Morning headlines – January 25th 2021

Coronavirus and vaccines

• The EU, at the bottom when it comes to vaccines. The European Union’s Strategy on vaccines supply is the topic of harsh critics, given that the member states wanted to administrate the vaccines quicker, in the first weeks of the year, but they are now lagging behind the Great Britain and US, says Financial Times. In the EU, only 2% were vaccinated, comparing to more than 10% in the UK and 6% in the US.
• The EU pressures the vaccine producers. The tension between the European Union and the companies producing the vaccines is increasing, says AP. The President of the European Council, the Belgian Charles Michel, says he will not top pressuring the contracts’ compliance.
• In Romania, 446.285 doses of vaccine were administrated to 433.129 people.  419.973 of them got the first dose, and 13.156 people were vaccinated with two doses.
• On Monday we receive the sixth batch of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. The National Coordination Committee on Vaccination Activities against COVID-19 has announced, on Monday, that Romania will get the sixth batch of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine – 92.430 doses.
• Romania should vaccinate three times more people daily, more than 90.000 if it wants to achieve the EU’s immunization objective of more than 80% from the population until autumn, says Mediafax. Given the current rhythm, which is 30.000 people daily, we will achieve the objective in December 2022.

Global political and military events

• Turkey-Greece discussion on the Mediterranean. The Greek officials are meeting, today, the Turkish counterparts, in Istanbul, to talk about ways to cool down the tensions from the Mediterranean Sea.
• Confrontations at the border. More than 20 Chinese soldiers were abducted, at the end of last week, while they were stopped by Indian military when they were trying to enter a disputed region, in Naku La, North of Sikkim, says India Today. The military did not use weapons, says the quoted source.
• Elections during the pandemic. The Portuguese people reelected on Sunday the president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, with more than 60% of the votes, according to first results, after a scrutiny held during the pandemic and marked by the increase of the electoral support for the extreme right, says AFP.
• Trump is being investigated by the Senate. The US Senate started the investigation of the former president Donald Trump for incitement to violence at the 6^th of January insurrection, from Capitol Hill, says CNN.
• Israel and the EAU have announced, on Monday, that they will open embassies to Tel Aviv and Abu Dhabi, says AP.
• The US and France seem to get along. President Joe Biden and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron had, on Sunday, a phone talk wherein they have “realized they have similar perspectives” on the major international problems, especially the fight against the COVID-19 within the WHO and the climate changes, after the US reentered the US Paris Agreement, says AFP, according to Agerpress.
• Record for SpaceX. The Elon Musk’s company sent to space, with only one missile, 143 satellites, in different dimensions and shapes, with a Falcon 9 missile, launched from Florida, says BBC.
• Australia will develop an anti-ship missile with long range of action. The Australian government has announced on Monday that more than 1 billion dollars were allotted for the development of new weapons, like anti-ship missiles with long range of actions and torpedos.

Romania’s defence and security

• The Reunion of the foreign ministers. Minister Bogdan Aurescu is joining, on Monday, the Reunion of the foreign ministers in the EU member states, which is being held in Brussels, says Agerpress. Among the discussed topics will be the vaccines’ distribution to third states, the Navalny case, the transatlantic relations’ consolidation, the recent developments and the relation with Turkey, the Gulf area, Hong Kong, Venezuela, the EU-Egypt relation and others.