Radio România Internațional

Tag: digitisation

  • August 6, 2023 UPDATE

    August 6, 2023 UPDATE

    WAR President Klaus Iohannis Sunday released a message occasioned by
    the centennial of the War Heroes Mausoleum in Mărăşeşti (east). The president
    points out in the message that in the most important battle of the 1917 campaign
    in World War I, in Mărăşeşti, the Romanian Army with support from the Allies
    managed to stop the offensive of the Central Powers and stabilised the front
    line for the rest of the war. Construction works on the Mausoleum, erected in
    memory of the over 5,000 officers and soldiers who died then, started on August
    6, 1923, at the initiative of the Romanian Orthodox Women Society, and ended in
    1938. The president’s message also says that the current military conflict in
    Ukraine is a reminder of the horrors of war and of the duty to strengthen
    Romania’s resilience and defence capacity. A NATO and EU member state, Romania is
    at present a pillar of regional stability, a major security provider in
    South-Eastern Europe, and it benefits from the most reliable security
    guarantees in its history, Klaus Iohannis also says in his message.


    HEALTHCARE The task group entrusted with drawing up Romania’s
    healthcare digitisation strategy had a first meeting in Bucharest on Sunday. According
    to the line minister, Alexandru Rafila, electronic and information technologies
    will improve Romanians’ access to healthcare services, will help reduce errors
    and optimise management and resource planning in the sector. Calls for
    proposals have already been opened for the introduction of electronic
    technologies in 200 hospitals and the National Health Insurance Agency, and in
    mid-August further calls will be opened for the development of the national
    telemedicine system. Romania can spend EUR 400 mln for the digitisation of the public
    healthcare sector, under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.


    FIRES The Romanian
    fire-fighters deployed to Greece worked on Saturday and Sunday together with
    their Greek colleagues to put out a fire in the Aragonitis area, around 55 km
    from the village of Vilia, in the region of Attica, the General Inspectorate
    for Emergencies announced. According to the institution, at the request of the
    Greek liaison officers, the Romanian unit supported the Greek fire-fighters
    with 4 fire engines, personnel rotating every 4 hours, and additional lighting
    equipment. Scores of Romanian fire-fighters have already taken part, over the
    past few weeks, in similar missions to support the Greek authorities manage
    extensive wildfires.


    CATHOLICS The South
    Korean capital city Seoul will host the next edition of World Youth Day, in
    2027, Pope Francis announced on Sunday during a religious service in Lisbon
    held at the end of the 16th edition of the event. Initiated in 1986 by
    Pope John Paul II, World Youth Day, the largest international gathering of
    Catholic youth, is organised every 2 or 3 years and comprises cultural and
    religious events. The 2023 edition, postponed by a year because of the Covid-19
    pandemic, brought 1.5 million worshippers to Lisbon, where Pope Francis, 86, Sunday
    concluded a 5-day visit to Portugal, his 42nd international trip since his election in 2013.
    The World Youth Day editions with the largest numbers of participants were in Manila
    in 1995 (5 million people), Rio de Janeiro (3.7 million) and Krakow (3 million).
    Around 11% of South Korea’s 52-million population are Catholic.


    GAMES Romania came
    out 2nd in the Francophonie Games hosted by Kinshasa (Congo), after
    Morocco, with a total 17 gold, 9 silver and 12 bronze medals. Third came
    Cameroon. On Saturday, the Romanian athletes won 2 medals, a silver and a
    bronze, in African wrestling. Romania participated in the Games with 57
    athletes, competing in athletics, women’s basketball, freestyle and African
    wrestling, road cycling, table tennis and judo. The 9th Francophonie
    Games were held between July 28 and August 6. (AMP)

  • Changes in labour legislation

    Changes in labour legislation

    The government of Romania has passed a memorandum laying down the principles for revising and updating the legislative framework concerning the salaries of public sector staff.



    Ministries have 30 days to submit proposals regarding salary policies in the public system. The government plans to draw up a new law on public sector salaries within a year, and to submit it to Parliament.



    The memorandum, signed by all ministries, is a reflection of their commitment to presenting their own view of the occupational fields they coordinate, the labour minister Raluca Turcan said. She also made it clear that the document will not pave the way for pay cuts, but on the contrary, that the goal is to increase those salaries that have always been overlooked because of inequities in previous regulations.



    “Once the salary system becomes fair and public institutions become efficient in relation to citizens, the competition with the private sector will be stronger, the quality of work will improve both in the public and in the private system, and we will see better salaries both in the public and in the private sector, the labour minister added.



    Raluca Turcan also explained that the pay grade structure will be reanalysed for each occupational group, and some bonuses will be included in the core salary. Also, the bonuses that can be made flat-sum will be paid as a fix amount, while the remaining ones will not exceed 20% of the individual base salary. Base salaries should be the same for everybody, Raluca Turcan believes, because, she argues, it is unacceptable for some public sector staff to be paid according to the 2019 salary level, and others to a level only possible in 2022.



    Meanwhile, the government endorsed emergency orders that simplify working relations by digitisation and by cutting red-tape.



    One of these orders regulates the use of advanced or qualified electronic signatures, accompanied by time stamps, in signing employment contracts, in the relations between businessses and public institutions, and enables employers to purchase electronic signatures for their employees. The same order, the labour minister also explained, is designed to streamline teleworking, given that at present around 400,000 employment contracts include telework clauses, as opposed to only 50,000 last year.



    Another emergency order targets nearly 445,000 micro-enterprises in Romania, which have a maximum of 9 employees. These businesses are now no longer bound to draw up job descriptions and company regulations or to keep attendance registers, and thus the workload of business owners is reduced. (tr. A.M. Popescu)

  • December 19, 2020

    December 19, 2020

    GOVERNMENT The 466 Romanian Deputies and Senators elected on December 6 today start the procedures for taking over their seats and forming the new Parliament. President Klaus Iohannis convened the first meeting of the new legislative on Monday, December 21st. Meanwhile, representatives of the future right-of-centre ruling coalition today resume negotiations on the governing programme, after having announced last night an agreement on the distribution of key positions in the new parliament and cabinet. Specifically, the coalition agreed that the Chamber of Deputies speaker position will be held by the Liberals, and the Senate speaker post will go to the USR PLUS Alliance. The PM designate will be the incumbent finance minister Florin Cîţu. The Liberals will get 9 ministries in the new cabinet, USR PLUS – 6, and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians, 3. The latter 2 parties will also appoint 2 deputy prime ministers. Meanwhile, the Social Democratic Party, which came first in the general election, insists that the fair solution in the current circumstances is a government of national union, headed by Alexandru Rafila, who represents Romania at the World Health Organisation. The Social Democratic president Marcel Ciolacu said his party will never endorse a government made up of the National Liberal Party, USR PLUS Alliance, and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians, which, he says, keeps Romania in an ongoing crisis.




    COVID-19 5,158 new Covid-19 cases were reported on Saturday, out of nearly 25,800 tests conducted across the country. 139 COVID-related deaths were also reported, taking the total death toll to 14,296. 1,274 patients are currently in intensive care. Since the start of the pandemic, nearly 588,000 cases have been reported in Romania, 493,000 of whom have recovered. President Klaus Iohannis warned that until enough people have received vaccines, all restrictions must be complied with. Containment measures are to remain in place during the winter holidays.




    COMMEMORATION 31 years since the anti-communist Revolution in Romania, the city of Timişoara (west), where the uprising first started, continues to commemorate its heroes. Thursday was a day of mourning, as on December 17, 1989, the dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu ordered the use of lethal ammunition against the street protesters. On December 19, to cover the massacre, the communist authorities implemented the so-called Operation “Rose, with bodies taken from the Timişoara morgue to be incinerated in Bucharest. Every year since then, members of the Timişoara victims families come to Bucharest on a symbolic pilgrimage. The protests in Timișoara, which left around 100 dead and some 350 wounded, were the spark that led to the collapse of the Ceausescu dictatorship a few days later, in one of the most violent revolutions in south-eastern Europe.




    DIGITISATION The Romanian Education and Research Ministry posted for consultation until February 15 the SMART-Edu Romanian Education Digitisation Strategy. Over 1,200 experts, NGOs and digital industry stakeholders contributed to the strategy. The document aims to ensure that by 2027, 90% of Romanias population will be digitally literate, and over 80% of the youth up to 34 years will be trained for emerging professions. Another goal is to have all education units in Romania equipped with technological resources and infrastructure to adapt to the latest changes.




    PANDEMIC India has reported today over 10 million coronavirus cases, the 2nd-largest number in the world. The US, the worst hit country, as of this weekend has a second vaccine ready for delivery, the one produced by Moderna, which is easier to ship and store than the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. The European Medicines Agency announced a decision on the Moderna vaccine is scheduled on January 6, while the Pfizer one will be approved next week. Meanwhile, tough restrictions are announced in Italy during the winter holidays. Restaurants and bars will be closed between December 24 and January 6, and so will most shops, except for 4 days. People will be allowed to receive only 2 guests at home, and as of Monday all citizens entering the country have to be quarantined for 14 days. Britain also introduced strict anti-COVID measures after a surge in infections, possibly caused by a coronavirus mutation. (tr. A.M. Popescu)

  • October 31, 2017 UPDATE

    October 31, 2017 UPDATE

    Developping(23.25 Romania’s time): SECURITY ALERT IN NEW YORK: 8 people confirmed dead, more than a dozen injured

    Eight people have
    been killed in New York after the driver of a truck rammed into people on a cycle
    path in Lower Manhattan. The driver made a statement when exiting the truck, thus prompting the US police to call his action an act of terror.

    The 29 year old suspect has been shot in the abdomen and is now in hospital, the NY autorities told a press conference.

    New York Mayor: The FBI is now leading the investigation, jointly with
    NYPD.

    The act was carried out by a lone wolf


    RADIO ROMANIA – The Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation celebrates on Wednesday 89 years of operation, its first broadcast being aired on November 1, 1928. An information, education and entertainment medium, the public radio broadcaster addresses the Romanian society as a whole, all generations and all tastes. Adding to the nation-wide “News and Current Affairs, “Culture, “Music and “Village Antenna channels are regional and local stations and the online children and youth stations. Radio Romania first started to broadcast programmes abroad in the 1930s. At present, Radio Romania International has programmes in 11 foreign languages, in Romanian and the Aromanian dialect.




    CONFERENCE – Over 600 people will attend on Wednesday and Thursday in Bucharest a conference of Francophone women on the role of women in creation, innovation, entrepreneurship, economic growth and development. Officials from 48 Francophone countries will discuss the rights and access of women to the labour market and their contribution to innovation and entrepreneurship. The forum is also intended to establish a network of Francophone women entrepreneurs. The conclusions of the conference in Bucharest will be used in drafting a Francophone Gender Equality Strategy, which will be discussed in the forthcoming Summit of La Francophonie in 2018.




    MOTION – The National Liberal Party, the Peoples Movement Party and the Save Romania Union in opposition Tuesday filed a simple motion in the Senate against Finance Minister Ionut Misa. The opposition criticizes the Governments fiscal measures, saying they will negatively impact the economy and all social classes. The Government wants to transfer the payment of social security contributions from employers to employees and to introduce the so-called “employment insurance tax for employers. Liberal leader Ludovic Orban said this new contribution will increase taxation. In another development on Tuesday, the Senate passed a draft law on adopting the Governments emergency decree on the spaced-out payment of VAT. The plenary session paid heed to a report of the Senates Budget and Finance Committee, which modified the text of the decree, stipulating the measure applies only for insolvent companies or any companies with outstanding VAT-related debts at the end of 2017. The draft law will be submitted to the Chamber of Deputies, the decision-making body.




    DIGITIZATION – The future of Europe will be digital or “there wont be one, and Romania will hold the upper hand in this context due to its very active network of startups, European Commissioner for Economy and the Digital Society, Mariya Gabriel, said today in Bucharest. According to the EU official, Southeastern Europe will have a great impact on the development of this field. Mariya Gabriel is attending a conference hosted by Bucharest titled “Digital Romania International Forum – Startups in 4.0 Industries. The forum brings together leaders from the industry, entrepreneurs, investors, European decision-makers, authorities and academia with a view to finding solutions for Romania to contribute to and benefit from the digitization of the industry, the economy and society at EU level. According to a survey by the PwC audit and consultancy group, Romania has a very high development potential in the IT sector, despite ranking last in the Union in terms of digitization.




    UKRAINE – Venice Commission experts are in Kiev to examine the tensions prompted by the adoption of the new education law in this country. Attending a meeting with ethnic minorities on Wednesday will also be a delegation of Romanian nationals from the region of Cernauti. According to minority representatives, the new education law severely restricts the minorities rights to education in their native language. Recently, representatives of the 500,000-strong Romanian community in Ukraine have referred the matter to the Venice Commission, demanding that the new education law be examined to check its compliance with Ukraines commitments before the Council of Europe to safeguard the rights of national minorities to education in their own languages. Bucharest has repeatedly criticized the law.


    (translated by Ana-Maria Popescu, updated by Diana Vijeu)

  • Romania and the Information Society

    Romania and the Information Society

    The EU risks being crushed by its American and Asian competitors, unless it rapidly moves forward in terms of digitisation and developing its internet infrastructure. This warning was launched by the EU Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, Gunther Oettinger, who attended the “Digital Romania International Forum in Bucharest. We witness a digital revolution today, Commissioner Oettinger added. Digital technologies and services are permeating all sectors of our society and economy, and changing them. Europe needs a common digital market, and Romania plays a key role in the European digitisation strategy, Gunther Oettinger said:



    Gunther Oettinger: “In the EU there is no single state to rank the first in all standings. For instance, in the IT field there are rankings which put Romania, as well as the Baltic states, Denmark, Norway, Sweden on the top positions. Romania has a very good place, thanks to its IT infrastructure, good IT specialists, very good physicists. If you go to Silicon Valley, you see that a lot of Europeans work there, and many of these are Romanians.



    However, according to the European Commissions 2015 Digital Economy and Society Index, Romania ranks last but one in Europe in terms of digitised public services. A very small number of citizens fill in online forms at present, President Klaus Iohannis said at the meeting, which prompted the authorities to put together a framework strategy to step up the digitisation process in Romania. This is how the “Manifesto for Digital Romania was launched, as an innovation vector and a provider of IT, cybersecurity and smart city solutions able to directly and immediately benefit citizens.



    There is a huge gap between the private and the public sectors with respect to the use of information technology, PM Dacian Ciolos warned in his turn. Moreover, he added, bureaucracy is deeply rooted in public administration, which requires a great deal of effort, time and money on the part of the citizens. And still, Romania has all the strong points it needs in order to become a major IT player in the region, in the European Union and at a global level.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)