Radio România Internațional

Tag: Educated Romania

July 5, 2023 UPDATE

CVM – The
European Commission notified the European Council and the European Parliament
over its plan to shut down the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) for
Romania and Bulgaria, which will be replaced by an annual report on the rule of
law. The announcement was made on Wednesday by the European Commissioner for
Values and Transparency, Věra Jourová, who expressed confidence the mechanism
will be lifted this year. In the last CVM report for Bulgaria, which was in
2019, and Romania in 2022, the Commission already concluded that Bulgaria and
Romania have made sufficient progress in meeting the commitments made at the
time of their accession to the EU and that all CVM benchmarks have been
satisfactorily met, Jourová said. In its rule of law report published on
Wednesday, the Commission recommends Romania take measures at operational level
to respond to remaining concerns related to the investigation and trial of
justice-related criminal offenses, including corruption. At the same time, the
Commission says Romania has reported significant progress in strengthening
instruments that ensure the independence of the judiciary and tackle
operational challenges of the National Anticorruption Directorate.

VISIT -
Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu’s visit to Germany continued on
Wednesday with a meeting with representatives of the German business sector.
The Romanian official later met the vice-president of the Bundestag, Katrin
Göring-Eckardt, as well as members of the main parliamentary factions. Marcel
Ciolacu highlighted the importance of bilateral cooperation and the significant
potential it offers, considering Germany is Romania’s top trade partner.
Germany has expressed an interest to invest in the Romanian petrochemical sector,
given the discovery of new gas deposits in Romania, as well as in the Romanian
raw materials industry, in the context of the upcoming effort to reconstruct
Ukraine. The Romanian Prime Minister pointed out Romania has numerous
resources, as well as energy projects that should ensure Romania plays a key
role in securing stability in the region, also underlining Romania’s potential
in the agricultural sector. Also on Wednesday, Prime Minister Ciolacu met with
representatives of the German defense sector. On the first day of his visit on
Tuesday, Marcel Ciolacu met Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who reiterated his
country’s support for Romania’s Schengen accession in 2023.

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.

PROTEST -
The Health Solidarity Federation announced new protests, including a work-in
strike in several medical units on Thursday. Federation representatives want
the government to modify the emergency decree passed last week so as to fully
enforce the salary law for all health workers and increase salaries. The Federation
wants real salary raises, based on last week’s decree, and the proper
conditions to allow for this pay rise. Nearly 1,400 physicians want to
terminate their on-call work agreements and some 6,400 employees want to give
up shift work and legal holidays work schedules, the Federation also claims.

GAUDEAMUS -
The first summer edition of the book fair Gaudeamus Radio Romania kicked off in
Brașov, central Romania. The event is part of the Gaudeamus caravan, a
nationwide 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 9. (DB &
VP)

5 July 2023
July 4, 2023 UPDATE

Education. The President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, promulgated the new education laws on Tuesday. A former high school teacher himself, the head of state is the promoter of the “Educated Romania” project, launched in 2016, based on a series of public consultations. Its main goals include the increase in funding for education, the decrease in school dropouts, and the reduction of functional illiteracy. The education laws were adopted by the Senate on May 22. They were unsuccessfully contested at the Constitutional Court by the opposition Save Romania Union because, among other things, they said it would limit the right to education and violate the principle of equal rights. The education laws were criticized by both the Pupils National Council and by university student organizations, for various provisions considered discriminatory. “I am firmly convinced that, with the new laws that we have promulgated, we have a solid framework on which we can build an education system prepared for the current challenges”, said the head of state. Also on Tuesday, it was announced that the percentage of secondary school graduates who obtained at least the average grade of 5 in the National Assessment stands at 76.4%. The number of grades of 10 reached 466 nationally, but more than 36,000 children have grades below five.

Support. Germany will support Romania become a full member of the Schengen area this year, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Tuesday. He added that Romania has already undertaken major efforts and these should be appreciated. “We are involved with all our strength for this”, said Scholz in a joint press conference with Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, who is on a working visit to Berlin. Scholz also said that the discussions focused on the security policy on NATOs Eastern Flank and the Allied Summit in Vilnius next week. “Germany is Romanias most important trading partner, a fact that constitutes a solid basis for boosting our bilateral relationship and offers real development prospects that we want to materialize as soon as possible”, the Romanian Prime Minister said.

Schengen. The Romanian Foreign Minister Luminiţa Odobescu has welcomed the position of Spain, which is currently holding the rotating presidency of the European Union, regarding Romanias accession to Schengen. In an exclusive interview for Radio Romania, she said that accession to Schengen remains a priority goal for the Romanian authorities. Previously, the Spanish ambassador to Bucharest, José Antonio Hernández Pérez-Solórzano, had reiterated his countrys support for Romanias accession to the free movement area. He stated that the issue of the accession of Romania and neighboring Bulgaria will be put on the agenda of the Justice and Home Affairs Council most likely this fall. “It is a priority of our presidency to include Romania and Bulgaria in the Schengen Area” – said the Spanish diplomat.

DACIA. Dacia has announced it will take part in the 2025 edition of the Dakar Rally as one of the official manufacturers. Dacia representatives announced its prototype race car will use a synthetic fuel supplied by Aramco. Piloting one of Dacias cars into the series will be several-time Dakar champion Sébastien Loeb of France.

Inquiry. The Romanian Government will launch an official inquiry into medical leaves. Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu has called on the National Health Insurance Authority to submit an updated report, after last year over 8 million requests for medical leave were submitted, considering Romanias active population totals some 6 million people. Total medical leave costs stood at some 1.2 bln EUR. Parliament has previously voted out an initiative designed to empower the Health Insurance Authority to verify people on medical leave without violating their privacy.

Ukraine. The battles against the Russian invasion army are difficult, Ukraines president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, hailing however what he has termed progress reported as part of the June counteroffensive campaign. “Last week was difficult, but we are making headway. Were taking it one step at a time”, Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram. Previously, deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said that “Ukraine has liberated 28.4 square kilometers in the south and 9 square kilometers in the east over the past week”, taking the total area liberated by the Ukrainian army since the launch of the counteroffensive to 158 square kilometers. “The enemy is fighting back, the current battle is very tough”, deputy minister Mailar went on to say. (MI)

4 July 2023
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)

10 April 2023
October 3, 2022 UPDATE

WAR IN UKRAINE – Romania’s president, Klaus Iohannis, as
well as the presidents of seven other members of NATO from Central and Eastern
Europe, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Montenegro,
Poland and Slovakia on Monday signed a
joint statement reaffirming their support for the sovereignty and territorial
integrity of Ukraine. We firmly stand behind the 2008 Bucharest NATO Summit
decision concerning Ukraine’s future membership, the Romanian president also
tweeted.

EDUCATION – Romania’s president, Klaus Iohannis, on
Monday said the education laws should stipulate clear provisions for the
prevention and punishment of plagiarism, which he described as a toxic
phenomenon in the education system. Attending the opening of the academic year
at the Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urbanism in Bucharest, the
president pointed out that obtaining an academic degree is an honor
exclusively based on real merit. An educated Romania must be fair, without
exception, Klaus Iohannis said. Some 500 thousand students on Monday started a
new academic year. Also on Monday, Ligia Deca was sworn in as the new Education
Minister, replacing outgoing minister Sorin Cîmpeanu, who resigned in the wake of a plagiarism scandal. Ligia Deca was
nominated by the National Liberal Party after previously serving as
presidential adviser. Deca was in charge of coordinating Educated Romania, a project
that will be treated as a top priority during her mandate.

CAR INDUSTRY – Although the world car industry was
strongly hit by the global semiconductor chip shortage, with losses to
companies in the field amounting to 100 billion EUR, the car manufacturing
industry in Romania saw a growth rate of over 15%, while car sales grew by 5%
in the first 8 months of the year compared with the same period in 2021,
according to a study published on Monday. With chip supply chains still at
threat, state support should remain high for this sector, which makes up more
than 25% of GDP, the study also writes. Romania is home to two big car
manufacturing plants: the Ford factory in Craiova, in the south-west, and the
Dacia-Renault factory in Mioveni, in the south of the country.

ENERGY – The Chamber of Deputies in Bucharest is
expected to finalize this week debates on the government emergency decree in the
field of energy. The draft law was previously adopted by the Senate with
certain amendments. Therefore, in the current form, the list of social
categories that benefit from capped prices for electricity and natural gas
until August, 2023 includes families with a maximum of three children, places
of worship officially sanctioned in Romania and medicine manufacturers. The list
of legal entities that benefit from capped prices also includes SMEs, public
utility services and economic operators in the food industry. On the other
hand, this week Romanian MPs are expected to cast their votes on the final law in
the justice law package, more specifically the one regulating the status of
magistrates. USR in opposition has called on the ruling coalition to suspend
the debate of these draft laws until December pending the publication of the opinion
of the Venice Commission, according to a timetable published on Monday.

GAS – Romania has reached 87% natural gas storage capacity,
Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă said on Monday. The
Romanian Prime Minister said Romania will be able to provide assistance to the
Republic of Moldova in case the Russian energy giant Gazprom suspends gas
deliveries to this country. Romania will be able to deliver as much as 5
million cubic meters per day, the Romanian official added.

NOBEL – Swedish paleogeneticist Svante Pääbo on Monday was
awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2022. The 67-year-old
researcher was rewarded for his discoveries concerning the genomes of extinct
hominins and human evolution. Last year, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or
Medicine was scooped by Americans Ardem Pataputian and David Julius for their
discoveries of thermal and mechanical transducers. The Nobel Prizes in Physics
and Chemistry will be announced on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively, while
the recipients of the Nobel Prizes in Literature and Peace will be made public
on Thursday and Friday, respectively. The final prize in economy will be
announced next week. Each Nobel Prize is accompanied by a 10-million Swedish
Krona (the equivalent of some 920 thousand EUR). (VP)

3 October 2022
July 7, 2021 UPDATE

Brussels Romanias economy will grow by 7.4% in 2021 and by 4.9% in 2022, after in May estimates showed a 5.1% growth rate this year and 4.9% next year, according to the interim summer forecasts, published on Wednesday by the European Commission (EC). The performance of the Romanian economy was solid in the first quarter of 2021. The GDP grew by 2.8% quarterly, its growth being supported mainly by private consumption and investment. On the other hand, net exports were significantly negative, showing a weak external demand and supply chain disruptions, the EC shows. Private consumption is expected to remain extremely robust, boosted by the lifting of restrictions, especially in sectors severely affected by the pandemic, such as the performing arts and entertainment, restaurants and hotels, as well as by the relatively solid wage increase in the first months of the year he EC estimates. At the same time, investments will remain solid in the period 2021-2022, being supported by both the public and private sectors. Within the EU, the economy is expected to expand by 4.8% in 2021 and by 4.5% in 2022.

Covid The vaccination rate across Romania among the eligible population over 12 years is about 28% – Valeriu Gheorghiţă, the head of the vaccination campaign announced. He has pointed out that, as of mid August, the number of COVID-19 cases will increase in Romania, due to the new Delta virus strain, and he has again called on the population to get vaccinated. Since the beginning of the vaccination campaign, in December last year, almost 4.8 million people have been vaccinated in Romania, of whom about 4.6 million with both doses. On the other hand, 60 new cases of infection with the novel coronavirus were announced on Wednesday for the last 24 hours and 2 new deaths. The entire territory of Romania is in the so-called green scenario regarding the spread of the new coronavirus. 56 people are still in intensive care.

Project President Klaus Iohannis announced that the government would assume next week, through a memorandum, the targets and objectives of the ‘Educated Romania’ project launched in 2016 for public debate. He also showed that, following the discussions of the past days, the governing coalition expressed support for the project and is to establish a clear cut action plan with responsibilities and deadlines for implementation. President Iohannis had talks with the social dialogue partners in the education field and with the representatives of NGOs involved in the project. The reforms are to be financially supported through the National Recovery Plan, from the state budget and other European money. The ‘Educated Romania’ project benefits from a ‘historic financial aid’ worth about 4 billion Euros, said the Romanian President.

Justice The leaders of the governing coalition in Bucharest met, on Wednesday, to discuss the parliamentary agenda for dismantling the controversial Special Section to investigate crimes committed by magistrates (SIIJ). The coalition functions very well on all topics, except for justice, the justice minister Stelian Ion said. He explained that the National Liberal Party and the Save Romania Union PLUS Alliance have the same opinion, namely that next week an extraordinary session should be called for dismantling the Special Section and reassigning competences, as the Venice Commission says and as the government project stipulates. According to Stelian Ion the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania is trying a different version, namely to somehow deceive the voters in the sense of pretending to dismantle the special section but recreating it in the form of a new section within the General Prosecutor’s Office.

Explosion — A powerful explosion followed by a fire occurred last night at the Azomureş Chemical Plant (in central Romania). A man in his 50s was injured. The company management said the incident occurred when an ammonia production unit was started. The Mureş Inspectorate for Emergency Situations sent a RO-Alert message informing the population in the neighboring area of the blast. The company representatives say the situation is being monitored by the authorities, the installation where the fire occurred being completely stopped. We recall that, on Friday, an explosion followed by a fire also occurred at the Petromidia Refinery in Navodari (southeastern Romania), when one man was killed and five injured. (LS)

7 July 2021
July 7, 2021

COVID-19 ROMANIA – The vaccination rate at national level
amongst teenagers over 12 years of age accounts for some 28%, the head of the
vaccination campaign in Romania, Valeriu Gheorghiţă has said. Since the start
of the vaccination campaign in December last year, nearly 4.8 million people
have taken the COVID-19 jab, of whom 4.6 million have completed the full
vaccination scheme. 56 people are still in intensive care. On the other hand,
60 new cases of COVID infection were reported on Wednesday in addition to 2
related fatalities.

CONSULTATIONS
– President Klaus Iohannis continues in Bucharest the series of consultations
over the project Educated Romania, launched in 2016, with a view to reach
political consensus across parties and secure the support of civil society in
order to implement it. Today, the head of state is discussing with social
dialogue partners in the field of education and with representatives of NGOs
involved in the project. A report will be published following this week’s
consultations and is due to be adopted by the Government in a memorandum. The
reforms will be funded under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, from
the state and European budgets.

MEETING -
Coalition leaders are today meeting in Bucharest to discuss the timetable in
Parliament for disbanding the Special Section for Investigating Crime in
Justice (SIIJ). Justice Minister Stelian Ion will be presenting the positive
opinion of the Venice Commission. Senate Speaker Anca Dragu on Monday evening
said that, after this week’s meeting, the ruling coalition will have a clear
timetable for disbanding the special section in an extraordinary session of the
Senate. In turn, Chamber of Deputies Speaker, Liberal leader Ludovic Orban,
said on Tuesday evening that talks within the coalition will be focusing on the
legislative framework for disbanding the Special Section. The Venice Commission
has greenlit the move and recommends the elimination of all articles in the
legislation that create super immunity for magistrates.

EXPLOSION – A
powerful explosion occurred last night at the Azomureş Chemical Plant in Târgu
Mureş. A 50-year-old man was injured. According to the company, the incident
was triggered after an ammoniac production installation was turned on. The
Mureş Inspectorate for Emergency Situations has sent a RO-Alert emergency
message to the local population. Azomureş representatives say the authorities
are monitoring the situation, and the installation that caused the incident was
fully shut down. We recall that another blast occurred on Friday at the
Petromidia Refinery in Navodari, which killed one man and injured another five
people.

FOOTBALL -
Romanian football champions, CFR Cluj, on Tuesday defeated Borac Banja of
Bosnia 3-1 on home turf in the first leg of the Champions League first
preliminary round. The return leg will be played in Bosnia on July 13. At EURO
2020, Italy last night defeated Spain in London after extra time and the
penalty shootout, and is the first team to qualify to the final. Today England
will play Denmark in the second semi-final. We recall Bucharest hosted three
matches in the group phase and one match in the round of 16 at the EURO 2020.
(VP)

7 July 2021