On Sunday the state of alert was prolonged for another month. And a new restriction on travel between 10 pm and 5 am was introduced in an attempt to control ever increasing corona infections. But there is also good news, including a historical high on the Bucharest stock exchange and the first Oscar nominations for a Romanian feature film.
This and more in this week’s Romanian Dispatch’s coverage of the past seven days. If you like it, why not pass it on? New readers can subscribe here.
This week the news was dominated by the pandemic. On Sunday more than one thousand anti-vaxxers gathered in front of parliament, the largest gathering to date. Timișoara and four neighbouring communities went into quarantine whereas new measures to prevent the spread of the corona virus went into effect in the capital on Monday. Authorities repealed a batch of AstraZeneca vaccins on Thursday. On the same day, Romania posted 5,236 new COVID-19 cases, the highest rate in over two months.
This and more in this week’s Romanian Dispatch’s coverage of the past seven days. If you like it, why not pass it on? New readers can subscribe here.
BOEKAREST — Ruim duizend Roemenen protesteerden gisteren in Boekarest tegen verplichte vaccinatie. De demonstranten keerden zich ook tegen de invoering van een zogeheten vaccinatie paspoort. De menigte verzamelde zich in het Izvor Park, tegenover het parlement. Slechts weinigen droegen een mondkapje en de meesten hielden zich niet aan de afstandsregels.
“Niet tegen vaccinatie, maar VRIJHEID om zelf te beslissen” was het thema waarmee de organisatoren, de Alliantie van Ouders, de demonstratie hadden aangekondigd. Het protest was gepromoot door AUR, de Alliantie voor een Verenigd Roemenië — de nieuwe extreem-nationalistische partij die in december in het parlement werd gekozen. AUR voorman George Simion en mede-oprichter Claudiu Târziu bevonden zich tussen de demonstranten.
De organisatoren van de grootste anti-vaxx demonstratie totnutoe zijn beboet met een geldstraf van 7.000 lei (€ 1.500) voor het niet nemen van de nodige maatregelen om het aantal deelnemers tot honderd te beperken en voor het niet naleven van andere maatregelen ter bescherming van de gezondheid, aldus de politie.
Zondagnacht werden nieuwe maatregelen van kracht in de hoofdstad om het coronavirus te beteugelen. Cafés en restaurants moeten hun deuren weer sluiten de komende veertien dagen en sommige scholen gaan weer over op on-line onderwijs. In Boekarest zijn sinds vorige week gemiddeld meer dan drie inwoners per duizend met het coronavirus besmet.
The numbers are going up. Daily infection rates are crossing the 4,000 mark frequently and there are now more than 1,000 corona patients in ICU’s again. Four counties and the capital are in the “red scenario”. Meanwhile more than 1 million Romanians have been vaccinated and the pace is picking up. This and more news in this week’s Romanian Dispatch.
Happy Mărțișor. Spring has come at last! While teaching staff started to get vaccinated and the Romanian government donated 20,000 anticorona vaccines to neighbouring Moldova, health authorities are preparing for a third wave of the pandemic. This and more news in this week’s Romanian Dispatch.
The Cîţu cabinet approved the draft 2021 state budget, which will now go to parliament for approval. After a visit to Brussels, the prime minister announced that Romania could join the Schengen Area as early as this year and introduce the euro in 2027 or 2028. This and more good news in this week’s Romanian Dispatch.
The Cîţu government finally presented a draft budget for 2021, but it looks like few are happy about it, including his own ministers. Among other things, the budget foresees cuts in the many bonuses and other benefits for public servants. And new data show that Romania experienced a mini-babyboom in December. This and more in this week’s Romanian Dispatch.
Good morning. After some delay the national vaccination campaign against the SARS-CoV-2 virus has resumed with new supplies of the Moderna vaccin. The 2021 budget should be ready soon, although coalition partners disagree on the direction for sustainable economic growth. And 2021 looks to be a good year for coffee lovers. That and more in this week’s Romanian Dispatch.
After a short hiatus and a long holiday break we are back! And back with mostly good news: daily corona infections are down, vaccinations are up, and the new centre-right government, which was formed at the end of 2020, seems to be on track to reverse legislation that undermines the rule of law and tackle economic challenges.
And the polls are open! An estimated 740,000 Romanians in the diaspora have two days to vote in the parliamentary elections. At 07:00 this morning, 21,500 Romanians abroad had already cast their ballot. This issue of Romanian Dispatch is dedicated to the elections. We interviewed renowned sociologist Dumitru Sandu about the Romanian electorate and what the likely outcome of the elections will be.
