EU The Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu discussed, on Thursday, in Brussels, with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, about the future European commissioner from Romania, about the implementation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, as well as about a new agreement on Romania’s budget deficit, which should extend over 7 years. Regarding the position of European commissioner, Marcel Ciolacu announced that he nominated Victor Negrescu, the current vice-president of the European Parliament. During the meeting, they tackled Romania’s accession to Schengen with its land borders, with the Prime Minister stressing that Ursula von der Leyen is the “biggest” supporter of this cause.
DEFENCE The Chief of the defence staff, General Gheorghiţă Vlad, met on Thursday, in Bucharest, with his counterpart from the French Republic, General Thierry Burkhard, who is on an official visit to Romania. The talks between the two focused on the regional security situation, the progress in achieving full operational capacity of the NATO Battle Group in 2025, and the responsibilities of the French structures deployed to Romania in strengthening the Allied deterrence and defence posture. General Gheorghiţă Vlad emphasised that, in the last two years, the excellent cooperation between the two armies to ensure collective defence were also reflected in the increased interoperability between structures and in the development of training and quartering infrastructure. The visit also included a meeting of the two heads of defence with troops from the NATO Battle Group, at the Getica National Joint Training Center in Cincu. France is the lead nation of the NATO Battle Group.
US ELECTION The Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris accepted her party’s nomination as a candidate for the US presidency, at the Democratic National Convention. She told her supporters that the country has a chance to overcome resentment, cynicism and division. Harris promised tax cuts for the middle class. As regards abortions, she accused her opponent, the former Republican President Donald Trump, of wanting to introduce a national ban. In terms of foreign policy, Harris said that dictators around the world support Trump, the BBC reports.
COMMEMORATION The president of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, in his message on the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Fascism and Communism, says that populism and hate speech are once again present, under various forms. He argues that this is precisely why society as a whole must stay alert to the risk of all the values embraced by Romania being pushed into irrelevance. Iohannis also mentioned the crucial decision made by King Michael I, who acted with responsibility and dignity and changed the fateful course of WWII, saving the country from imminent disaster. In turn, PM Marcel Ciolacu reiterated the government’s firm commitment to fight all forms of extremism, and to strengthen civic engagement, by educating the youth with respect to all the landmarks in recent history.
SCHOOLS Students in secondary schools and high schools in Romania will have more rules to observe in the new academic year. School rules stipulate, among other things, that students cannot hold mobile phones during classes and provide for penalties in case of violations. School operation rules have also been amended. Novelties include conduct grades for each module, separate tests for 9th grade admission, and a teacher in charge of EU-funded projects in each school, as well as online or hybrid classes for students in exceptional situations. On the other hand, secondary school and high school students with final grades above 9.50 will receive merits scholarships. For this academic year, the merit scholarship minimum amount is nearly EUR 90. This amount may be increased by school boards, depending on the budget earmarked by the local authorities.
TENNIS The Romanian tennis player Gabriela Ruse managed to reach the singles main draw of the US Open Grand Slam tournament, which starts on Monday in New York, after defeating Alexandra Eala from the Philippines in 3 sets. Ruse will face Julia Grabher from Austria in the inaugural round. She is the third Romanian to reach the singles main draw at the US Open, after Ana Bogdan and Jaqueline Cristian entered the singles draw thanks to ranking. Cristian will play against Russia’s Daria Kasatkina, seeded 12, while Ana Bogdan will meet the Dutch Arantxa Rus in the first round. (AMP)
