Tag: Deca

  • September 24, 2024 UPDATE

    September 24, 2024 UPDATE

    Budget – The Romanian government approved the adjustment of the state budget, social security budget and unemployment insurance budget, taking into account the macroeconomic forecasts made by the National Commission for Strategy and Prognosis. The indices on which the adjustment is based include a revised 2.8% economic growth rate, an updated GDP of nearly 353 billion Euros and a 6.9% budget deficit. The adjustment focuses on 4 major areas: supporting investments, education, healthcare and social programs for citizens.

     

    UN – Romania’s President, Klaus Iohannis, is taking part on Tuesday and Wednesday in the 79th session of the UN General Assembly, held in New York. The central theme of the current session is ‘Unity in diversity for the progress of peace, sustainable development and human dignity for everyone everywhere.’ The president’s participation in the UNGA this year is, according to the presidency, an opportunity to highlight Romania’s contribution to the global effort to step up progress towards the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Mr. Iohannis will give an address on Wednesday in the plenary meeting, when he will plead for maintaining multi-lateral dialogue, especially within the UN, as a key element of regional and global security. The Romanian official will also underscore Romania’s efforts and contribution at all levels to solving current global issues, from security crises such as the war in Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East, to major challenges for mankind, including climate change, the deterioration of human rights and cyber threats. Mr. Iohannis will also plead for a reformed UN system, able to meet all current and future challenges in an efficient and transparent manner.

     

    Ambassador – Romania is, along the other EU member states, among the main guardians and contributors in the field of human rights, the Romanian Ambassador to the UN, Cornel Feruţă, said in an interview to AGERPRES. He emphasized that Romania has a well-defined profile in terms of promoting international law, of a rule-based international order and the rule of law. According to the Romanian diplomat, the country has credibility in the international community thanks to its openness and willingness to support partners in various parts of the world, especially in Africa, Asia – Pacific and Latin America and the Caribbean, in fulfilling goals related to sustainable development and to strengthening public sector capabilities. Romania also intends to remain involved in defining global policies to fight climate change. The Romanian diplomat also said the dynamics in the diplomatic community in New York reflects the developments at global level, specifically the war of aggression waged by Russia for over 2.5 years against Ukraine and the conflict in Gaza following the October 7, 2023 tragedy.

     

    Conference – Early education is the cornerstone of children’s development, that’s why any investment in this sector is, in fact, an investment in the future, the education minister Ligia Deca said on Tuesday. According to her, this was also one of the central topics of discussions at the international conference “A bright future beyond borders: investment in early education and care of children”. Ligia Deca participated, on Tuesday, in this event organized in Chişinău by the UNICEF Offices in Romania and the Republic of Moldova, in collaboration with the UNICEF Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia. Minister Deca wrote on a social network that Romania has understood the importance of early education, and the new Law on pre-university education reflects this. “Our country remains close to the Republic of Moldova, including in terms of the development of the education sector – the close collaboration that we already have is an important step in order to find solutions, together, to the problems that our systems are facing”, Ligia Deca also wrote.

     

    Eurobarometer – 68% of Romanians believe that the EU should have a stronger coordinating role in the field of energy, according to a Eurobarometer survey published on Tuesday. At the European level, the proportion is 77%. According to the research, 8 out of 10 Europeans and almost 7 out of 10 Romanians agree that the climate objectives of the EU will stimulate the creation of new jobs and will attract investments in the clean energy sector. At the same time, 76% of Europeans and 61% of Romanians believe that European policies will reduce dependence on energy imports – the Eurobarometer survey also shows.

     

    Danube – On Tuesday, the Interior Ministry asked the structures at the national and territorial level to be prepared for intervention to manage the risks related to the increase in the flow of the Danube River. Even if the existing information indicates that the estimated situation is not one that poses particular problems, the state secretary Raed Arafat emphasized that the level of preparation must be very high. The head of the Department for Emergency Situations emphasized the need for the representatives of the territorial structures of Romanian Waters to collaborate with those of the inspectorates for emergency situations. According to the National Administration Romanian Waters, the flow of the Danube at the entrance to Romania will be no more than 8,000 cubic meters per second, between September 29-30.

     

    Drone – Specialists of the Defense Ministry and the Romanian Intelligence Service found, on Tuesday, fragments of a Russian drone in an area south of the locality of Plauru in Tulcea county (east), outside the inhabited perimeter of the commune, the Defense Ministry informs. Forces of the relevant ministry continued the search for possible fragments of a drone that fell on the Romanian bank of the Danube, as a result of the attacks carried out in recent weeks by Russian forces on civilian targets and port infrastructure in neighboring Ukraine. The Ministry from Bucharest reiterates the firm message of condemnation of these attacks carried out by Russia against some objectives and elements of Ukrainian civil infrastructure, which are unjustified and in serious contradiction with the norms of international law. (LS)

  • June 8, 2023 UPDATE

    June 8, 2023 UPDATE

    STRIKE Trade unions in Romania’s education system have
    planned another protest rally on Friday amid dissatisfaction with the
    government’s response to their claims. In the meantime, the Executive on
    Thursday endorsed a memorandum regarding the pay rises granted to the personnel
    in the country’s education system under the new pay law. In this way the
    Executive is guaranteeing this domain will be a top priority. Romania’s Liberal
    Prime Minister, Nicolae Ciuca has given assurances the salary of a beginner
    teacher will be based on the average medium salary, as the protesters requested.
    The memorandum also refers to a holiday bonus according to the teachers’ salaries,
    as well as to other bonuses. In another development, field minister Ligia Deca
    has announced that applications for the Baccalaureate and the national
    assessment exams for 8th graders will be extended until June 13 and
    the competency tests from the Baccalaureate exam will take place over 14 – 23 June.








    FUND The EU Modernization Fund made
    available 2.4 billion Euros for 31 projects in seven beneficiary countries,
    including Romania, in order to help them streamline their energy systems, cut
    greenhouse gas emissions in energy, industry and transport as well as to
    improve energy efficiency, the European Commission announced on Thursday. This has
    been the highest sum made available so far and will give an impetus to Europe’s
    ecological transition According to the European Commission, these investments
    are helping the member states to reduce their dependency on fossil fuel from
    Russia, meet their climate and energy objectives for 2030 and contribute to the
    EU’s long-term commitment to achieving climate neutrality by 2050. Additional
    investment has been made in Romania, 1.1 billion euros, the Czech Republic 1
    billion euros as well as in countries like Bulgaria, Poland, Croatia, Latvia
    and Lithuania. The sums made available on Thursday, have brought the total
    payment from the aforementioned fund to roughly 7.5 billion euros, benefitting
    10 eligible member countries.










    GROWTH Romania reported an economic growth
    rate of 2.3% in the first quarter of this year, compared to the similar period
    of 2022, according to provisional data published today by the National
    Institute of Statistics. Thus, the estimated Gross Domestic Product was over
    312 billion lei (about 62 billion Euros). Among others, wholesale and retail
    trade, motor vehicle and motorcycle repair, transport and storage, as well as
    constructions contributed to the increase in the GDP. The World Bank estimates
    that Romania’s Gross Domestic Product will register, this year, a growth of
    2.6%. The IMF has revised significantly downward the estimates regarding the
    growth of the Romanian economy in 2023, from 3.1 to 2.4%.






    DEFENCE The Commander of the U.S. European
    Command, General Christopher G. Cavoli, and the Romanian Chief of Defense
    Staff, General Daniel Petrescu, are the hosts of the Central European Chiefs of
    Defense Conference, on Thursday and Friday, in Bucharest. The chiefs of defense
    from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and
    Hungary are participating in the meeting. Nine military leaders of the US
    National Guard are also present, the Romanian Defense Ministry reports. The
    event includes topics on security challenges and aims to intensify military
    cooperation relations to ensure stability in the region.


    (bill&LS)

  • The Education Laws in the focus of the deputies

    The Education Laws in the focus of the deputies

    The reform of the education system has been discussed, in an applied or propagandistic manner, for over three decades. Several changes have been made indeed, but most of the projects started were short-lived, due to repeated changes at the top of the education ministry. The reform lacked a unitary vision, to be accepted by the main political forces. Now there is a chance that, a large coalition, such as the one in power, which includes the main leftwing and rightwing forces, the Social Democratic Party – PSD and the National Liberal Party – PNL, may agree on a long-term, valid reform program. Recently approved by the government, the new draft education laws reached the Chamber of Deputies. They are based on the “Educated Romania” project, initiated by President Klaus Iohannis, and for the implementation of the reforms included in these laws, more than 3 billion Euros will be allocated from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.



    The coordinator of the presidential project, Ligia Deca, is the current education minister and she claims that the education system will be centered on the students and on stimulating their potential. The higher education law is meant to combat university education dropout and to support European cooperation of universities in Romania.


    The pre-university education law mainly aims to reduce school dropout and functional illiteracy, which are chronic problems of the Romanian education system. The bill regarding pre-university education proposes the introduction of new mandatory assessments at the end of the 2nd, 4th and 6th grades in such subjects as Language and Communication and Mathematics and Sciences. High schools will be able to organize their own admission contest, with specific tests, for 60% of the places, besides the National Assessment, and the baccalaureate exam will have more tests. The higher education bill also provides for increasing the length of university doctoral studies to 4 years, as compared to 3 years at present. The coalition leaders promise to adopt the new laws by the end of the current parliamentary session.



    On the other hand, Romanian schools are facing a serious problem: a rising number of incidents. That is why the education ministry has announced that it has started consultations to find the best solutions to counter violence of any nature in schools. Minister Deca emphasized that the safety of every person in the education units is a priority for the education ministry. Her reaction came after two events that horrified the public opinion: a few days ago, a student from a college in Bucharest injured a teacher with a knife during class, and at a school in Prahova county (south), 13 year old students sexually harassed a teacher, also during class, and filmed the incident. In the first case, the aggressor student was arrested, on the grounds that he represented a public danger, and was placed in a special center for minors. In the second case, the Prahova School Inspectorate took disciplinary measures, and the police opened an investigation. (LS)