Radio România Internațional

Tag: all-out

  • August 22, 2023

    August 22, 2023

    STRIKE Trade unionists from Romania’s
    Fiscal Administration this morning staged a warning strike also picketing the
    Finance Ministry in order to protest the measures proposed by the Executive in
    Bucharest to cut budget expenses. Trade union leader Dorin Modure said that
    among the claims there are also those on maintaining the employees’ incomes as
    well as a proper statute. He said there were several abortive attempts at
    negotiating with the government and does not rule out the idea of an all-out
    strike unless the protesters’ claims are met.






    ATHENS At the informal
    meeting staged in Athens by the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, on
    the bloc’s enlargement towards the Western Balkans, Prime Minister Marcel
    Ciolacu has presented Romania’s support for Ukraine, as well as the challenges
    the Romanian farmers are facing against the background of the situation caused
    by the Ukrainian grain exports and has proposed the setting up of a European
    mechanism to manage these exports. He has also briefed the European Commission
    president Ursula von der Leyen on the situation at Romania’s borders, adding
    that the country needs additional financial support in order to step up the
    process of streamlining its infrastructure. Ciolacu has also requested the
    European official to step up joint efforts for Romania’s accession to Schengen.
    In Athens, the Romanian official also held talks with his Greek counterpart as
    well as with president Zelenski to whom he has given assurances that Romania
    supports Ukraine until its final victory and after that for the country’s
    reconstruction.






    WIN The
    Romanian women’s national volleyball side defeated Bosnia-Herzegovina 3-2 in
    Turin on Monday night in a match counting towards the European Championship’s
    Group B. This has been the second win of the national side at the 2023 edition
    of the European Championship in a group led by the en-titre European champion
    Italy, which boasts 9 points. Italy is followed by Bulgaria, Romania and
    Switzerland, each with 6 points, Bosnia-Herzegovina with 5 points and Croatia
    with only one. Romania is today playing a decisive match against Bulgaria as
    the first four sides will qualify for the round of 16. The European Women’s
    Volleyball Championships takes place until September 3rd in Belgium,
    Italy, Estonia and Germany. We recall that at the previous edition in 2021, the
    Romanians occupied the last but one position, ranking 23rd.
    Romania’s best result in a suchlike competition was in 1963, when the national
    side obtained the bronze medal.






    ART The famous
    sculpture The Kiss of the great Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi has
    arrived in Bucharest, where it stays for ten days. The work, which is part of
    the collection of the Art Museum in Craiova, southern Romania, is on display at
    the Art Safari Love exhibition in downtown Bucharest where it could be admired
    until August 30th. This masterpiece was made in 1907 and was
    presented to the public in 1910 during the Young Artists’ exhibition in
    Bucharest. The Kiss is an internationally important masterpiece being
    considered the first modern sculpture of the 20th century. The
    sculpture is the first in a series the artist worked on for more than 40 years.


    (bill)





  • July 5, 2023

    July 5, 2023

    VISIT Today, in the second day of his
    visit to Germany, Romanian Prime Minister, Marcel Ciolacu, is going to have
    talks with representatives of the business environment, followed by meetings
    with the Vice-president of the German Parliament, Katrin Göring-Eckardt, and
    with representatives of the main political groups in the Legislature. The head
    of the government in Bucharest will be also having talks with the
    representatives of the defence industry in Germany. On Monday, the first day of
    his visit, Marcel Ciolacu met Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who reiterated his
    country’s all-out support so that Romania may become a Schengen member this
    year. Ciolacu has also met with members of the Romanian communities in Germany,
    whom he briefed upon the projects of the government in Bucharest dedicated to
    the Diaspora, as well as a start-up programme.








    FAIR The first holiday edition of the
    book fair Gaudeamus Radio Romania has today kicked off in Brasov, central
    Romania. The event is part of the Gaudeamus caravan, a nation-wise project that
    has been initiated and carried on by Radio Romania for more than 20 years. The present
    edition’s offer includes, the book fair itself, graphic and photo art, literary
    creation, all brought together into 40 exhibition stands. This edition is
    expected to end on Sunday, July 9th.








    DIICOT 24 suspects have been
    apprehended and two placed under investigation in a case involving the
    mistreatment of vulnerable people in three old-peoples’ homes in Romania. On
    Tuesday, DIICOT prosecutors kicked off over 30 searches in Bucharest and other
    6 counties in southern Romania. Authorities are presently taking care of one
    hundred of these vulnerable people. According to the investigators, the
    aforementioned people had been exploited for more than two years, being
    deprived on proper food, medical treatment and hygiene conditions. Prosecutors
    are now investigating cases of human trafficking, fraud, embezzlement of over
    one million euros as well as inhuman and degraded treatment.




    EDUCATION Romanian president
    Klaus Iohannis on Tuesday promulgated the new Education laws. A former high-school
    teacher, Iohannis, has been promoting a programme known as ‘Educated Romania’
    launched in 2016 and followed by a series of public debates. Solutions have
    been proposed for fighting school violence in the country’s pre-university
    education, to support the disadvantaged categories of students, curb school
    dropout and promote sports. Concerning university education, president Iohannis
    says the new legislative measures are going to bring the Romanian education up
    to international standards. The education laws have been promulgated after
    years of debates and at the end of a critical period in Romania’s education
    system, marked by the recent all-out strike of the teachers. In another
    development, upon the appeals session for the National Assessment exam counting
    towards the candidates’ high-school accession, 76.4% of the students have
    obtained passing results while 73% of the candidates have passed the
    baccalaureate exam.


    (bill)

  • An all out strike is freezing Romania’s undergraduate education system

    An all out strike is freezing Romania’s undergraduate education system

    After the COVID-19
    pandemic had moved the activity of teaching online and had significantly
    impacted an entire generation of students, another event is shaking Romania’s
    education system. Students are having a day off after teachers disgruntled with
    the government’s pay and social policies have gone on an all out strike. Over
    150 thousand teachers in Romania’s undergraduate system as well as 60-70
    thousand non-teaching staffers have joined a strike they pledge to carry on
    until a credible solution to their claims from the Executive. Against a rising inflation, which last year went
    over 15% with a heavy impact on the employees’ standard of living, the most
    difficult issue is that of the teachers’ low salaries. According to trade union
    leaders wages in this line of work should be around 4,000 lei, the equivalent
    of 800 Euros for a beginner teacher and around 7,000 lei, over 14 hundred
    Euros, for a senior teacher. The new education laws promoted by the incumbent
    field minister, Ligia Deca, have also triggered a fresh wave of discontent. As
    regards the end of the school year, which is due in June, trade unionists say
    that it is the government who must have the last say in this respect. During
    the talks with the government representatives, the president of the Spiru Haret
    Trade Union Confederation, Marius Nistor said the following.

    Marius Nistor: I wished, this also being the desire of all the education employees, this
    all-out strike had not taken place, you know. We didn’t wish for it, we were actually forced to have it. A lot of our claims have been ignored so far and the
    end of this strike mainly depends on the answer we get from the Government and
    of course on the desire of our colleagues.


    In response, the
    country’s Prime Minister, Nicolae Ciucă, says that:


    Nicolae Ciuca: Education is our top priority together with the healthcare. We can find
    solutions and we cannot allow that the students may not take their final exams
    and complete their studies.


    The strike is
    also leading to political deadlocks. Under the protocols of the incumbent
    ruling coalition, PSD leader Marcel Ciolacu is going to take over the Prime
    Minister seat from the Liberal Nicolae Ciuca shortly. However, Ciolacu has
    called for the suspension of the talks over the new cabinet until a solution is
    found to the crisis in the country’s education system.




    According to
    various publications in Bucharest though, none of the political sides seems very
    delighted to take over the leadership of the Executive at a time when trade
    unionists in Romania’s medical system could also stop activity and the police
    have also expressed their right to a strike. No matter the political colour of
    the ruling parties, experts believe, they will have to shortly deal with acute
    social disgruntlement, as Romania next year is in for a new series of
    elections, for the European Parliament, as well as local, legislative and
    presidential elections.


    (bill)