PM Orban outraged and shocked over Senate's decision to postpone debate on quarantine and isolation bill

Prime Minister Ludovic Orban said he is outraged and shocked over the Senate's decision to postpone the debate and approval of the government's quarantine and isolation bill for Monday.

"Allow me to send a message of outrage and shock over the Senate's postponing the debate and approval of the law that should provide us with the indispensable tools we need in the fight against the epidemic. Postponing the adoption of the law means a dramatic increase in the risk of infection. (...) I cannot understand why the PSD are digging their heels in, putting sand in our wheels and preventing us from adopting decisions that are vital for defending the Romanians' health and life. This politically-laden game, this systematic sabotaging of the Romanian authorities in the battle against the epidemic no longer affects only us, it affects the people's lives and health, and implicitly our ability to effectively fight this epidemic. I am asking them once again: pass this law! The law is not very complicated, it allows the competent authorities to order simple measures in the situation of an epidemic: isolation at home, quarantine, local quarantine. What would have happened in Tandarei, for instance, had we not been able to order quarantine? The virus would have probably spread in the entire Ialomita County and beyond," Ludovic Orban said on Saturday.

The Prime Minister participated on July 11 together with the Ministers of Labor and Internal Affairs in a videoconference meeting with the prefects, the heads of the structures of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and of the other institutions and authorities responsible for managing the situation generated by the increase in the number of COVID-19 cases.

The Senate's Law Committee decided on Saturday to act on the request of the Social Democratic Party's representatives and postpone until Monday the debate on the quarantine and isolation bill.