Radio România Internațional

Tag: assessment

  • Romanian and US Marines had a joint training session in the Danube Delta

    Romanian and US Marines had a joint training session in the Danube Delta

    It is a misty, late September morning in Mahmudia, a locality on the Sfântu Gheorghe arm, one of the Danube Delta’s three arms in Romania. Each year, here, a stage is being carried, of the Marines 307th Regiment’s Heracleea annual exercise. The Marines get ready to board the assault boats, in a bid to carry an amphibious raid on the Caraorman islet.

    In 2024, the exercise has covered almost all of the Danube Delta surface, that including the Razelm-Sinoe lagoon area or the Babadag training range. It has been a dynamic week, an eventful one, with all the set targets being met at the end of the week. The novelty in 2024 is the presence of two teams of observers and planners, one from Italy, as an absolute first, from the San Marco Marine Brigade, and one of the US Marine Corps.

    The deputy of the Haricleea 307 Marines Regiment commander, colonel Claudiu Visan, stated the US team was made of 15 military, retired as well as active, they were assessors here, on the ground, yet they participated in the process of planning of the exercise. The partnership was initiated many years ago, we can quite aptly speak about a true mentoring undertaking because, according to Colonel Visan, the US Marines are arguably the best prepared, professionally, with much experience in various theatres of operation.

    Before boarding the assault boats, lieutenant-colonel Daniel Dieckhaus of the Alpha Advisors company in Washington, DC, specified the reason of their presence in the Danube Delta.
    “Our mission here is to work together with our Romanian partners, to learn from one another and operate together, to get to know our capabilities, in a bid to become an even more deadly force. We have, in Romania, marines who are very motivated, on both sides. The US ones are very happy to be here and I believe so do the Romanian marines, they learn from one another. The assault boats training is a good thing, our boys get acquainted with how to operate them in this specific environment. The Romanian marines know this area very well, I don’t think there is anyone else capable of knowing the Delta better than they do, they know how to run the assault boats and I am happy we can work together.”

    Lieutenant-colonel Daniel Dieckhaus is a native of the state of Pennsylvania, a place in the USA where the geography is different from that of the Danube Delta. He has been to Romania before and is very happy every time he returns to this country. About assessment and advising, he says they are not carried in the classic sense of the concepts:

    “ We are assessors and advisors, but for both sides we work together, this is not an assessment of the Romanian Marines as against the US Marines, we also learn from our partners, we offer pieces of advice, if the case, if there is more than one way of doing things correctly, in terms of specific tactics and techniques, we share that kind of knowledge. By all means, it is a two-way process where everybody stands to gain. “

    Only a couple of dozens of kilometres further north, on the Chilia Arm, the Russian drones continue to violate Romania’s air space. Sometimes, the drones crash on the national territory. We asked lieutenant-colonel Daniel Dieckhaus whether this situation had any impact at all, on the mission he has in Romania.

    “I believe everybody is aware there is an ongoing war at the borders, it is the backdrop against which we take action, considering the emergency and the importance of our mission. We want to make sure that we and the Marines here are prepared. I am sure al those who will be on the water today have that in mind. Anyone can learn something from the war between Ukraine and the Russian Federation, and here I also include the US Marine Corps. One of the reasons why we are doing the exercise today is to practice new tactical manoeuvres and techniques when we’re on water. By all means, the amphibious raid is useful is this lagoon environment of the Danube Delta.”

  • The National Evaluation Exams – 2024

    The National Evaluation Exams – 2024

    In a country where functional illiteracy and school dropout, especially in the rural and disadvantaged areas have the tendency of getting chronic, the results in the National Evaluation exams involving eighth graders are a relevant indicator of the education quality. Three quarters of the students have this year got over 5, a mandatory mark for their further high-school accession, one percentage lower than in the past three years.

    The results published on Wednesday show that the students found the mathematics exam more difficult, as the percentage of those clearing the admission threshold or those who scored above proved to be lower as compared to 2023 and 2022. Roughly 78% of the students fared better in the Romanian language exam, whereas only 69% of them obtained the minimum required score in mathematics.

    Roughly 400 eighth graders got the maximum number of points in the Romanian Language exam, and over 1,000 in mathematics. However, only 65 of them managed to get the maximum number of points in both exams.

    Education Minister Ligia Deca, sees the glass half full and says that although lower than in the past years, the number of those who cleared the threshold is higher than in the simulation exam.

    Results obtained by children in the rural area continue to be weak though: only 40% of these managed to get the needed number of points in the aforementioned exam. Ligia Deca has also referred to the attempted frauds and their outcomes.

    Ligia Deca:” It happened as every year that subjects had been leaked before exams kicked off. However, that didn’t happen before the students had been placed under supervision in the exam halls. These cases have been identified because now we have methods to quickly discover the centre, which leaked the subjects. And we cooperate with police in this respect. The students attempting frauds are being eliminated from the exams and aren’t allowed to take the next sessions. Those who are members in various commissions and provide the subjects ahead of the exams are being prosecuted.”

    Nearly 153 thousand students have attended the National Evaluation Exam this year, which accounts for 95% of the total number of eighth graders. 8,300 of them took the exam in their mother tongue. Bucharest and other five counties have reported the highest attendance, over 98% and for the first time this year, exam papers have been graded by means of a digital platform. Thursday, July 4th, was the last day when the students dissatisfied with their results could apply for a remark.

    (bill)

  • Conclusions of the IMF mission in Romania

    Conclusions of the IMF mission in Romania


    The recently adopted fiscal package is a step in the right direction but further adjustment is need, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation that assessed, until Wednesday, the state of the Romanian economy said in a press release. IMF experts have forecast a 2.3% economic growth for Romania this year and a budget deficit of 6% of the GDP and recommended the Romanian authorities to implement additional reforms accounting for 2% of the GDP. To this end, key measures to be considered are the elimination of remaining exemptions, privileges and loopholes, further VAT streamlining, implementing the reformed property tax and using tax policy to promote the efficient use of energy and, more broadly, foster the transition to a carbon-neutral economy.



    According to the international experts, the new tax package improves policy design in some areas. It broadens the tax base and improves revenues by limiting exemptions for workers in the agricultural, construction, food processing and IT sectors, and by limiting the number of goods subject to reduced VAT rates. The new fiscal package will improve public finances in 2024 and beyond by about 1 percent of GDP, resulting in a deficit of just above 5 percent of GDP, in 2024. However, fiscal deficits will need to fall below 3 percent of GDP, as agreed with the European Commission, to stabilize public debt over the medium term, help secure necessary market financing at lower interest rates, and support ongoing disbursement of EU funds. According to the IMF experts, increasing the predictability of expenditure with salaries and pensions is welcome, but the Governments decision to control the price of food products is not the right strategy to lower the prices.



    Moreover, the head of the IMF mission, Jan Kees Martijn, warned that it could be challenging to implement fiscal consolidation and the next steps under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) during a year with multiple elections such as 2024. He also said that additional taxes for banks put increase the burden on companies and could impact their financial results.



    Among the measures recommended by the IMF mission, is also improvement in administration and a good planning of fiscal policy, which should be communicated in a clear manner, so as to offer predictability to both companies and the population. Also needed is, according to the international experts, new investment and budget allocations to education and healthcare, to bring them to EU level.



    On their last day in Bucharest, the IMF experts met with the Romanian PM Marcel Ciolacu. He said the IMF recommendations, which are similar to those of the World Bank and the European Commission are already taken into account. At present, the Government focuses on reducing budget spending and fighting tax evasion and the bill for which it took responsibility in Parliament creates the general framework for the fiscal reform the Government wants to conduct. Marcel Ciolacu estimates that Romania will have one of the biggest economic growth rates in the EU this year and that the measures taken will help the country overcome the difficult situation experienced lately. (EE)




  • Strike in Romania’s Education System

    Strike in Romania’s Education System

    The all-out strike in the Romanian education system, already in its third week, continues. The number of protesters has seemingly decreased. Minister Ligia Deca has announced that 10,000 employees will have given up the protest and that only 53% of the total number of employees in the system are continuing the protest. If the percentage falls below 50, the strike should be stopped and the teachers could recover the lost classes, as the minister stated.



    Ligia Deca: We are happy with the downward trend. It is clear that teachers are slowly returning to classes, the education staff are returning to schools, and this allows us to organize a recovery program at the level of each educational unit, so that, by the end of the school year, students should recuperate the lost classes and the teaching and non-teaching staff should recuperate their pay lost in May due to the protest actions.



    However, the unions accuse the authorities of creating confusion and say that 87% of the teaching and non-teaching staff are actually participating in the all-out strike. They are unhappy with the Government’s salary increase offer, far below what they wanted. At stake is more than a decent salary, it is the very status of the teacher, in particular, and of the education system in Romania, in general – the teachers say. However, as the exam session is approaching, education officials, representatives of students, parents and trade unions participated in new discussions at the Ministry headquarters, following which they agreed that, for the time being, there is no need to change the dates on which the national exams are scheduled.



    Minister Ligia Deca is back at the microphone: We are still on schedule so as not to change the exam dates. If at the end of the week – because it is then that we can have an accurate assessment – we come to the conclusion that there are not enough human resources to organize these exams, we will announce the measures that the ministry is taking into account. Our wish, of us all, would be to be able to hold the exams on the announced dates, so that all the students should continue on the path they have chosen. For the other categories of students, we are still on the school year schedule. Classes will end on June 16. There may be remedial classes in the context of the school year, and for any non-covered subject, the plans for the following year can be redone.



    According to the current schedule, the oral tests of the baccalaureate exam should start on June 12, and the written tests on June 26. As for the National Assessment of the 8th graders, prior to entering high school, the tests should start on June 19. In the meantime, however, in some cities in Romania, the street demonstrations of education employees continued. A new large-scale rally is expected in Bucharest, on Thursday, after the recent ones in which tens of thousands of people participated. (LS)

  • How would Bucharest look like in the case of a major earthquake?

    How would Bucharest look like in the case of a major earthquake?


    A 7.4-degree earthquake on the Richer scale occurred
    in eastern Romania’s Vrancea seismic area on March 4, 1977, at 21:21 hrs local
    time, at a depth of 94 kilometres. The seismic movement was strongly felt
    across the country, mainly in the south and east. The tremor was also felt in neighbouring
    countries, Serbia, Bulgaria and Hungary, but also in other countries in central and
    southern Europe, as well as Russia, in an area north of Sankt Petersburg.


    In the ’77 quake, just
    as Romanians label it when they reminisce the catastrophe, from memories or by
    hearsay, of the country’s 40 counties, 23 were seriously hit. The tremor
    claimed the lives of 1,578 people. Over 11, 300 people were injured, of whom
    1,424 eventually lost their lives, that is 90% of the total number of the
    deceased. Almost 7,600 people were injured in Bucharest alone! Back then, icons
    of Romanian cultural and artistic life were among the dead: actor Toma Caragiu,
    television director Alexandru Bocăneț, vocalist Doina Badea, literary historian
    Mihai Gafița and prose writer Alexandru Ivasiuc.


    In Romania’s capital city, most
    of the deaths occurred in the wake of the total or partial collapse of more
    than 30 buildings, medium or high-level block of flats, some of them iconic for
    the city’s architecture. Also, a hotel and a wing of the Chemistry Faculty
    collapsed, as well as the Transport Ministry’s IT Centre. The Bucharest West thermal
    power plant was a whisker away from exploding, because a ceiling collapsed and a
    fire broke out. Many other buildings in Bucharest were severely or moderately
    hit.


    The devastating earthquakes that
    hit Turkey and Syria in early February and their dismal aftermath, but also the
    tremor that hit Romania in early March 1977 prompted the Romanians to reach the
    worrying conclusion that no lesson has been learned as regards the impending
    necessity to consolidate the buildings assessed according to various degrees of
    seismic risk!


    Here is architect Ştefan Dumitraşcu, speaking about the present-day situation in Bucharest.


    When I held
    the position of chief architect at the Municipality, for two and a half years,
    these buildings were identified and more than 180 of them had been going through
    a technical expertise so that solution could be found, for their safeguarding
    or consolidation. Moreover, two and a half years ago, through the Municipal Administration
    of the Seismic Risk Consolidation Works Administration, as part of the General
    Council in Bucharest municipal city there were 81 construction sites, especially
    created for such works. Unfortunately, because of changes in administration and
    because of a different mindset, as we speak, we have zero consolidation
    building sites.


    Mostly in the capital city’s
    central area, a great number of old constructions, built before 1977, are very
    fragile, because decades have passed and no renovation works have carried
    whatsoever, let alone anti-seismic consolidation. That is why, according to
    Stefan Dumitraşcu, we’re running out of time.


    We are, however,
    in the eleventh hour, maybe in the twelfth hour, if we want to make sense of
    what we must do. A consolidation operation cannot be completed overnight, it is
    a building site that lasts for a year, a year and a half, for a building
    erected in 1940, let’s say, an eight or ten-story building located on the
    Magheru Boulevard or Voctoria Road, two of the capital city’s most significant
    thoroughfares. As I was saying, on one hand, we can educate the people, in a bid
    to find the right alternative solutions for regrouping, helping and intervening,
    in the case of an earthquake. Everybody is unanimous in admitting that a major
    tremor in the Capital city will occur, and it will occur, that’s for sure, and
    it’s out of the question, with us, like, on a fine spring afternoon, going out
    in the park and waiting for the army to show up, carrying products from the
    State reserve and giving us a bottle of water each, and a can of meat. No way!
    Something like that must be very seriously organized and we also need to have a
    competent management at the Municipality, so that consolidation works can be
    resumed as soon as possible.


    The prefect of the Capital
    city, Toni Greblă, also cautioned that it was not the lack of funding that hindered
    the buildings anti-seismic rehabilitation, but


    …The
    carelessness of some of the administration officials who do not have a proper
    preparation of the projects enabling the start of the buildings’ rehabilitation
    and their anti-seismic consolidation. In the last 15 years, no municipal city
    can complain, and at that, especially Bucharest municipal city, that they did
    not have money earmarked for the rehabilitation of buildings. Year after year,
    funds provided by the Development Ministry remain unspent, and that, because we
    are unable to work in order to develop projects for the anti-seismic
    consolidation, and implement them.

    The consolidation of the
    buildings assessed for seismic risk can be fully financed from the budget but
    also through the Recovery and Resilience Plan for Romania, after registration is
    made for a dedicated digital platform. Waiting for their buildings to be
    consolidated, could the Romanians know, at least, what the country’s safest
    cities are, in the case of a strong earthquake? Attempting an answer to the
    question is a seismologist with the National Research-Development Institute for
    Earth Physics, Mihail Diaconescu.


    Of course we
    can know that, but I’m not so sure how sound that would be. What are we going
    to do, migrate to those cities, all of us, and depopulate part of the country? ʺ
    The thing is, construction and consolidation works should be carried, for all
    that has been affected in time. The moment we set about building something, not
    us, as natural persons, but as the State, as construction companies, we need to
    comply with the construction code. If that construction code is complied with, the
    danger does not exist anymore, that of the house crumbling on us.


    So, as we speak, how would
    Bucharest look like, in the case of a major earthquake? Far worse than 46 years
    ago, possibly. According to data provided by the Development Ministry, in
    Romania, there are 2,687 buildings assessed according to various degrees of
    seismic risk. Most of them a rein Bucharest, of which several hundred are 1st
    and 2nd-degree buildings according to their seismic risk potential.


    However, the situation is far
    worse. According to a survey carried by the Bucharest Municipal City’s
    Emergency Situations Committee, should an earthquake happen, having the same
    intensity as that in 1977, in Bucharest, 23,000 buildings could suffer serious
    damage. Of those, 1,000 could collapse, partially or totally. (EN)

  • November 17, 2022 UPDATE

    November 17, 2022 UPDATE

    BUDGET The
    government of Romania Thursday approved this year’s second public budget
    adjustment, with an approx. EUR 104 million increase
    in revenues and a similar increase in
    expenditure. According to the government, the budget adjustment covers
    compulsory spending, operating expenses and social assistance expenses. Funds
    have also been rechanneled for implementing programmes with an impact on the economy
    and which support households and companies. Financing is also ensured for the
    state aid provided to the farmers whose crops were affected by drought this
    year. According to the autumn macroeconomic forecast on which the adjustment is
    based, the government’s news release also reads, Romania’s GDP is expected to
    reach RON 1,396.2 bln in 2022 (as compared to RON 1,372.5 bln taken into
    account in the first budget adjustment).


    INFLATION The annual inflation in the EU continued to grow in October
    to reach 11.5%, as against 10.9% in September. The member states with the
    highest rates are Estonia (22.5%), Lithuania (22.1%), Hungary (21.9%) and
    Latvia (21.7%), according to data made public on Thursday by the Eurostat.
    Compared to September, the annual inflation rate dropped in 11 member countries,
    remained stable in 3 countries and went up in 13 member states, including in
    Romania (from 13.4% to 13.5%). As many as 18 member countries, Romania
    included, reported for September an annual inflation rate above 10%. The member
    states with the lowest inflation rates in September were France (7.1%) and
    Spain (7.3%). In October 2021, the year-on-year inflation rate in the European
    Union was 4.4%, and in Romania it was 6.5%. In Romania, the National Statistics
    Institute had previously announced that the year-on-year inflation dropped this
    October to 15.32%, from 15.88% in September, with a 20.58% rise in foodstuff
    prices, non-food prices going up 14.37%, and service prices 8.31% more expensive.
    Just days ago, the National Bank of Romania also released its quarterly
    inflation report, according to which the rate is expected to reach 16.3% by the
    end of this year and 11.2% next year.

    DIPLOMACY The Romanian foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu
    Thursday had talks with his counterpart, Jean Asselborn, during his visit to
    the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. The two officials discussed Romania’s Schengen
    accession and the security situation at the Black Sea. Bogdan Aurescu also
    mentioned, in a joint press conference, the importance of the Republic of
    Moldova’s European accession, and said on Monday he would co-chair the third
    Support Platform for the Republic of Moldova, in Paris, together with his
    French and German counterparts. The Romanian official also thanked Luxembourg
    for its plans to deploy a 25-troop unit as part of the NATO Battle Group in
    Romania. The decision is pending the approval of Luxembourg’s parliament.


    MILITARY A second shipment of French military equipment, specifically Leclerc tanks,
    reached Braşov County (central Romania). The equipment is intended to strengthen
    the NATO Battle Group (Battle Group Forward Presence-BGFP) stationed in Cincu,
    the Romanian ministry of defence (MApN) said. A first convoy of French military
    equipment, consisting in armoured vehicles, arrived in Romania on October 23.


    ASSESSMENT A mixed team of experts from the European Commission and some member
    states, including the Netherlands, will be in Romania this week to assess the
    country’s readiness for Schengen accession. According to the Bucharest
    government, the visit is voluntary, similar to the one that took place between
    October 9 and 11. On Wednesday, the European Commission requested that Romania,
    Bulgaria and Croatia be part of the Schengen Area without
    delay. The EC points out that Romania has a solid and high-quality border
    management and is involved in international cooperation in border police
    matters.


    HANDBALL Two Romanian players, Cristina Neagu and Crina Pintea, were
    nominated for the all-star team of the European Women’s Handball Championship
    hosted by North Macedonia, Montenegro and Slovenia and due to conclude this
    Sunday. According to the EHF website, Cristina Neagu is nominated for the left
    back position, and Crina Pintea for line player. Neagu announced on Thursday that
    the EHF Euro 2022 was the last in her career, and that it had not ended as she
    had dreamt, after Romania finished only 12th. With 303 goals, Cristina
    Neagu is at the top of the combined all-time goal scorers’ list for Women’s and
    Men’s EHF EURO events. Romania has taken part in all the EHF Euro editions so
    far, with one exception (2006), and its best performance was a bronze medal in 2010. (AMP)

  • Romanian education system in a European context

    Romanian education system in a European context

    The COVID-19 pandemic is a worldwide ongoing
    phenomenon. It has proved disastrous in all its social and economic
    implications. As for the Romanian education system, the pandemic has occurred
    at a bad moment, so much so that the system’s chronic problem resurfaced and
    became even more serious than before. Some of those problems were highlighted
    by a survey carried by TIMSS for 2019. TIMMS is an acronym for Trends
    in International Mathematics and Science Study. TIMMS is held in a similar way
    with the PISA tests; it is implemented every three years. IEA (International
    Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement) has created
    the tests. In Romania, TIMMS has been implemented by the University of
    Bucharest. Results are far from optimistic for the Romanian pupils. Romanian
    8th-graders are less competitive than their colleagues in Europe. Their average
    score accounted for 479 points in Mathematics and 470 points in Sciences as compared to the international average
    score standing at 500 points. Disappointing as it maybe, the result is in no way
    surprising. The crux of the matter is for us to detect what it is that we need
    to take into account if we want to set things to rights.

    Professor of
    Psychology with the University of Bucharest Dragos Iliescu explains:


    The survey does not
    reveal the reason why we ended up here, Of course we all look behind, saying to
    ourselves we may have reached such a condition because of the uninspired
    reforms that have been made in the last thirty years. Yet we noticed a couple
    of aspects where the intervention is relatively easy to implement, with no
    terribly high costs to go with it. The survey points to the fact that you have
    a certain score and the score you get is associated with several other aspects
    in the education system. Each and every child or pupil who was included in the batch was also supposed to answer questions, they are
    part of a contextual survey targeting how she or he views school, how your
    parents view school, what the washback effect is, of what they experience in
    school, in certain respects. His Math and Sciences teachers also answer
    questions that are part of a contact survey, the principal is also supposed to
    answer a survey. Therefore, we can also take those contextual aspects into
    account, which can then be identified as performance predictors. We have
    identified three such aspects, that is equal opportunity, infrastructure and
    the distribution of resources in the education system, the second aspect
    pertains to the school climate, the environment and the learning experiences,
    while the third aspect has to do with the teaching staff’s recruitment as well
    as their early and lifelong training, but also with the educational support
    services mainly targeting teachers.


    In earnest, for a great many children, learning is
    marred by poverty, social inequality and all sorts of family problems. All that
    has a strong bearing on school results, which, for instance, leads up to
    functional illiteracy. According to TIMMS, 22%
    of the pupils are functional illiterates in Math and Sciences, as compared to
    the international average of 13%.

    Educational psychology expert Dragos
    Iliescu:

    The 22%, with no exception, is made
    of pupils coming from underprivileged backgrounds, they hail from families that
    usually live in rural areas or in small towns, or in backward regions, they are
    pupils facing other problems, such as broken families, where parents have left
    the country. In four years’ time, when those pupils graduate from the 8th
    grade and when they are on the labor market, what are their opportunities and
    what added value can they contribute to society? An unskilled workforce, of
    which 22% does not even succeed to make the most elementary mathematical
    operations, what jobs will they be able to have? What are the opportunities for
    those children? It goes without saying they won’t be able to finish school and
    will definitely fail in their baccalaureate exam. It goes without saying such
    scores and such blatant lack of performance are also associated with school
    dropout. Those children will never further their education going to
    the university and will only be able to do the simplest and the least skilled
    jobs you can think of.


    Social and economic disparities are glaring in
    environments where they are least expected to occur. We’re speaking about
    laboratory practical work, which came under fire since parents and pupils alike
    rue a system that ignores practical work, laying way too much emphasis on
    theory.

    Dragos Iliescu:


    The existence of a lab leads up to more practical
    classes, better grades and better performance in science classes. We’re aware such
    an effect does exist. Yet at the same time, we do not know whether
    performances are exclusively the outcome of the existence of the laboratory. Concurrently,
    schools with laboratories are usually the schools where pupils are registered,
    coming from well-to-do families. Those are the urban areas schools and schools
    of the privileged urban areas. Therefore, it is difficult for us to realize if
    that is a real consequence of the fact that the lab does exist or whether, as a
    side-effect, schools with laboratories draw brighter children anyway, or
    children coming from affluent families.


    Consequently, the backdrop against which education and
    the set of teaching methods are implemented is sometimes more important that
    the content of the courses proper. Which has been emphatically highlighted by
    the TIMMS tests.

    Educational psychology
    expert Dragos Iliescu:


    In fact, the TIMMS surveys point to
    the fact that the curricula and the syllabus do not matter that much, and I am
    going to tell you how I know that. One of the allegations quite often made by the
    detractors of those tests runs as follows: Romanian children’s results in such
    tests are poor because the proper content is not being taught with us. To put it
    differently, in our system, the content which is taught is different from what
    is tested through those international tests. But here’s how we can do it. Take
    each of the tested subjects and analyze if it is taught or not, in keeping with
    each and every school’s curricula. And that is how we can actually detect the
    test coverage ratio through the national curricula. And that is how we found
    out Romania was the country where the test had the widest curricular coverage.
    We have a 88% coverage of that. We teach 88% of what is included in the test, quite unlike
    Finland, Europe’s leader regarding such tests. In Finland, a mere 41% of the
    test is covered by the curricula. So it does not matter what you teach, but how
    you teach it. Therefore, the massive difference between Romania and Finland
    does not lie in the curricula. We should have had much bigger scores, as for our
    children, that content is exactly what is being taught and which was tested
    afterwards. The quality of teaching matters, rather, the creation of
    competences matters, pertaining to mathematical reasoning and not to the rote
    implementation of several formulae.


    (Translation by Eugen Nasta)

  • March 29, 2021 UPDATE

    March 29, 2021 UPDATE

    COVID-19 The vaccination rate is expected to reach 100,000 people per day in April, the PM of Romania Florin Cîţu announced on Monday. This is when several million doses of vaccine are scheduled to reach the country, including the new type produced by the US company Johnson & Johnson, which does not require a second dose. A new batch of Pfizer/BioNTech doses arrived on Monday in Romania, where the national vaccine rollout is in full swing. Two million people have so far got the vaccine and half of them the booster dose. On the other hand, 3,825 new COVID-19 cases were reported in Romania on Monday, out of over 14,000 tests. The total number of infections is over 940,000, and the death toll passes 23,200, according to the Strategic Communication Group. Also on Monday 120 new deaths were reported, and a new record of nearly 1,400 patients are in intensive care. The infection rate remains high in Ilfov County, over 8.5 per thousand, and in Bucharest, over 7 per thousand. New measures to contain the epidemic came into force on Sunday. In regions with an infection rate above 4 per thousand, a night curfew is in place over the weekend between 8 pm and 5 am, two hours earlier than in the rest of the week. Shops must close at 6pm at weekend, and in regions with an infection rate above 7.5 per thousand the same restrictions are applicable the entire week. The new measures have sparked protests in Romania’s big cities, where people took to the streets on Monday chanting anti-government slogans.




    MOTION A simple motion against Romanian agriculture minister Adrian Oros was discussed on Monday in the Chamber of Deputies in Bucharest. The Social Democratic Party in opposition, which tabled it, is blaming the minister for having failed to take the right measures to offer compensations to the farmers affected by the drought. This is the worst period for the Romanian agriculture, heavily affected by the drought and the pandemic and also by the minister’s incompetence, the Social Democrats said. The document is to be voted upon on Wednesday. This is the third simple motion tabled by the Social Democrats in the present Parliament season. The other two, tabled against the ministers of health and economy, have been dismissed by Parliament.




    ANTI-SEMITISM The Prosecutors Office attached to the Bucharest District 1 Court ordered the 24-hour detention of a young man in a case involving death threats and anti-Semitic emails received by the actress Maia Morgenstern, director of the State Jewish Theatre in Bucharest. The message was made public by Maia Morgenstern on Theatre Day and the Jewish holiday of Passover, and was signed “On behalf of AUR. The leader of this parliamentary party, George Simion, condemned the attack, claiming the sender cannot be a member of his party. The Governments special representative for promoting remembrance policies and fighting anti-Semitism and xenophobia, Alexandru Muraru, said however he had reservations as concerns the statements of this party, which he described as a neo-fascist group known for its public anti-Semitic and nationalist views. Politicians and public figures in Romania condemned the message, and the case was given international coverage as well.




    EXAMS Romanian 8th-graders started mock exams in preparation of secondary school graduation, with the Romanian language and literature test held on Monday. The math test is scheduled on Tuesday. The mock exams are held in schools, in regions where the COVID-19 infection rate is not over 6 per thousand. In places where the rate is higher, the mock exams can be postponed, but will not be held later than May 15. The national assessment exam will take place as originally scheduled, between June 22 and 25, after authorities considered delaying it over the pandemic. Because of the COVID-19 epidemic, classes have been held mostly online this year, and the education process has been disrupted. (tr. A.M. Popescu)

  • February 27, 2019

    February 27, 2019

    European Prosecutor — The former chief of the National Anticorruption Directorate in Romania, Laura Codruta Kovesi, received most of the votes, 26, in the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs – LIBE in the EP, as she is running for the position of chief prosecutor of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office. Coming next are the French Jean-Francois Bohnert with 22 votes and the German Andres Ritter with one vote. The vote followed Tuesday’s hearings in the joint Civil Liberties and Budgetary Control committees of the three candidates. Laura Codruta Kovesi had obtained most of the votes also in the Committee on Budgetary Control – CONT. The future chief prosecutor of the European Prosecutor’s Office will be appointed jointly by the EP and the Council of the EU. The European Prosecutor’s Office will be an independent and decentralized prosecution office of the European Union with competence for investigating, prosecuting and bringing to justice crimes against the EU budget, such as fraud, corruption or cross-border VAT fraud. It is to start its activity by the end of 2020.



    Justice – In 2018 big pressure was exerted on the Romanian justice system and moves to change the justice laws and the criminal codes continued, said Wednesday Romania’s prosecutor general Augustin Lazar at the Public Ministry assessment meeting. He added that last year politicians did their best and managed to dismiss the chief prosecutor of the National Anticorruption Directorate. The prosecutor general underlined in his speech that the proposals of the General Prosecutors’ Office representatives were ignored when legislative amendments were passed. According to Lazar, some of the amendments run counter to Romania’s international obligations and the European bodies confirmed the appropriateness of the Public Ministry’s stand on the matter. Prosecutors had to deal with 1.7 million files in 2018 of which they solved more than 500 thousand. Attending the assessment meeting, the Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said that Romanians wanted to have a country without corruption. The interference of the political factor in the judiciary has become more visible, he added. Today’s meeting is taking place in the context in which hundreds of magistrates from across Romania are protesting against the new modifications brought to the justice laws through an emergency decree.



    Chisinau — The ACUM bloc will not enter a coalition in the future Moldovan Parliament either with the Democratic Party or with the Socialist Party, said Maia Sandu, the president of the Party of Action and Solidarity. She accused fraud during the election, claiming that ACUM was deprived of its votes both on the election day and ahead of the election campaign through the smear campaign and fake news launched against the pro-European opposition in Moldova. The results of Sunday’s parliamentary elections in the Republic of Moldova show that the Socialists’ Party got 35 MP seats in Parliament and the Democratic Party 30 seats.



    Hanoi — The American President Donald Trump and the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are meeting today in Hanoi, Vietnam. Their second meeting will take place on Thursday. The two had previously met once in Singapore last year. The principle agreement signed on that occasion on the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula was not followed by any notable results, and the US insisted that sanctions against North Korea should remain in force.



    Finance — The banks’ representatives from Romania are meeting today with the finance minister Eugen Teodorovici to discuss the emergency decree no. 114 related to certain fiscal measures. The decree is contested both by the opposition and the business environment and caused discontent to banks as it introduces a tax on bank assets. The deadline for the tacit approval of the emergency decree no.114 in the Senate is March 1, after which it will be forwarded to the Chamber of Deputies, a decision-making body on the matter. (translation by L. Simion)

  • March 16, 2017 UPDATE

    March 16, 2017 UPDATE

    ARCTIC ULTRA – The Romanian Tiberiu Useriu, aged 44, last night won, for the third time in a row, the 6633 Arctic Ultra, the most difficult marathon in the world, organized in the polar circle area. The race started on March 8th, and Tiberiu Useriu managed to conclude it after 7 days and 5 hours. Another three Romanians participated in the marathon: Avram Iancu, the first Romanian to swim the English Channel, and also Florentina Iofcea and Polgar Levente. Unfortunately, all three of them had to pull out before the end of the race.




    IMF – Jaewoo Lee, the head of the IMF Mission for Romania, together with Alejandro Hajdenberg, the Resident Representative for Romania, Friday presented the findings of the visit the IMF experts paid to Romania for a week. The IMF says without a change in the current policies, Romanias economic growth will be increasingly fragile, and recommends a balanced mix of monetary and fiscal policies. The institution also recommends increased efficiency in spending by prioritising major investment projects, increasing EU fund absorption and enforcing the fiscal responsibility law. During the meetings with Romanian officials, the IMF experts emphasised the importance of improving budget collection and of keeping public spending within sustainable limits. Bucharest does not have a financing agreement at present, but the international financial institution assesses the state of the Romanian economy on an annual basis, and its experts have come to Romania for the annual consultations, an exercise that all member states must undergo.




    EDUCATION – Over 100 universities and education institutions in 18 countries will be represented on Saturday and Sunday in Bucharest in the 22nd Romanian International University Fair (RIUF). According to the organisers, attending will be institutions from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Romania, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Ireland, the USA, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Greece, and Bulgaria. Visitors will be able to get information on tuition-free education options in Scandinavian countries, as well as on a 3,000,000 euro grant fund for BA and MA programmes offered by institutions in Britain, the Netherlands and Germany. The fairs YouForum section comprises over 30 workshops, panel discussions and presentations. The topics approached during the 2 days will include online marketing, branding, gaming, IT, architecture, non-formal education and technology.




    ARTEFACTS – The office of the Prosecutor General of Romania Friday announced that 164 ancient coins, of which 20 Koson-type Dacian coins stolen from the Orastie archaeology site, were recovered following searches conducted in Austria and Germania. According to a news release issued on Friday, the criminal justice division with the Prosecutors Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice is investigating a case of money laundering and aiding and abetting aggravated theft, involving items from the Romanian national cultural heritage: bracelets, coins, shields and other artefacts stolen from the Orastie Mountains sites and illegally sold in the international market. With support from Eurojust, Romanian officers from the Cultural Heritage Protection Service worked together with relevant judicial authorities from Austria and Germany a large-scale international operation conducted in February – March this year.




    SALISBURY ATTACK – British police Friday announced opening an investigation into the murder of Russian Nikholai Glushkov, a close friend of oligarch Boris Berezovsky, found dead earlier this week at his home in London. Previously, authorities announced that, in the wake of the poisoning of the Russian former double agent Sergey Skripal and of his daughter in Salisbury, police would resume inquiries into a number of deaths that have occurred in Britain over the past few years. The UK, Germany, France and the US issued a joint statement arguing that Russias involvement was the only plausible explanation for the incident. On the other hand, Moscow dismissed the allegations as groundless. The Salisbury attack will be the main topic of a meeting between the NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg with the British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, in Brussels on Monday. Stoltenberg says the incident is evidence of Moscows years-long reckless conduct.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • March 16, 2017 UPDATE

    March 16, 2017 UPDATE

    ARCTIC ULTRA – The Romanian Tiberiu Useriu, aged 44, last night won, for the third time in a row, the 6633 Arctic Ultra, the most difficult marathon in the world, organized in the polar circle area. The race started on March 8th, and Tiberiu Useriu managed to conclude it after 7 days and 5 hours. Another three Romanians participated in the marathon: Avram Iancu, the first Romanian to swim the English Channel, and also Florentina Iofcea and Polgar Levente. Unfortunately, all three of them had to pull out before the end of the race.




    IMF – Jaewoo Lee, the head of the IMF Mission for Romania, together with Alejandro Hajdenberg, the Resident Representative for Romania, Friday presented the findings of the visit the IMF experts paid to Romania for a week. The IMF says without a change in the current policies, Romanias economic growth will be increasingly fragile, and recommends a balanced mix of monetary and fiscal policies. The institution also recommends increased efficiency in spending by prioritising major investment projects, increasing EU fund absorption and enforcing the fiscal responsibility law. During the meetings with Romanian officials, the IMF experts emphasised the importance of improving budget collection and of keeping public spending within sustainable limits. Bucharest does not have a financing agreement at present, but the international financial institution assesses the state of the Romanian economy on an annual basis, and its experts have come to Romania for the annual consultations, an exercise that all member states must undergo.




    EDUCATION – Over 100 universities and education institutions in 18 countries will be represented on Saturday and Sunday in Bucharest in the 22nd Romanian International University Fair (RIUF). According to the organisers, attending will be institutions from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Romania, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Ireland, the USA, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Greece, and Bulgaria. Visitors will be able to get information on tuition-free education options in Scandinavian countries, as well as on a 3,000,000 euro grant fund for BA and MA programmes offered by institutions in Britain, the Netherlands and Germany. The fairs YouForum section comprises over 30 workshops, panel discussions and presentations. The topics approached during the 2 days will include online marketing, branding, gaming, IT, architecture, non-formal education and technology.




    ARTEFACTS – The office of the Prosecutor General of Romania Friday announced that 164 ancient coins, of which 20 Koson-type Dacian coins stolen from the Orastie archaeology site, were recovered following searches conducted in Austria and Germania. According to a news release issued on Friday, the criminal justice division with the Prosecutors Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice is investigating a case of money laundering and aiding and abetting aggravated theft, involving items from the Romanian national cultural heritage: bracelets, coins, shields and other artefacts stolen from the Orastie Mountains sites and illegally sold in the international market. With support from Eurojust, Romanian officers from the Cultural Heritage Protection Service worked together with relevant judicial authorities from Austria and Germany a large-scale international operation conducted in February – March this year.




    SALISBURY ATTACK – British police Friday announced opening an investigation into the murder of Russian Nikholai Glushkov, a close friend of oligarch Boris Berezovsky, found dead earlier this week at his home in London. Previously, authorities announced that, in the wake of the poisoning of the Russian former double agent Sergey Skripal and of his daughter in Salisbury, police would resume inquiries into a number of deaths that have occurred in Britain over the past few years. The UK, Germany, France and the US issued a joint statement arguing that Russias involvement was the only plausible explanation for the incident. On the other hand, Moscow dismissed the allegations as groundless. The Salisbury attack will be the main topic of a meeting between the NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg with the British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, in Brussels on Monday. Stoltenberg says the incident is evidence of Moscows years-long reckless conduct.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • March 28, 2017 UPDATE

    March 28, 2017 UPDATE

    DISTINCTION – President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, is to receive Charles, Prince of Wales, in Bucharest on Wednesday, and award him with the “Star of Romania Order in the rank of Grand Cross. The agenda of the meeting will include the bilateral Strategic Partnership, the situation of the Romanian community in Britain after Brexit and the Princes substantial charity work in Romania. Although Charles was frequently in Romania over the past few years, this is only his second official visit. In 2016, he established an NGO in Romania, to help preserve the local heritage and encourage sustainable development.



    JUDICIARY – The Prime Minister of Romania, Sorin Grindeanu, said he had confidence in the assessment of the work of National Anti-Corruption Directorate chief prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi, and of Prosecutor General Augustin Lazăr. The assessment, conducted by Justice Minister Tudorel Toader, and due to be made public on Wednesday, comes after the National Anti-Corruption Directorate started an investigation into the Cabinets endorsing the notorious Decree no. 13, which partly decriminalised abuse of office and which sparked the largest-scale protests in post-communist Romania.



    ANTI-CORRUPTION – The former minister for development Elena Udrea was sentenced to 6 years in prison and ordered to pay 3 million euros in damages in what is known as the Bute Gala case. She was sent to court in April 2015, under charges of bribe-taking, abuse of office and attempted use of false, inaccurate or incomplete documents, in order to unduly obtain European funds. Rudel Obreja, a former president of the Romanian Boxing Federation, was sentenced to five years in prison, while the ex-minister of economy Ion Ariton was acquitted in the same case. The defendants were accused of illegally using public funds in order to finance a boxing gala in which the former world champion Lucian Bute took part. The gala was organised by a private company, and under a contract signed with this company services were procured using EU funds, which is against the law.



    NATO – NATO Assistant Secretary General for Operations Patrick Turner said in Bucharest on Tuesday that Romania was one of the strongest allies in terms of implementing the commitments made at the Warsaw Summit last summer. The statement was made in a meeting of experts from NATO and partner countries on civil emergency situations. In turn, the Romanian state secretary with the Interior Ministry Raed Arafat pointed out that in Romania preparation for civil emergency situations was an ongoing process. The participants in the meeting, which is due to end on Wednesday, are looking into ways to improve the training of intervention forces in the case of natural disasters and hybrid threats.



    MEASLES – In Romania, nearly 4,000 measles cases had been reported until the end of last week, the National Centre for Infectious Disease Monitoring and Control announced on Tuesday. So far 17 deaths have been confirmed. To control the spreading of the disease, healthcare authorities are vaccinating children aged between 9 months and 9 years. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control also warns that, in spite of the measures taken so far, measles cases are still being reported in Romania.



    TOURISTS – 20 Romanian tourists, stranded in Mexico because of unexpected demonstrations, will be repatriated on April 4, the Romanian Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday. They contacted Romanias diplomatic mission in Ciudad de Mexico, after they got stuck trying to leave the southern Mexican state of El Camaron. The Romanian Embassy called for a police escort, which helped the Romanian tourists leave the area, the Foreign Ministry explained.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)