Prime Minister Florin Citu announced on Monday the establishment of an interministerial committee to “ensure the return to normality of Romania starting from June 1st”.
“We need to show Romanians the moment we return to normality, and June 1st is the first step, and we must be prepared for it (…) June 1st is a milestone, the date which we think of coming up with certain measures that will lead us to normality”, he said.
He explained that, in a pessimistic scenario, at the end of May at least 5 million people will have been vaccinated, which represents about 35% of the adult population. In the optimistic scenario, about 6.3 million people will have gotten the anti-covid-19 vaccine by June 1st.
The Prime Minister said that he would like to have “as much relaxation of the measures” as possible beginning with the 1st of June and that all the proposals to relax the restrictions would be agreed upon with the economic players.
“The summer season is starting, and I wish that we will have a much better vacation than we had last year, and we’ll have it,” he said.
Asked if Romania would also apply for the green certificate, i.e. the draft European vaccination passport, Citu replied: “No, no way. The green certificate will not apply in Romania, Romanians will be able to go on holiday without it” this vaccination passport discussed at EU level.
This June 1st date “does not mean 100% openness”, stressed Citu, who reaffirmed that, if we want to return to normality, “we must continue to vaccinate”.
“This is a necessary condition in order to be able to go further on. No other measure will help us to reopen the economy”, added the prime minister, who noted that we need the support of the Orthodox Church as well, in order to boost the vaccination campaign – especially in rural areas.
Translation from Romanian: Service For Life SRL