FARUKH SHEHZAD

NEWS DESK

Notwithstanding, the recent rise in COVID cases, Pakistan has been showing signs of a fragile economic recovery with a gradual resumption of economic dynamism, according to a new World Bank report.

Pakistan’s economic growth is expected to reach 1.3 percent in FY2021 and strengthen to an average of 2.7 percent for FY2022-23, according to the Pakistan Development Update released. The baseline economic growth forecast, however, is highly uncertain, especially given the third and more-contagious wave of the pandemic currently circulating in the country.

Private consumption is estimated to have picked up over July to December 2020, in part due to the record increase in remittances inflows, social assistance support from the Ehsaas program, the government’s construction package, and a return to pre-COVID mobility levels from September 2020. Investment is also estimated to be recovering, as machinery imports and cement sales both recorded double-digit growth rates during this period.

“It is crucial to sustain the positive reform momentum to continue to boost the competitiveness of Pakistan’s economy and lay a strong foundation for a more robust, inclusive and sustainable recovery,” said Najy Benhassine, World Bank Country Director for Pakistan. “Increasing competitiveness and stimulating private investment and exports will require continued macroeconomic stability, maintenance of a market-determined exchange rate, and improving the business environment to enable all firms, particularly SMEs, to access markets and compete openly in a leveled playing field. The potential for a strong recovery and a growth acceleration is there. Reforms to make it happen need to be further sustained.”

Given the scope and magnitude of the COVID-19 crisis, understanding how the pandemic affected Pakistan’s private sector will be key to informing the design of new policy measures or refining existing ones to prevent widespread long-term firm closures and job losses.

This edition of the Pakistan Development Update also presents the findings of two waves of World Bank Business Pulse Surveys and suggests several key policy measures to further support the recovery of the private sector and the Pakistani economy.

“Despite some recovery in the private sector, many firms remain vulnerable and require support to prevent closures and further job losses. Policy measures that prevent permanent firm closures and further job losses will contribute significantly to sustaining the recovery,” said Derek H. C. Chen, World Bank Senior Economist for Pakistan.

The policy measures that can be considered include enhancing private sector access to formal finance, in particular for Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises, streamlining regulatory and administrative requirements to ease compliance costs, and providing support to firms in digitizing and establishing an online presence.

The Pakistan Development Update is a companion piece to the South Asia Economic Focus, a twice-a-year World Bank report that examines economic developments and prospects in the South Asia region and analyzes policy challenges faced by countries. The Spring 2021 edition titled South Asia Vaccinates, launched on March 31, 2021, shows that economic activity in South Asia is bouncing back, but growth is uneven, recovery remains fragile, and the economic outlook is precarious. The report also focuses on the different dimensions of vaccine deployment and provides a cost-benefit analysis of vaccination in the region.

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BUCHAREST, APR 9: Romanian officials plan to launch the first mobile COVID-19 vaccination centers this month in an effort to boost rural access to the vaccine. Valeriu Gheorghita, the coordinator of the national vaccination campaign, said that vaccination in such centers could start on April 20.

“On April 20, we want to start vaccinations at mobile centers; about 20 mobile centers will be set up in a first stage, they will be distributed nationwide, and will be coordinated by the County Committee for Management and Coordination of Intervention in cooperation with military hospitals because all these 20 centers operate with human resources from the Ministry of Defense,” Gheoghita said in a press conference on Tuesday, April 6, according to News.ro.

These mobile centers will go to rural localities where the population doesn’t have access to vaccination centers or family doctors, and will mainly use the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, Valeriu Gheorghita also explained.

According to Secretary of State for Health Andrei Baciu, Romania is set to receive more than 8.3 million COVID-19 vaccine doses in April and May, including the first batches of Johnson & Johnson vaccines, Digi24 reported. Currently, Romania uses the Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca vaccines.

“This week, we will receive 134,400 doses from Moderna and 110,564 doses from AstraZeneca. As for the vaccines produced by Pfizer-BioNTech, we will receive 511,000 doses a week, from the information we have for the next two weeks. 512,000 doses will arrive in the last week of April, bringing the total to 2,046,330 doses at the end of April. For Moderna, nothing has changed from the week before, we are talking about a minimum of 280,800 doses for April, and for AstraZeneca, 879,990,” Baciu said.

Romania kicked off the vaccination campaign on December 27. By April 6, more than 2.15 million people received the vaccine: 897,857 got the first dose, and over 1.25 million received both doses.

According to Valeriu Gheorghita, 780,000 people who want to receive the COVID-19 vaccine have signed up on waiting lists by Tuesday, April 6. Most of them are from Bucharest and the counties of Cluj and Prahova.

“At the moment, we have about 780,000 people on the waiting lists. By category, about 60% are people belonging to the general population, included in the third stage of the vaccination campaign, about 32% are people belonging to the vulnerable category, people with chronic diseases, people over 65, people with disabilities, and about 7.5% are individuals working in key areas,” Gheorghita said, according to News.ro.

By areas, more than 150,000 people on waiting lists are from Bucharest, almost 60,000 are from the county of Cluj, 37,000 are from Prahova county, over 29,000 are from Iasi county, and also over 29,000 are from Ilfov county, according to the data presented by Gheorghita.

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COURTESY romania-insider

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BUCHAREST, APR 3: Romania's Environmental Guard intends to buy almost 50 drones equipped with state-of-the-art sensors that will be used to monitor air quality and pollution levels across the country, the institution's head Octavian Berceanu told Digi24. Data collected by the drones will also be used to create maps of risk areas.

"We need drones. We will buy drones with air quality sensors, gas sensors, thermal sensors [...], and multispectral sensors," Berceanu said.

The multispectral sensors will help the authorities determine the level of vegetation degradation, he explained.

After purchasing the drones, the Environmental Guard also plans to use the collected data to create maps of risk areas and issue pollution alerts.

Air pollution is a major issue in Bucharest and other big cities in Romania. In mid-March, for example, the capital has recorded worrying air pollution levels, with many of the sensors of an independent air quality monitoring network showing high particulate matter PM 2.5 and PM 10 pollution levels across the city. At that time, Environmental Guard representatives said the main cause of the spike in air pollution was the illegal burning of used car tires in localities around Bucharest.

According to a report released in October 2020, pollution costs EUR 166 billion per year in Europe. In Bucharest, the annual cost of air pollution is EUR 6.3 billion - the second-highest after London (EUR 11.4 billion). The per capita cost in the Romanian capital is slightly over EUR 3,000.

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COURTESY romania-insider.com

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BUCHAREST, APR 3: An exhibition dedicated to Romanian art opened in the boarding area of Bucharest's Henri Coanda International Airport (also known as the Otopeni Airport).

The exhibition, which will stay open until September 30, is part of the Art Safari Airport Museum - a joint initiative of Art Safari and the Bucharest Airports National Company aimed at promoting Romanian art.

"Following the model of the world's major airports - San Francisco, Istanbul, Amsterdam or Shanghai - whose terminals host exhibits representative for the history and art of the host country, the exhibition showcases at the Bucharest airport will help reveal the national identity through visual art while making the travelers' experience more pleasant,".

The first exhibition hosted by Art Safari Airport Museum is organized in partnership with the Museum of Bucharest. It features paintings by Alexandru Ciucurencu, Vasile Grigore, Ion Musceleanu, Spiru Vergulescu, Ion Grigore, and Zamfir Dumitrescu, as well as contemporary works of art signed by artists such as Sami Briss, Georges Mazilu, Ana Ruxandra Ilfoveanu, Petre Velicu, and Felix Aftene.

The organizers said they plan to renew the exhibition with new themes and artists, most likely once every six months.

"Airports occupy an important place in our lives, being the first stop where people come into contact with another country. That is why we strive to turn the time spent in this space into a unique experience, giving them some clues about what Romania means. The Romanian art is a compelling argument, so in an extremely delicate current context, we support Romanian art by promoting it and presenting it to the public in a dedicated space at the Henri Coanda International Airport," said Cosmin Catalin Pestesan, general manager of the Bucharest Airports National Company.

Art Safari, an independent cultural operator present on the Romanian art scene, is best known for organizing the annual Bucharest Art Pavilion, whose exhibitions have been visited by approximately 195,000 people in the seven editions so far.

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COURTESY romania-insider.com

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BUCHAREST, FEB 17: Romania's Government will pursue big reforms in four areas (pensions, incomes, education, and public administration) this year, announced prime minister Florin Citu along with the publication of the 2021 budget planning, Adevarul reported.

As previously announced, the public deficit is planned to reach 7.16% of the GDP this year, down from 9.8% of GDP last year.

PM Citu assured that he would get involved personally in promoting these reforms and thoroughly evaluate each minister's performance at the middle of the year when the budget execution for the first half of the year becomes available.

He stressed that the incomes in the budgetary sector were frozen, and he expects from each minister and state-owned company a plan of reforms by mid-year.

Compressing the public payroll, pensions, and other social benefits within the legal provisions is one of the main elements supposed to support fiscal consolidation, judging from the measures outlined by PM Citu.

The bonuses and other benefits will be maintained at the level of December 2020, and the holiday-related bonuses and vouchers are waived.

The overtime will be compensated in kind. The social security expenditures - the biggest single expenditure in Romania's budget (some one third) - will increase by RON 4.4 billion (EUR 0.9 bln) to RON 143 bln (just under EUR 30 bln, or 14% of GDP) this year.

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COURTESY romania-insider

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BUCHAREST, FEB 15: The Romanian Police's Dog Center in Sibiu, in central Romania, is training dogs to detect people infected with the SARS-Cov-2 virus, interior minister Lucian Bode announced. According to him, the project started last year, and the dogs will mainly be used by the border and transport police units.

"It is an ongoing process, and I am convinced that we will soon present concrete results of our colleagues' work in this center," minister Bode said.

In the 70 years of the institution's existence, remarkable results have been obtained in the fight against drugs, in counterterrorism intervention, forensic investigation, restricting illegal migration, rescuing victims, and carrying out public order actions.

And soon, the dogs trained here will also contribute to the fight against the spread of the SARS-Cov-2 virus, the minister also said.

Interior minister Bode and defense minister Nicolae Ciuca visited the Romanian Police's Dog Center in Sibiu on Thursday, February 11.

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COURTESY romania-insider.com

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BUCHAREST, JAN 28: Romania is "fully prepared" to join the Schengen area, 

Romanian prime minister Florin Citu told his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte 

in a phone conversation on Monday, January 25.

"Yesterday [e.n. Monday] I had a telephone conversation with the prime minister 

of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte. We analyzed the promising prospects for 

cooperation between Romania and the Netherlands, focusing on strengthening 

economic relations and boosting political dialogue," Citu wrote in a Facebook post.

"Our legitimate goal of joining the Schengen area was one of the key points 

reached in the discussion with prime minister Rutte, to whom I told that Romania 

is, without a doubt, fully prepared to enter the Schengen area," the Romanian 

PM added.

The evolution of the pandemic and the vaccination process in the two states 

were two other topics discussed, Florin Citu also said. 

Romania's accession to the Schengen area since 2011, according to G4media.ro. 

In May 2019, during the EU summit in Sibiu, the Dutch prime minister said that 

Romania would be ready for admission to the Schengen area "when it complies 

with the rule of law and democracy."

In December 2018, the European Parliament adopted a report supporting the 

Schengen membership for Bulgaria and Romania.

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COURTESY romania-insider

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BUCHAREST, DEC 2020 - Romania is ready to start vaccination against COVID on December 27, along with other EU countries, the first to be vaccinated will be the medical staff from the 10 hospitals that were involved from the beginning in treating patients with COVID-19, authorities say. Vaccinated persons will receive a certificate containing data on the batch and series of the vaccine.

The declared vaccine acceptance rate is different between COVID and non-COVID hospitals. In COVID hospitals, it is over 95%, while in the rest of the hospitals the acceptance rate is 70% for those with higher education and around 50% for those with secondary education.

There is also a degree of acceptance of vaccination of about 80% among family physicians.

In anticipation of the start of vaccination on December 27, for the medical staff at the forefront of the fight against the virus, the Cantacuzino Institute is already ready to receive vaccines, with a capacity of 1.5 million doses to be distributed to county centers, and the chain distribution will be supported by the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Health, News.ro reports .

The vaccination campaign will involve 1,500 to 2,000 doctors, 4,500 nurses and 2,000 registrars , who would be paid, and discussions on this topic are ongoing.

The second stage of vaccination is expected to start in February.

Medical authorities say there is no need for pre-vaccination testing, with the argument that about 10% of volunteers involved in the vaccine testing phase went through the disease and did not know it, as did people who had the active virus and had a very good answer.

According to the same authorities, even those who are vaccinated will have to wear a mask until an immunity rate of over 60-70% is reached. Each vaccinated person will receive a vaccination certificate and will be contacted the day before to report for the booster.

The vaccination certificate will be written in both Romanian and English, and will contain mentions regarding the batch and the series of the vaccine, being a forensic document.

According to the authorities, most of those who are reluctant to get vaccinated say they do not have enough information, which is why information campaigns will be launched.

The Minister of Health, Nelu Tătaru, announced on Wednesday that the first 10,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine, with which 5,000 people will be vaccinated, will arrive in the country between Christmas and New Year and will be distributed to the medical staff working in infectious disease departments.

"On December 21, it is expected to have the approval for this vaccine of the European Medicines Agency. From then on, they can reach each of the 27 member countries. Between Christmas and New Year's Eve, there will be a first symbolic tranche of 10,000 doses, which means vaccination and booster for 5,000 people, which we will direct to the wards. infectious diseases ", declared Nelu Tătaru on Wednesday afternoon, at Digi 24.

Minister Tătaru mentioned that, starting with January, Romania will receive, in stages, monthly, other vaccines, so that until the beginning of next summer, the categories provided in the vaccination plan will be vaccinated in turn.

Regarding the transport of the vaccine, it will be done by the manufacturer, in "special transports", with freezers that can ensure temperatures of minus 80 - minus 90 degrees Celsius.

Each container contains five doses of vaccine that can be five days at two degrees, Tataru said.

On Wednesday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the 27 EU states would be able to "start the same day" their anti-Covid vaccination campaigns after the approval of the vaccine developed by Pfizer-BioNTech. 

The European Union could officially approve the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech to fight the new coronavirus as early as December 23, just two days after the possible agreement of the regulatory authority, a European Commission official said on Wednesday, quoted by Reuters .

According to EU regulations, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) recommends the approval of new medicines and vaccines, but the final decision on their marketing is taken by the European Commission, after consultation with EU governments.

The agency announced on Tuesday that it could issue a recommendation on the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech on December 21.

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COURTESY universul.net

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BUCHAREST, DEC 2020 - The construction of the Hotel of Ice near Balea Lake, in Romania's Fagaras Mountains, has been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the lack of snow and ice, project initiators announced. They also said that a decision to start the hotel's construction would be made early next year.

"The global pandemic caused by COVID-19 and the increasingly more serious 

climate changes of the last years have created big problems for those managing 

the 'Hotel of Ice Balea Lake' Tourist Marketing Project. Considering the complicated 

situation, taking into account all the organizational and logistical aspects, the 

representatives of the company that builds and manages the Hotel of Ice in the 

glacial basin of Balea Lake decided to postpone, at least for the moment, the 

construction works of the sixteenth unique hotel," reads a press release quoted 

by Agerpres.

Thus, the initiators of the Hotel of Ice project said they could be forced to opt for 

a smaller construction this winter.

"As it's happening all over the world, we have a lot of problems caused by the 

pandemic. There are many sanitary rules, many fears, quite complex logistical 

and organizational problems. 

In addition, just like last season, winter is no longer what it was 15 years ago! 

Climate change is very visible at Balea Lake; at this time, there is not enough 

snow, the ice formed on Balea Lake is not thick at all, and the recorded 

temperatures are quite high. As a result, at least for now, we have decided not 

to start work on the Hotel of Ice," said Arnold Klingeis, the initiator of the Hotel 

of Ice Balea Lake project.

"However, because Romanian and foreign tourists call our office daily and ask us 

about the Hotel of Ice, we are considering building the objective during the first 

days of next year, but the decision will be made only in a few weeks. Most likely, 

if we decide that the Ice Hotel will be built, we will go for a construction with a 

simpler, less complex shape, with a smaller number of rooms," he added.

This is the second season that the Ice Hotel's construction is postponed. The same 

happened in the 2019-2020 season when, due to the warm weather, the builders 

were unable to extract ice from the Balea Lake, and thus the start of the project 

was postponed for January 2020. Later, project managers decided to replace the

hotel with an "Igloo Village." A similar decision could be taken this winter too.

In the previous years, the hotel's construction started in the early days of 

December. The Ice Hotel was thus usually fully booked during the winter holidays. 

Most of the tourists who stayed at the hotel were coming from abroad, from 

countries such as the UK or Germany.

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COURTESY romania-insider.com

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ISLAMABAD, DEC 15 - Ambassador of Romania Nicolae Goia has said that Pakistan is strategically located between the twin forces of competition and collaboration in the mega-region that embraces Central Asia, South Asia, Middle East, and Caucasus. In this context it is important to note that Pakistan has a versatile geopolitical potential which can multiply opportunities for cooperation with important regional players.

He said, Increased regional stability could have a stabilizing effect for ongoing domestic efforts, hence Pakistan had committed itself to supporting the reconciliation effort in Afghanistan and is working toward normalization of relations with India.

Ambassador of Romania further said, In my opinion Pakistan has been very active diplomatically since its inception and the new government it working with success on global perception management in order to achieve foreign policy objectives.

I, as the Romanian Ambassador in Pakistan, have developed a true affection for your country, my second home for a while, and wish with all my heart that Pakistan will enjoy stability, peace and prosperity the Pakistani people so much deserve, he added.

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COURTESY DNA NEWS

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BUCHAREST, DEC 9 – President Klaus Iohannis has said in his International Anticorruption Day message that it is “absolutely fundamental” to the health of the state and society that the phenomenon of corruption be firmly combated by the responsible institutions, whether it is political, financial, administrative or academic corruption. , corruption in the health system or in education.

“The progress of the Romanian society in recent years in terms of the fight against corruption is visible, but the effort of the institutions in this direction must be continuous and sustained, fully respecting the principle that no one is above the law,” said Iohannis.

“International Anti-Corruption Day, established by the United Nations Convention against Corruption, is an opportunity to remind us that our efforts, of all, for a better society, in which integrity is assumed at all levels, must continue in a sustained manner. . Corruption is a complex phenomenon, deeply rooted in the practices of those who seek to use public power for personal or group interest. In a broad sense, corruption is not just about taking and bribing. Bribery, nepotism, abuse of power are all forms of this scourge that is, in fact, eroding the development of a society, “Klaus Iohannis said in a message sent on Wednesday, on the occasion of the International Anticorruption Day.

He stressed that sanctions must be such as to discourage corruption.

“Whether we are talking about political, financial, administrative or academic corruption, corruption in the health system or in education, it is absolutely fundamental for the health of the state and society that this phenomenon be firmly combated by the responsible institutions. The sanctioning dimension must, indeed, be such as to discourage these harmful behaviors that do a lot of harm to society and slow down its progress “, said the head of state.

Iohannis added, however, that education plays an important role.

“At the same time, without a systemic preventive effort, focused on building a culture of integrity, fighting corruption will not be enough. The education system trains future citizens, and the assumption of behavioral values and their internalization is achieved from the first stages of youth development. It is, therefore, necessary to discuss more about values and morality in schools, in a practical, interactive way “, Iohannis said.

The president’s message also states that: “The progress of Romanian society in recent years in the fight against corruption is visible, but the effort of institutions in this direction must be continuous and sustained, fully respecting the principle that no one is above law. There is also a need for an unequivocal attitude of citizens towards acts of corruption, which translates into zero intolerance towards those who resort to such acts “.

“Deeply attached to democratic values and the rule of law, I have acted and will continue to act for a legislative and institutional construction that will be a catalyst for a developed Romania, built on integrity, honesty and common sense,” he concluded. Johannis.

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COURTESY universul.net

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BUCHAREST, DEC 9 - The president of the PSD National Council, Vasile Dîncu, announced on Tuesday that PSD is willing to support the reform of the CCR, in the context in which Marcle Ciolacu and Gabriela Firea demanded the formation of a national union government, which should include PSD.

Vasile Dîncu claims that the “architecture of the Romanian state”, the Constitution, the Constitutional Court should be changed , about which he says that “it has become a kind of everyday court ”.

" I give you a hypothesis: let's assume that the PNL - USR PLUS negotiations will not work. Because it seems very simple to us: the president says something and everyone will line up. I don't think everyone will line up. I know the parties in Romania well. I don't think USR-PLUS will accept anything: liberal prime minister, PNL president… They, who have a rather different program from the PNL, who are a key party, I don't think they will accept anything, they will not accept to be the second wheel to the cart.

I think they will ask the prime minister (…) This negotiation might fail and then everything will be reconfigured. Then, the scenario made by the media is that UDMR is a party that is given 3-4 ministries and then everyone passes it to his cart. Not true. Those of us who know UDMR, who have ruled with UDMR and negotiated with UDMR, know that it is not an emotional party that is going left or right. It depends on the negotiations, the needs of the Hungarian minority and the project they are doing.

He is now negotiating with the president and the right. Let's not be sure that UDMR will accept any conditions. Now we are not talking about things in depth, we are only talking about general attitudes. There is a long way to go before we have a majority. In post-election arithmetic, when the government is formed, the majority will be super-fragile. There will be a weak majority (…).

I think we need a parliament with a serious majority in the future, I think it's not just the president who wants that.

We should change the architecture of the Romanian state, maybe the Constitution, the Constitutional Court, which has become a kind of 'everyday' tribunal.

We have to see what will be done for Romania of the future and, with such governments, I don't think it is a great success if we get to rely on such arithmetic ", said Vasile Dîncu on Antena 3.

Dîncu also claimed that Iohannis "will not be able to pass" over PSD in the new Parliament.

"The president wants to leave homework for the PNL. What we see now is a party meeting, the president is still a player, he was in the campaign, he eliminated Ludovic Orban and he took the initiative, he is probably the best negotiator (…) I think at this moment, in an informal discussion , several variants are being tested regarding the exclusion of the party that won the elections, PSD. We expected that, the president predicted. He said he wanted to remove the PSD from power.

PSD will make a very important group in the Parliament, which will not be overcome, regardless of its position in the area of ​​government. Let's not forget: Parliament is the one that legitimizes and censors the government, even if we have seen that the president wants there to be no opposition in Parliament (…) Whatever solutions are sought, the majority he could do now or after the investment of the new Parliament, they represent games of power and I am somewhat out of the customs that say that the winner is given the opportunity to make a majority, even if at first sight it seems that he cannot do it ", Vasile Dîncu added.

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COURTESY universul.net

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BUCHAREST, DEC 8 - PSD obtained the most votes in Sunday's parliamentary elections, in the Chamber of Deputies, 29.38%, followed by PNL - 25.16%, USR PLUS - 14.96%, GOLD - 8.93%, UDMR - 5.85% , and PMP and Pro Romania are below the electoral threshold, with 4.68%, respectively 4.17% of the votes, according to the data announced on Tuesday by the Central Electoral Bureau, after the centralization of the votes from 99.02% of the polling stations, News.ro reports .

The Chamber of Deputies: 

PSD - 29.38%

NLP - 25.16%

USR PLUS Alliance - 14.96%

Alliance for the Union of Romanians - 8.93%

UDMR - 5.85%

PMP - 263,688 - 4.75%

Pro Romania - 235,209 - 4.13%

Senate :

PSD - 29.81%

NLP - 25.56%

USR PLUS Alliance - 15.44%

Alliance for the Union of Romanians - 9.1%

UDMR - 6%

PMP - 271,249 - 4.16%

Pro Romania - 238,021 - 4.90%

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COURTESY universul.net

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Ludovic Orban avoided answering clearly whether President Klaus Iohannis demanded his resignation from the post of prime minister, saying that the resignation was a personal decision, and to repeated questions from journalists Orban said he had made that decision after seeing the parliamentary election result .

Ludovic Orban made these statements on Tuesday, at the end of the PNL meeting on the negotiation strategy for the formation of the new government.

Orban said again that he considered it "a gesture of honor and dignity" to resign, to show that he is not clinging to office: "I considered it a gesture of honor and dignity after these elections to do this gesture. I did so for exactly the reasons I explained in the public statement. It is a decision that was natural to show that I do not cling to the position of prime minister, to show that I took into account the expressed will ".

"The resignation is a personal decision. It is a personal decision that I made ", said Ludovic Orban, when asked if President Klaus Iohannis was the one who asked him to resign.

Asked about the president's support, Orban replied: "It's not about support or non-support. I made a decision, I put it into practice ".

Asked if he had thought about the option of resigning before meeting with Iohannis, on Monday, in Cotroceni, Orban answered: “Certainly. When I saw the results of the vote ".

Ludovic Orban was also asked if he would like to be prime minister again, answering that he said very clearly that he had submitted his mandate and that he did not have this intention.

"In these conditions, I said very clearly: I submitted my mandate and I did not express this intention. We need stability, we focus on a parliamentary majority that has a very serious program that will lead to the development of Romania. There is only one answer - when an agreement is reached on a possible proposed prime minister, we will announce it ", said Ludovic Orban.

Prime Minister Ludovic Orban announced on Monday that he is stepping down as prime minister, a year and a month after taking office, saying he is leaving with a sense of duty. Orban said he would coordinate the negotiations leading to a center-right government and expressed his belief that the PNL would have the capacity to give the future prime minister and form the backbone of the future government.

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COURTESY universul.net

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