The Year 2020 in Review

The COVID-19 pandemic

The year of the pandemic! It is impossible to refer to it in other terms. A year like no other in history. The dimension of the disaster could have hardly been imagined on the last day of 2019, when the Chinese authorities announced 27 cases of viral pneumonia of unknown origin in the central city of Wuhan. In a matter of days, the novel coronavirus was identified by specialists and soon the first death from it was reported. Cases of infections were then reported in other Asian countries, in Europe and the US. In no time, the number of infections would be expressed in hundreds, thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions and tens of millions while the number of people lost their lives was staggering. In 12 months alone, the new virus paralysed national economies, devastated communities and kept at home nearly 4 billion people. 2020 has changed the world in a way that no other year has after WWII, according to France Presse. "This is a pandemic experience that's unique in the lifetime of every single person on Earth," says Sten Vermund, infectious disease epidemiologist and dean of Yale School of Public Health. "Hardly any of us haven't been touched by it."

The economic crisis
The almost generalised medical crisis and the tragic loss of lives overlapped with an economic and social crisis generated by the same pandemic. Companies were closed, just as as schools, high schools and universities were. Sports competitions have been cancelled. Civil air traffic was suspended, and stores, bars, clubs and restaurants were shut down.

Economic analyst Constantin Rudnitschi tells us more about the effects of the economic crisis: "We had dramatic decreases in the second quarter in all of the world's economies, followed by, let's say, a decent recovery in the following quarter. As a whole, it is a year of significant economic decrease. We have had support programmes for economies, for the population and employees. A lot of money has been introduced on the market on this occasion, so it has been a year with a lot of money but also cheap money, because, on the one hand we had these support measures and on the other hand we had the acquisition programmes and the central banks' policies in order to save what can be saved. Its is also true that the year ends with very big debt at the level of global economy. We will have to see how these debt will be repaid in the future. It has been a year of fluctuations on the market, there have been industries on the verge of bankruptcy because they were closed down or lacked consumers and, at the same time, a year of increase for certain companies and certain economic services and sectors, such as the online segment that gained ground. I would say this has been a year that showed the world that it needs a different economic model. "

Presidential elections in the US
In the month of May, for example, the pandemic left some 20 million people unemployed in the US alone. With a central administration focused on the election campaign and apparently overwhelmed by the new situation, America was hardly hit by the pandemic, in medical, economic and mostly social terms. Amplified by the crisis, conspiray, anarchist and negationist currents gained ground, with the support of the electorate, which led to a deep division of the country and to some of the most tense elections in recent history. Having ended in the victory of the democrat Joe Biden, confirmed by the Electoral College, the outcome did not bring along the much awaited relaxation, as Donald Trump continued, though his lawyers and republican representatives, to challenge the fairness of the vote. Hundreds of complaints regarding alledged electoral fraud have bee rejected by the American courts as ungrounded, something that has nevertheless failed to convince the members of the Trump administration and many of his supporters worldwide.

Maia Sandu, the first woman president of Moldova

Across the Atlantic, in Europe, presidential elections were also held in Romania's proximity. In the small Republic of Moldova, a country ideologically and politically divided between the West and the East, the pro-European Maia Sandu became president, after defeating the pro-Russian Igor Dodon. The elections' outcome was hailed by Bucharest and the EU countries, and regarded as a very good signal for Moldova's progress on the European path.

Israel and its relationship with Arab states
Another pleasant surprise came from the Middle East, where Israel normalised its ties with some of the Arab states, with American mediation, an undeniable success of the Trump administration. The United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco have resumed official contact and diplomatic ties with Israel and the bilateral economic cooperation, a move likely to completely change the political relations in the region and isolate Iran, one of the main enemies of the Jewish state.
 

EU – multiannual budget and vaccine

We return to Europe, a continent highly affected by the pandemic. At EU level, after many talks and delays, the budget for 2021-2027 and the financial recovery plans are approved by the member states. This allows for unprecedented investment to be made, benefitting also Romania, provided that politicians in Bucharest work hard in this respect. Having started with the hope that the novel coronavirus will not spread and that it will only be a simple flu, 2020 ends with another hope: the life saving vaccine. Approved and already used in many countries, it gives people hope for a return to a normal life, the most important wish for the new year. This, alongside the promise that the vaccine will be made available to everyone. (Translated by Elena Enache)