PM contradicts Interior Minister on circumstances allowing citizens to go out of their locality

The reasons for which people will be allowed to leave the locality of residence after May 15 when the state of emergency ends in Romania are not yet established in a final draft, PM Ludovic Orban said on Thursday, thus contradicting Interior Minister Marcel Vela who had advanced a certain fact on this issue.

The Romanian PM argued that authorities are still in the process of evaluating the epidemiological risk of every type of journey. A final decision will be most probably taken on the last day of emergency state, the premier added.

Asked by the journalists how he comments the contradictory statements made by President Iohannis and Interior Minister Vela, the PM said: “What is the President stating is for sure”.

“I am to one to announce the decisions when they are taken. We are in the process of analysing things, there are several versions. What the President has said is certain. If other well-grounded reasons to leave the locality come up, they will be obviously included (…) in a decision“, PM Orban said.

Interior minister Marcel Vela had stated that after May 15 rides outside the city of residence will be allowed without the city or county border being taken into account.

Earlier on Monday, president Klaus Iohannis announced that he will not extend the state of emergency after May 14 and that Romania will be on alert after mid-May, yet mentioning that rides from a city to another will be restricted with some exceptions.

After the PM’s statement, Interior minister Marcel Vela came out to with further explanations, claiming that his message about leaving localities after May 15 had been garbled, and questions taken out of context.

 

About CCR’s ruling against fines

After the Constitutional Court of Romania ruled yesterday that fines collected for not respecting the lockdown are unconstitutional, PM Orban explained that the fines had practically returned to the their amount before the GEO on the state of emergency, which had increased their value. The initial value of the fines ranged from RON 100 to RON 5,000, while the ordinance increased their amount to RON 2,000 up to RON 20,000.

In his turn, the head of the Emergency Situations Department, Raed Arafat said he would not comment the CCR ruling per se, yet he warned that the lack of some tools to discourage those who are breaking the rules might become a major problem.

CCRcontradictionsfinesinterior ministermarcel velapm ludovic orbanpresident klaus iohannisrestrictionsridesstate of emergencystatementstravel
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