Irinela Visan

Romania's Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu says Romania has already reached the stage where it is heading towards the creation of the Euro-Atlantic Centre for Resilience, mentioning that there are very good reactions to the opportuneness and the need to establish it.

The president of the Colectiv GTG 3010 Association, Eugen Iancu, announces that he will protest, on Sunday evening, in front of the headquarters of the Interior Ministry (MAI), adding that Health Minister Vlad Voiculescu will have to be "questioned" regarding the situation in the Health system only some months after taking over the mandate.

Minister Stelian Ion attended the informal meeting of EU justice ministers on Friday, which focused on protecting vulnerable adults, protecting intellectual property rights through criminal law, the link between counterfeiting and organized crime, and digitisation.

Prime Minister Florin Citu on Wednesday stated that Romania is carrying out a "successful" vaccination campaign against COVID-19, one of the most successful in Europe, and he mentioned that all EU states had to reconfigure during this time the dose administration pace because manufacturing companies have adjusted their production.

Bucharest Prefect Traian Berbeceanu announced on Friday the decision taken by the Bucharest Municipal Committee for Emergency Situations to ease several restrictions imposed in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, so that restaurants, bars and cafés will be allowed to operate between 6:00 and 21:00 at maximum 30 percent of capacity.

The number of tests and positive results of COVID-19 does not represent the only indicator taken into account when adopting decisions, said Wednesday Prime minister Florin Citu, mentioning that persons admitted to the Intensive Care Unit or phone calls made to single number 112 indicate an improvement regarding the situation of the pandemic.

Over 30,000 people have been vaccinated against COVID-19 with the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine in the last 24 hours, of whom 1,075 received the booster dose, the total number of those vaccinated reaching 235,239, informs the National Committee for the Coordination of Vaccination Activities against COVID-19 (CNCAV).

Chairman of the Renew Europe group in the European Parliament Dacian Ciolos is calling the detention of Alexei Navalny a 'coward gesture' of the regime led by Vladimir Putin, calling on the European Parliament for an urgent debate. "Getting Alexei Navalny arrested is a coward gesture of the regime led by Vladimir Putin that cannot go without consequences.

Prime Minister Florin Citu said on Wednesday that he will discuss next week with the associative organisations of the local public administrations the 2021 budget and that the degree of government revenue collection, the way the public money is used, and staff expenses will all be analysed.

In reaction to a Constitutional Court ruling on Wednesday, Prime Minister Florin Citu says Romania in 2020 did not afford to increase state pensions by 40% and it does not afford now either, but the government will do increase pensions based on a promised schedule. "Romania did not afford it last year. It does not afford it in 2020 either.