Poland and Lithuania following the pressure put by the Belarusian authorities on these country’s embassies in Minsk.
PRIZE – Romanian President Klaus Iohannis will receive on Wednesday in Magdeburg, Germany, the 2020 Kaiser Otto Prize for “great merits in the European unification efforts.” According to a release by the presidency, Heiko Maas, Germany’s Foreign Affairs Minister, will deliver the Laudatio. The Kaiser Otto prize is granted every two years to personalities and organizations that have special merits in the European unification process and in promoting European thinking. German chancellor Angela Merkel, Federica Mogherini, the former EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, former German president Richard von Weizsäcker and former Latvian president Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, are among the recipients of the prize.
COVID-19 IN ROMANIA – Another 2,880 new cases of COVID-19 and 53 fatalities, among whom a child, have been reported in Romania, the Group for Strategic Communication announced. 628 patients are still in intensive care. The death toll since the start of the pandemic is 5,411. The infection rate per thousand inhabitants in the last 14 days stands at over 1.5 in several counties. Health Minister Nelu Tataru has said that people infected with Covid-19 who show no symptoms and have no underlying medical conditions will be evaluated at home and will be scheduled for medical investigations. A final decision in this respect will be taken this week. The measure is meant to prevent the overcrowding of emergency units in hospitals.
ELECTIONS — A second round of local elections for mayors was held on Sunday in three communes, after two candidates got the same number of votes in the first round, held on September 27. Voter turnout exceeded 50% in all three communes. In the town of Moldova Noua in the south west, where elections should have been held again after the Central Election Bureau invalidated the candidacy of the person who got most votes, the elections were no longer held following a Court ruling that annulled the BEC’s decision. Once the results validated, BEC is to announce the final results of the local elections. We remind you that last month the Social Democrat Gabriela Firea lost the seat of Bucharest mayor to independent Nicusor Dan, supported by the Liberals and the Save Romania Union.
FOOTBALL — Romania’s national football squad on Sunday lost nil-4 to Norway in Olso, in the European Nations League. Erling Haaland scored a triple for the hosts and Alexander Sørloth also scored once, on minute 39. Also on Sunday, in the other group fixture, Austria defeated Northern Ireland 1-nil. Previously, the match between Romania and Northern Ireland ended in a draw and Romania beat Austria 3-2, with both matches being held on Romanians’ turf. (Translated by Elena Enache)
