Radio România Internațional

Tag: education

March 3, 2023 UPDATE

Visit — Next week the Romanian president Klaus Iohannis will pay an official visit to Japan and a state visit to the Republic of Singapore, the Presidential Administration announced on Friday. The Romanian official will visit Japan between March 6 and 8 and will have meetings with Emperor Naruhito, the Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, as well as with other officials. The main target and event of this visit is to raise the bilateral relationship to the level of Strategic Partnership, through the signing of the Joint Declaration by the Romanian President and the Japanese Prime Minister, a declaration establishing the Strategic Partnership between the two countries. The Japanese state is the largest Asian investor in Romania. The state visit of the Romanian head of state to Singapore will take place between March 9 and 10, being the first visit to this country in the last 20 years by a president of Romania. Klaus Iohannis will have official talks with his counterpart Halimah Yacob and with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. The main aim of this visit is to boost bilateral relations, especially in the economic and investments fields.

Mission — A detachment made up of approximately 100 soldiers and four F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft of the Romanian Air Force will participate in the enhanced air policing mission in the Baltic States, between April and July. According to National Defense Ministry, the main objective of the mission carried out in the airspace of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia is to prevent the violation of allied airspace and to provide assistance to military and civilian aircraft in emergency situations emerged during the flight. The enhanced air policing mission in the Baltic countries under NATO command – Baltic Air Policing is carried out on the basis of a system of tasks rotation carried out by the allied countries since 2004.

Protests — In Iași, in eastern Romania, a series of protests by education trade unions started on Thursday, against the background of salary dissatisfaction of the employees. Similar picketing will take place, in the next period, throughout the country. The trade unionists protest against their low salaries, the lack of salary increments and the problems related to the payment of overtime. The Education Minister, Ligia Deca, says that the complaints concern the current legislation and promises that in the future law, that is being currently drafted, pays will be progressive, based on the average salary.

Canal — On March 15 Romania will start measurements on the Chilia arm and the Bystroe Canal, in order to clarify the contradictory information on the subject of their dredging by the Ukrainians. The working schedule will be established on Monday, and the action will last approximately 10 days. The announcement was made on Friday by the Romanian Transport Ministry, after a meeting between Romanian and Ukrainian experts, at which it was established that experts from Kyiv as well as third-party institutions will assist in the measurements. The Ukrainian side will ensure the security of the Romanian ships and personnel during these actions. The meeting was the first between specialists from the two countries, after Romania accused Ukraine of carrying out dredging works on the canal, a situation that could have an impact on the Danube Delta ecosystem.

Drugs — Drug trafficking will be punished in Romania with bigger penalties, according to a law adopted by Parliament and promulgated on Friday. The law provides for a prison sentence of 3 up to 10 years and the prohibition of certain rights for cultivating, producing, manufacturing, experimenting, transporting, buying or selling dangerous drugs. Until now, these acts were punishable by imprisonment of up to 7 years. Also, the new regulations establish that, for the import or export of dangerous drugs, the punishment can reach 15 years in prison, and in the case of high-risk substances trafficking, such as cocaine, the punishment can reach up to 20 years. If the death of the victim occurs, the penalties applied can reach 25 years in prison. Over 10% of Romanians between the ages of 15 and 64 have consumed at least one type of illicit drug, and, according to the National Anti-Drug Agency, cannabis continues to be one of the most used prohibited substances, especially among students.

Working visit — The director of the Romanian Intelligence Service – SRI, Eduard Hellvig, was on a working visit to the USA, where he had meetings with Avril Haines, the director of the US National Intelligence Community and with William J. Burns, the CIA director. According to a SRI press release issued on Friday, the discussions focused on the regional and global security situation in the current context and the dynamics of the operational situation. They highlighted the importance of cooperation and the exchange of information between the SRI and the US intelligence, the results obtained and the ways to continue the strategic partnership in the analyzed fields. The SRI leadership and the heads of the US intelligence structures reconfirmed their firm commitments to continuing working together to prevent and to counter aggressions that threaten national and regional security, including aggressions with a global impact. (LS)

3 March 2023
Education Employees protest in Iasi

The city of Iasi in northeastern Romania on Thursday saw the first episode in a series of protests put up by trade unionists from the countrys preuniversity education. Hundreds of protesters took to the streets and picketed for an hour the Prefects office to protest the small salaries of both the teaching and non-teaching staffers in Romanias education system.

According to organizers, that was the first protest in a nationwide series against the current level of salaries in this field of activity, which they described as gruesome. All the categories of employees in this sector from teachers to auxiliary personnel and even managers have been affected by the authorities failure to raise payment in education.

According to trade unionists the latest series of talks they held with government representatives has led to no significant results and authorities failed to implement the 25% rise, which was supposed to offset the present inflation rate.

Protesters have also denounced the authorities refusal to pay for the extra-hours worked as well as to grant the bonuses negotiated. Here is trade union leader Laviniu Lăcustă, with more on the aforementioned protest:

Laviniu Lacusta: “Unfortunately government officials failed to implement the things they promised during the talks we held with them in December, January or February. And if they continue to do so, we are very determined to have an all-out strike in May.”

In an interview to Radio Romania, Education Minister, Ligia Deca, says that the protesters are disgruntled with the present legislation. She pledges that the authorities are presently working on a new legislation that will include new provisions on the progressive payment starting from the average medium salary, a thing agreed upon with the trade unions.

Ligia Deca: “The protests announced arent against the new package of laws we are presently working on. They are against the salary scale under the present salary law. This is another discussion. The measure included in the new legislation, namely that the salary scale has the medium wages as a starting point has been welcomed by the trade unions, which have cooperated with Education Ministry experts in this respect. They presented the Labour Ministry with a new payment scheme based on this value so that people may feel motivated to embrace a career in education.”

But since government pledges can in no way compensate for the employees lack of money, we expect that protest actions like the one in Iasi to be seen all over the country, including in its capital city, Bucharest.

(bill)

3 March 2023
27.02.2023 (mise à jour)

Education
– La ministre roumaine de l’Education, Ligia Deca, a présenté lundi les
nouveaux projets des lois de l’Education nationale, après un accord en ce sens
des représentants de la majorité parlementaire. « On souhaite des
instituteurs et des professeurs impliqués et on souhaite une salarisation
progressive des cadres didactiques » a annoncé Mme la ministre, qui a
précisé que les élèves aussi se verront accroître le montant des bourses
scolaires. Un autre changement prévoit que le portefeuille des compétences de
l’élève comporte à part les notes, les résultats aux activités extrascolaires.
Par les nouvelles lois, la Roumanie espère accroître la qualité éducationnelle
dans les écoles et combattre l’illettrisme fonctionnel. Les modifications
législatives interviennent dans le contexte où la Roumanie est en queue du
classement européen des performances éducationnelles. Les responsables
politiques, les syndicats et les associations parentales ont reproché au
ministre de l’Education le manque de transparence et l’absence de consultations
publiques au sujet des lois de l’Education.

Schengen
– La Roumanie apprécie d’une manière « claire et vocale » le soutien
accordé par le Luxembourg à ses efforts d’intégrer l’Espace Schengen, a fait
savoir lundi le président roumain, Klaus Iohannis, lors d’un point de presse
commun avec le premier ministre luxembourgeois, Xavier
Bettel. A son tour, M. Bettel a précisé que la Roumanie est « un allié
fiable » et a annoncé que bientôt 25 soldats luxembourgeois rejoindront le
Groupe de combat de l’OTAN déployé sur la base de Cincu, en Roumanie. Et lui de
rappeler le soutien de son pays à l’entrée de la Roumanie à l’Espace de libre
circulation. Bucarest est un candidat
prêt à l’adhésion, a conclu le responsable de Luxembourg.

Energie – Le président de la Chambre des Députés de Bucarest, Marcel Ciolacu, fait une
visite de deux jours en Azerbaïdjan, à l’invitation de la présidente de
l’Assemblée nationale de cet Etat, Sahiba Gafarova. Lundi, à Bakou, Marcel
Ciolacu s’est entretenu avec le président azéri Ilham Aliyev, sur trois projets
énergétiques majeurs, par le biais desquels la Roumanie pourrait devenir la
porte vers l’Union européenne pour le gaz et l’énergie azéris. Le premier
projet vise l’achat à partir d’avril, d’un milliard de mètres cubes de gaz
azéri, pour une période d’un an. Le deuxième projet concerne la construction en
mer Noire de deux terminaux de gaz naturel
liquéfié et le troisième porte sur la mise en place d’un câble sous-marin de
transport d’énergie verte depuis la mer Caspienne vers l’Europe, via la
Roumanie. L’Azerbaïdjan
est le premier partenaire économique que la Roumanie a dans la région du
Caucase sud et les nouveaux projets énergétiques renforceront la collaboration
bilatérale qui se situera à une échelle supérieure, a transmis Marcel Ciolacu à
l’issue de son entretien avec le ministre azéri de l’Economie, Mikayil
Jabbarov.

Ukraine -Le
Sénat et de la Chambre des Députés de Bucarest se sont réunis lundi, en séance
commune, pour marquer une année depuis le début de l’agression militaire de la
Fédération de Russie contre l’Ukraine. L’occasion pour les parlementaires
roumains de faire part de leur soutien inconditionnel à Kiev. « On est
persuadé que l’Ukraine sortira victorieuse et qu’elle bloquera la soif de
pouvoir de la Russie » a fait savoir la présidente de la Commission de
défense du Sénat, la libérale, Nicoleta Pauliuc. « Tous ceux qui se font
responsables de cette tragédie doivent comparaître devant un tribunal de guerre »
ont martelé les parlementaires roumains. Le vice-président de la Chambre des
députés, le social-démocrate, Daniel Suciu, a montré des photos des milliers d’Ukrainiens
qui franchissaient la frontière avec la Roumanie pour fuir la guerre. Pour sa
part, le leader des sénateurs USR, Radu Mihail, a critiqué le fait que le
Parlement roumain n’a pas adopté une déclaration pour condamner la Russie. Le
chef des sénateurs du parti ultranationaliste AUR, Claudiu Târziu, a condamné l’invasion
russe en Ukraine, tandis que le sénateur UDMR, Lorand Turos, a précisé que de
son point de vue le conflit est loin de sa fin et que la Roumanie doit
continuer à appuyer Kiev. L’ambassadeur ukrainien à Bucarest, Ihor Prokopchuk,
a exprimé la gratitude de son pays envers la Roumanie et les Roumains. « La
Russie devrait être rejetée de l’ONU et les coupables devraient payer » a
ajouté le diplomate.

Stockholm
– Le ministre roumain de l’énergie, Virgil Popescu, participe jusqu’à mardi à
la réunion informelle des ministres de l’énergie et des transports des Etats
membres de l’Union européenne, qui se déroule à Stockholm, en
Suède. « A l’ordre du jour figurent des sujets relatifs à la réforme
du marché de l’électricité et du gaz. Nous comptons travailler avec la
présidence suédoise pour un nouveau design du marché énergétique et faire une
analyse pour trouver des scénarios censés prévenir les possibles crises dans le
domaine de l’énergie », a écrit le ministre sur un réseau de partage.

Cinéma
– La 27ème édition du Festival du film français de Roumanie aura
lieu du 15 au 26 mars, à Bucarest et dans 12 autres grandes villes roumaines.
Avec pour thème, cette année, « Cinéma, mon amour », le festival
réitère son soutien aux salles de cinématographe de Roumanie, délaissées depuis
plusieurs années déjà. Pour marquer les 30 années depuis que la Roumanie est
membre de l’OIF le Festival présentera une sélection de films francophones
présents à l’affiche des principaux festivals internationaux.

Météo
– Le temps restera couvert dans les 24 heures à venir, avec des pluies dans le
sud et des précipitations mixtes dans l’ouest et en altitude. Les températures
maximales iront de 3 à 9 degrés. Mardi, le ciel sera couvert à Bucarest aussi
où les températures monteront jusqu’à 7 degrés tout au plus.

27 February 2023
Education bills trigger disagreement

In a country with alarming rates of functional illiteracy and
disquieting school drop-out figures, politicians agree that something needs to
be changed. The Social Democrats and the Liberals have made the education laws
a top priority, but heated debates are expected on the topic within the ruling
coalition.

The National Liberal Party and president Klaus Iohannis, a former
teacher himself, have put a lot of energy into these bills, which, they say,
will create the framework for making education more efficient, more accessible,
more flexible, more inclusive and better adjusted to market requirements.

The Liberals insist that certain provisions in the bills must remain as
worded in the draft tabled by the current education minister,
Ligia Deca. These include tripling the budget for scholarships and increasing
the number of beneficiaries, as well as turning the Hot Meal Programme into a
Healthy Meal Programme.

Other stipulations the Liberals feel strongly
about include certifications recognised or accepted in the labour market for
all specialities, including theoretical ones, a tax-free signing bonus,
amounting to 5 gross minimum national wages, paid to teachers at the start of a
minimum 5-year period of teaching in underprivileged areas, and expansion of work-based
learning to the higher education segment. Under the new bills, the Education
Ministry may also organise, jointly with the Foreign Ministry, Romanian schools
abroad. Finally, priority education zones are introduced, in order to narrow
access, participation and performance gaps for students facing social exclusion
risks.

The Liberals’ strong attachment to the education
bills has gone so far as to affect their political partnership with the Social
Democrats. The state secretary with the Education Ministry, Florin Lixandru, a
Social Democrat, said his powers were withdrawn under a minister order for what
he called a thought crime. He argues that the Education Laws are much too
important and they require thorough discussion, and that there is enough time
for analysis, given that the deadline for the education laws in the National
Recovery and Resilience Plan is in the 3rd quarter of this year.

According to Lixandru, the Social Democrats’
analysis on the bills submitted by the Education Ministry indicates that a
number of key elements, critical to the children’s future, need correcting.
Lixandru says that, with respect to high school admission, the Social
Democratic Party will not accept a procedure that drastically reduces
children’s access to high-quality education. In his opinion, the right of high schools to
organise their own admission exams is questionable at best, because it
increases the risk of unfair practices like corruption and private tutoring.

As for the baccalaureate, the Social Democratic
Party is reluctant to increasing the number of exams, as the bill stipulates. And
not least, an education law must include provisions concerning the Romanian
children in the diaspora, the Social Democrats argue. (AMP)

2 February 2023
Les lois de l’Education provoquent des dissensions

Dans un pays où
l’illettrisme affiche un taux alarmant et le décrochage scolaire provoque de l’inquiétude,
les responsables politiques sont tous d’accord qu’il est grand temps que l’Education
nationale se réinvente. Le PSD et le PNL ont placé en tête de leurs priorités
législatives les projets des lois de l’Education et ils attendent actuellement
un débat à ce sujet.

Les libéraux et
le chef de l’Etat roumain, Klaus Iohannis, lui-même ancien professeur, se sont donnés
à fond dans ces projets qui, disent-ils, seront capables de créer un cadre
propice à une éducation efficace, flexible, inclusive et adaptée aux exigences
du marché du travail. Le PNL insiste que certaines prévisions législatives
restent telles qu’elles ont été formulées par l’actuelle ministre de l’Education
nationale, Ligia Deca. Il s’agit, par exemple, de tripler le budget alloué aux
bourses scolaires ou de transformer le programme « Un repas chaud »
en « Un repas sain ».

Les libéraux soutiennent d’autres idées aussi : des
certificats de qualification professionnelle pour chaque section, reconnus et
acceptés sur le marché de la main d’œuvre, des primes d’installation d’un
montant égal à cinq SMIC accordées au personnel enseignant des zones
défavorisées à condition qu’il reste en place au moins 5 ans, l’enseignement en
système dual aussi bien dans les structures d’enseignement professionnel qu’universitaire.
Selon les nouvelles lois de l’Education, le Ministère de l’Education, en
collaboration avec le Ministère des Affaires Etrangères pourrait mettre en
place en dehors des frontières nationales, des classes où l’enseignement se
fasse en langue roumaine.Enfin, le PNL
voudrait tracer des zones prioritaires dans l’éducation nationale afin de
réduire les écarts entre les différentes catégories d’élèves pour leur offrir un
accès égal à l’éducation et combattre le risque d’exclusion sociale.

Le PNL est
tellement impliqué dans les nouvelles lois de l’Education qu’il a fini par porter
atteinte à son partenariat politique avec le PSD. Le secrétaire d’Etat au
Ministère de l’Education nationale, le social- démocrate Florin Lixandru, affirme
s’être vu retirer les attributions suite à un ordre ministériel qui l’accuse de
délit d’opinion. A ses dires, les lois de l’Education sont des projets très
importants qui nécessitent un débat sérieux. On a suffisamment de temps pour bien
les examiner, a affirmé M. Lixandru qui a rappelé que le volet consacré à l’Education
du Plan national de relance et de résilience a le délai au troisième trimestre
de cette année. Or, dit-il, à force d’analyser les projets sous la forme
imaginée par le Ministère de l’Education, le PSD a déniché des aspects
importants qui devraient être corrigés pour offrir aux enfants un meilleur
avenir. Par exemple, les sociaux-démocrates n’accepteront jamais la mise en
place d’un examen de Brevet qui risque de restreindre l’accès de certaines
catégories d’enfants à une éducation de qualité.

Selon Florin Lixandru, il faudrait
remettre en discussion l’article de loi permettant aux lycées d’organiser leur
propre examen d’admission, une idée qui risque d’alimenter la corruption et la pratique
non-loyale des cours supplémentaires payés par les parents. Quant au Bac, le
PSD se dit assez réservé quant à l’initiative libérale de multiplier le nombre
d’épreuves. Et puis, il faudrait que les projets des lois de l’Education
nationale concernent aussi les enfants de la diaspora roumaine, affirment les
sociaux-démocrates.

2 February 2023
31.01.2023

Déficit – L’exécution du budget d’Etat 2022 de la Roumanie a été
conclue avec un déficit d’environ 81 milliards de lei (quelque 16 millions et
demi d’euros), soit 1 % de moins par rapport à 2021. Plus
concrètement, selon le ministère des Finances, le déficit a baissé de 6,73
à 5,68 %. Les recettes budgétaires se sont chiffrées à plus de 460 milliards de
lei (l’équivalent de près de 94 milliards d’euros), soit 21 % de plus qu’en
2021, grâce notamment à la croissance des recettes issues de la collecte de la
TVA, à l’augmentation des fonds européens accédés et des recettes du domaine
énergétique. En même temps, les dépenses budgétaires ont dépassé le 541
milliards de lei (110 milliards d’euros), soit une baisse de 0,8 % du PIB par
rapport à l’année antérieure.

Education – Les Fédérations syndicales de l’Education nationale
annoncent des protestations, mercredi, devant le siège du Gouvernement de
Bucarest, pour demander des salaires décents, notamment pour le personnel
non-didactique. Ceux-ci touchent 2300 lei tout au plus (soit le SMIC,
l’équivalent de 470 euros), alors que taux d’inflation a franchi le seuil des
16 % en décembre dernier, causant une chute considérable de leur niveau de vie.
Les syndicalistes affirment également que les salaires des enseignants ne sont
pas du tout motivants et demandent par conséquent l’adoption d’un acte normatif
qui repositionne les salariés de l’enseignement dans la hiérarchie des
fonctions budgétaires en les rapportant au niveau de qualification
professionnelle et à l’importance de l’Education au sein de la société.

Corruption – Alexandru Piţurcă, fils de l’ancien sélectionneur de
l’équipe nationale de football de Roumanie, Victor Piţurcă, a été auditionné ce
mardi par les procureurs anticorruption dans un dossier portant sur
l’acquisition de plusieurs lignes de production non-conformes et la vente de
masques de protection au ministère de la Défense nationale, durant la pandémie
de coronavirus. Parmi les personnes retenues dans cette affaire mentionnons
l’ancien sélectionneur Victor Piţurcă et Gabriel Ţuţu, le directeur général de
la Compagnie nationale Romarm, le principal producteur et exportateur de
produits militaires. Selon des sources judiciaires, Victor Piţurcă aurait fait
us de son influence pour faciliter à Gabriel Ţuţu le rachat de contrats. Entre
temps, l’ancien sélectionneur Victor Piţurcă a quitté la police ce mardi, une
fois que la garde à vue de 24 h ait expiré. Il a été placé sous contrôle
judiciaire et les procureurs ont démarré les poursuites pénales aussi à
l’encontre de son fils Alexandru Piţurcă.

Gouvernement – Le gouvernement de Bucarest doit approuver ce mardi un
projet de loi portant sur deux crédits à contracter auprès la Banque européenne
d’investissement (BEI) d’une valeur totale de 1 140 millions de lei (près de
294 millions d’euros), pour investir dans des travaux de réhabilitation,
consolidation et dotation pour 26 unités sanitaires de plusieurs départements
et de Bucarest. C’est toujours ce mardi que le cabinet devrait voter un autre
projet de loi portant modification de la loi des salaires des personnels payés
des fonds publics. Il s’agit notamment d’une augmentation des indemnités
mensuelles des présidents et vice-présidents des conseils départementaux ou
encore des maires et vice-maires des unités administratives et territoriales
qui mettent en œuvre des projets financés de fonds européens non remboursables
ou autre fonds extérieurs remboursables ou bien des projets financés à hauteur
de 50 % via le Mécanisme de redressement et de résilience. Egalement à l’ordre
du jour du gouvernement de Bucarest : améliorer un décret visant plusieurs
mesures censées aider les personnes vulnérable à compenser les factures
d’énergie.

Schengen – La Lituanie appuie fermement l’adhésion de la Roumanie à
l’espace Schengen et exprime sa disponibilité totale de poursuivre un dialogue
actif avec les autres partenaires européens à ce sujet, notamment dans l’actuel
contexte de sécurité extrêmement difficile. Cette déclaration a été faite par
le ministre lituanien des Affaires étrangères,Gabrielius Landsbergis, lors
d’une conversation par téléphone avec le chef de la diplomatie roumaine, Bodgan
Aurescu. Les discussions ont eu lieu dans le contexte où la Roumanie doit
reprendre cette année sa participation aux missions de police de l’air dans la
région de la mer Baltique. Les deux responsables ont également salué le très
bon niveau des relations bilatérales roumano-lituaniennes et la coordination
bilatérale efficace au sein de l’UE, de l’OTAN et des formats de coopération
régionale, dont l’Initiative de Trois Mers ou enocre le format Bucarest 9.

Culture – La France a été « la première fenêtre vers
l’universalité pour la créativité roumaine », a affirmé ce mardi à
Bucarest le fameux dramaturge, poète et journaliste roumain, Matei Vişniec, en
recevant le titre de Docteur Honoris Causa de l’Université nationale de théâtre
et art cinématographique. A cette occasion, il a rendu hommage aux acteurs
roumains, au connu critique de théâtre George Banu, qui vient de nous quitter,
et il a aussi parlé de sa relation avec les deux pays où il a vécu et a
créé : la Roumanie et la France. Son départ pour l’Hexagone, en 1987, il
l’a décrit comme une migration «vers une double identité », une
« navette faite » entre deux langues. La cérémonie de remise du titre de
Docteur Honoris Causa fait partie d’une série d’événements marquant les 73 ans
d’existence de l’Université nationale de théâtre et art cinématographique,
devenue membre titulaire au sein de l’Agence Universitaire de la
Francophonie.

Météo – Temps plutôt morose ce mardi sur l’ouest, le nord et le
centre de la Roumanie où des précipitations sont signalées par endroits. Il
neige sur les montagnes, le nord et le centre, alors que sur le reste du
territoire les précipitations sont mixtes. Le vent est plus fort sur le relief,
notamment dans les massifs du sud, où les rafales peuvent atteindre les 80
km/h. Les maxima de la journée vont de -1 à 8 degrés. Il neige doucement à
Bucarest, le ciel est plutôt couvert et il faisait 2 degrés à midi.

31 January 2023
Political Priorities

After a rather long winter recess, which started well before Christmas, on December 14, 2022, Romanian MPs are returning to work on Wednesday, February 1, 2023, for the first parliamentary session of the year.

Among their priorities, the mass media notice, are sensitive bills, such as the one capping special pensions at the level of the salaries paid for the respective positions, or the ones amending the education laws, on which the parties in the ruling coalition, the Social Democrats, the Liberals and the Ethnic Hungarians in Romania are yet to reach an agreement.

The Undergraduate Education Bill and the Higher Education Bill are still being analysed by education experts in the 3 parties. These are part of the Educated Romania project, launched nearly a decade ago by president Klaus Iohannis, and still pending approval.

According to the timetable agreed by political decision-makers, these bills should be passed by the government in February and reach Parliament in March, for endorsement. But the Social Democratic MP Vasile Dîncu said recently that he had asked his party chief Marcel Ciolacu to request an extension for the education laws deadline, for further consultations. On the other hand, the Liberal spokesman Ionuţ Stroe insists that the original timetable must be complied with.

Another bill to be discussed and endorsed concerns the pension benefits granted to certain categories of public sector employees, including magistrates, court staff and military personnel.

Ahead of the elections due in 2024, another bill pending in Parliament stipulates that at least one-third of the candidates for parliamentary and local elections must be women.

Meanwhile, analysts say, the Liberals and the Social Democrats are planning ahead for the PM rotation decided by the ruling coalition. Under a protocol in this respect, the 2 main coalition members are to swap posts at the end of May, when the Social Democrat Marcel Ciolacu should replace the Liberal Nicolae Ciucă as prime minister, and the latter should take over the Senate speaker post, currently held by his fellow Liberal Alina Gorghiu.

The Liberals insist that, under the protocol, some government ministers should also be replaced, although the Social Democrats would like to keep the offices where they claim their members have put up good performances, such as Sorin Grindeanu at the transport ministry and Adrian Câciu at the finance ministry. (AMP)

30 January 2023
Romania continues to support Ukraine

Romania has always been and will continue to be an “area of safety and comfort” for the waves of refugees coming from the neighboring Ukraine – Nicolae Ciucă, head of the government in Bucharest has pledged. He recalled that shortly after the invasion of the Russian troops on February 24th, Romania assumed the role of a trustworthy European and international partner in resolving this crisis, the severest in Europe after WWll.

According to a report on the efforts and achievements in providing humanitarian assistance to refugees, on observing the rights of children and other vulnerable categories in 2022, issued by the Department for Social Responsibility and Vulnerable Groups, “Romania was the first EU country to have implemented a national plan of measures on medium and long term for the inclusion and protection of refugees and has proposed for the European countries a model of leadership and coordination at political level in the field of refugee integration.”

The aforementioned report says that “over 3 million Ukrainian nationals have crossed our borders in the past 12 months, out of whom, over 2.5 million have benefitted from direct support from the Romanian government and its partners, support that consisted in free transport, food, clothes, free medical and social assistance, access to the labour market, long-term accommodation, access to education in Romanian schools and the temporary protection guarantee” offered by the Romanian state.

Prime Minister Ciucă has also said that “Romania has also provided the most important international support corridors for Ukraine by making available its rail, road, river and maritime infrastructures for the Ukrainian exports mainly for the countrys grain exports.

Decision-makers in Bucharest have also referred to the enlarged partnership with the UN agencies, local authorities, civil society and private environment, which helped them provide an effective and coherent answer to the crisis affecting the neighboring country. “We have reached the stage when we must have an approach focusing on temporary integration or on medium and long-term measures, which may enable the Ukrainian refugees to lead an independent life in our country with access to the labour market and their children to benefit from education and social life” – the Prime Minister went on to say.

Most of the 3.3 million Ukrainian citizens who crossed into Romania have continued their trip to countries in Western Europe and, according to the authorities, only 100 thousand decided to remain here. Under the decisions recently made by the authorities in Bucharest, the Ukrainian refugees who cross into our country through the border checkpoints with Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova will this year also benefit from five days of free railway transportation in Romania since the moment of their entry.

(bill)

16 January 2023
December 16, 2022

SCHENGEN
The losses incurred by Romania for the rejection of its Schengen accession bid
are over EUR 25 bln, says the Romanian interior minister Lucian Bode. For 11 years
we have been securing Schengen’s border, investing in human resources,
capabilities and modern technologies. The losses incurred by Romania during all
this time, since it has fulfilled the criteria but has not benefited from the
related rights, are immeasurable, Mr. Bode said at a meeting of EU gendarme
chiefs. The topic of Romania’s Schengen accession and of the negative vote
given by Austria in the Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting last week was
also raised by president Klaus Iohannis at a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels.
Senior European officials conveyed a message of support for Romania’s and
Bulgaria’s Schengen accession. The EC president Ursula von der Leyen and the
Council president Charles Michel said further discussions would be held on this
topic and progress was expected in the following months.

FUNDING The
Romanian ministry for EU funding and investments has submitted to the EC the
second payment request, amounting to EUR 3.228 bln, under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. The 3rd payment request, amounting to EUR 3.1 bln, is to be submitted
to the Commission next spring. Romania benefits from over EUR 29 bln for the
implementation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, including grants
of up to EUR 14.24 bln and loans of nearly EUR 15 bln. The country has already
cashed in 2 pre-financing instalments totaling EUR 3.79 bln.

EU The president of
the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen will attend in Bucharest on
Saturday the signing of an agreement between the governments of Azerbaijan,
Georgia, Romania and Hungary concerning the Strategic Partnership in the
development and transport of green energy. The agreement will be signed by the
president of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, and the PM of Georgia
Irakli Garibashvili, the PM of Romania Nicolae Ciucă, and the PM of Hungary
Viktor Orban. According to the Romanian Presidency, the document is based on
the interests of the 4 states concerning a strengthened national and regional
energy security. The agreement will provide a financial and technical framework
for the construction of an underwater renewable energy transport cable between
Romania and Azerbaijan, via Georgia and the Black Sea, and further on for the
transport of this energy to Hungary and the rest of Europe.

INFLATION The EU
annual inflation rate dropped from 11.5% in October to 11.1% in November, but in
8 member countries the rate rose from one month to the other, including in
Romania, where it went from 13.5% to 14.6%, Eurostat announced on Friday. In November,
the EU member states with the highest inflation rates were Hungary, Latvia, Estonia
and Lithuania. At the opposite pole, the lowest inflation rates were reported
in Spain, France and Malta.

PROTEST Hundreds
of employees in the Romanian public education system are today picketing
prefect offices in several counties, primarily demanding the full
implementation of a law concerning their incomes. Education unions say the net
salaries for this category are up to EUR 440 and warn that 2023 will bring a
new series of union actions unless the government solves the problems in this
sector. The trade unions also criticise the government’s failure to pay for
overtime and travel expenses and to adjust revenues to the inflation rate.

TIMISOARA Romania
commemorates today 33 years since the start of the anti-communist uprising in Timişoara,
western Romania. The anniversary is marked by a traditional solemn meeting of
the Local Council. The participants, including members of revolutionary
associations, discuss the events of December ’89 and observe a moment of
silence to honour those who died during those days. Exhibitions, film
screenings, round tables, a concert entitled Folk for the Revolution as well
marches are also organised on this occasion. 33 years ago, in Timişoara, a
solidarity rally for the Reformed pastor Laszlo Tokes grew into an uprising
that spread across the country and led to the fall of the communist regime.

RESCUERS Romanian
mountain rescuers were awarded in Paris at the International Rescuers Congress,
attended by relevant institutions, associations and research institutes from
over 60 countries in the world. Salvamont Romania was acknowledged as one of
the best drone-assisted search and rescue services, and the distinction was
received for the Data Analysis Centre in Târgu Jiu. The centre uses special software
and drones for victim identification. (AMP)

16 December 2022
December 15, 2022 UPDATE

JHA – The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, expressed, on Thursday, her disappointment with last week’s vote in the Justice and Home Affairs Council of the EU, following which Romania and Bulgaria were not admitted to the Schengen Area. The European Union has proven, in time, that it can remove any barriers and bring people together – said Roberta Metsola in her speech at the beginning of the Brussels meeting of the European Council. She also stated that the Union could do this even now, if it had the courage to take political decisions to maintain the European construction. According to official sources, quoted by Radio Romania, President Klaus Iohannis thanked for the strong support of the European Parliament and the overwhelming majority of member states. On the sidelines of the Council, President Iohannis discussed with community leaders, to explain them the unfair situation in which Romania finds itself and the need to find a solution for admission to the Schengen Area.

OECD – Romania submitted, on Thursday, at the Paris-based headquarters of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the initial memorandum regarding its accession to this structure. The document was handed to the Secretary General of the OECD, Mathias Cormann, by Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă, who is on a working visit to the French capital. Currently, the OECD has 38 member states, representing established democracies and consolidated economies. Together, the OECD member states provide about 70% of the global production and trade and 90% of the worlds foreign direct investments. The OECD facilitates the exchange of experience and good practices between countries and makes available to them its own data, analyzes and expertise regarding the establishment of public policies.

Protests – The Federation of Free Trade Unions in Romanian Education continues its protest actions started last week. The employees are dissatisfied with the authorities failure to grant the pay increase for working conditions and overtime. At the same time, they are asking for the index-linking of salaries to cover the inflation rate. On Thursday, the education trade unionists protested in front of the prefects offices in several cities of the country, including Galati (southeast) and Vaslui (east). On the other hand, in Bucharest, policemen and penitentiary workers took to the streets in front of the Finance Ministry. They request the full payment of outstanding salary differences, the updating of food and equipment standards, as well as the indexation of military pensions and salaries.

Swimming – The Romanian swimmer David Popovici ranked fourth, on Thursday, with a time of 45 sec and 64/100, in the 100 m freestyle final of the World Short Course Swimming Championships in Melbourne. Popovici, the world champion in the Olympic pool event, was only seven hundredths of a second away from the bronze medal, but he set a new junior world record, breaking the one set on Wednesday, in the semi-finals (45 sec and 91/100). He will also participate, in Melbourne, in the 200m freestyle, after failing to pass the heats in the 400m freestyle. Also on Thursday and also in Melbourne, another Romanian, Andrei Anghel, qualified for the semifinals of the 50m backstroke event, after being recorded with the seventh time of the series, 23 sec and 12/100. Romania is represented by three swimmers at the World Championships in Australia.

Energy – The leadership of the National Energy Regulatory Authority met, on Thursday, with the representatives of the electricity suppliers in Romania, to explain them how the new price cap law is applied. The law will enter into force on January 1 next year. The suppliers claim that almost 9 million Romanians should submit applications to benefit from capped tariffs, while the Authority says that the number is much lower. The institution points out that each customer can automatically benefit, without any other formalities, from the capping of bills for one single household, if they do not exceed the consumption levels provided by law. (LS)

15 December 2022
A Campaign against school violence

The
Ministry of Education will be running a campaign entitled ‘You are not alone.
Together we stop school violence’ after the latest violent events in the
Romanian schools, where a high-school student has fired an airsoft gun in
school and another one has stabbed one of his colleagues.

These
are just two of the cases but the Education Ministry last year reported over 10
thousand cases of violence in Romanian schools, two thousand more than two
years ago. A World Vision report over April-May this year also shows that one out
of five children says that violence is present and very present in their schools.
The former field Minister Sorin Campeanu has acknowledged the phenomenon and
voiced the need of anti-bullying action groups in any Romanian school.

You
are not alone is the message we convey to students who have been victims of
verbal, physical or psychological violence, we must support them and protect
their right, the new field minister Ligia Deca has announced. In a communiqué,
the ministry is condemning any act of physical, verbal, psychological violence
and considers essential that students who have shown a violent conduct, should
benefit from specialized counseling.

In
the meantime family and school must make efforts so that the violent actions
may not repeat, the authorities say. Furthermore, the ministry announces, it
would advertise by means of social networking a series of essential notions
about certain types of violence, such as cyber-bullying, the use of social
networks, the students’ rights and obligations the role of the County Centers
of Resources and Educational Assistance and of School Safety Police.

The
institution has already launched a video part of a campaign of raising people’s
awareness regarding these issues, showing it is not indifferent to the repeated
cases of violence, which have been seen in Romanian schools of late.

Education Minister Ligia Deca: Schools are areas of learning and socializing
not of hits and bruises. Call on teachers to talk to you about the rights and
obligations that you have and also about the consequences of violent acts. Call
for support whenever you feel that the fury and fear are getting the best of
you and refuse to be part of any act of physical or verbal aggression such as
blackmailing, bullying or even cyberbullying. And don’t forget, you are not
alone!

The Education Ministry
has announced that jointly with the Interior Ministry will be staging a series
of working sessions to set a timetable of preventing drug use, activities for
the prevention and combating of anti-social deeds at the level of gymnasium
education units as well as the counseling of the students in the risk situation
concurrently with the training of teachers.

(bill)

11 November 2022
La semaine du 03 au 09 octobre 2022

Le président roumain,
présent aux réunions de Prague

Le président roumain, Klaus Iohannis, a participé vendredi à la réunion
informelle du Conseil européen consacrée à la guerre en Ukraine, à la crise
énergétique et à la situation économique. Présent dans la capitale tchèque, Klaus
Iohannis a participé jeudi à la première réunion de la Communauté politique
européenne. « Déroulée dans un moment clé pour le continent européen, dans
le contexte de la guerre illégale et injustifiée déclenchée par la Fédération
de Russie contre l’Ukraine, le sommet de la Communauté Politique Européenne
nous a offert l’opportunité d’un dialogue politique sur différents thèmes tels
le soutien accordé à Kiev, les réactions à l’escalade choisie par Moscou, la
sécurité énergétique et de l’approvisionnement en gaz, les changements
climatiques et les évolutions économiques. Cette nouvelle plateforme de
dialogue s’est également proposé de faciliter les échanges entre les pays du
monde sur des questions d’actualité, dans le nouveau contexte géopolitique,
afin de trouver des solutions communes » peut-on lire dans un communiqué
de l’Administration présidentielle de Bucarest. Les leaders des 44 pays
participants ont condamné à l’unisson l’invasion de l’Ukraine par les forces
russes et se sont déclarés, une fois de plus,solidaires face à l’agression
menée par Moscou.

L’adhésion de la
Roumanie à Schengen, sur la table du Parlement européen

Les parlementaires européens et des représentants de la Commission
Européenne et du Conseil ont examiné les dossiers d’adhésion à l’Espace
Schengen de libre circulation de la Roumanie et de la Bulgarie. Mercredi, les
euro-parlementaires roumains ont plaidé devant l’Assemblé législative
européenne en faveur de l’adhésion au plus vite possible de Bucarest et Sofia,
dans le contexte où les deux pays remplissent depuis 2011 les conditions
techniques nécessaires. La plupart des eurodéputés soutiennent l’adhésion des
deux Etats à l’espace de libre circulation européen. Y font exception les
membres du Groupe de droite nationaliste et d’extrême droite, « Identité
et démocratie », qui craignent une migration en masse. La résolution sera
soumise au vote du Parlement lors de la prochaine session.

Le Sénat roumain débat des lois de la justice

Le Sénat de Bucarest
débat depuis quelques jours des lois de la justice avant le vote final prévu
dans le courant de la semaine prochaine. Il faudrait adopter cet automne même,
les trois actes normatifs portant, rappelons-le, sur le fonctionnement du Conseil
supérieur de la Magistrature, l’ordre juridique et le statut des magistrats, a
affirmé le ministre de la Justice, Catalin Predoiu, en rappelant que ce n’est
que par la suite que la Roumanie pourrait se voir supprimer le mécanisme dit de
coopération et de vérification (MCV) et adhérer donc, à Schengen. Depuis l’opposition,
l’ancien ministre de la Justice, Stelian Ion, membre USR, appelle les sénateurs
à reporter leur vote et attendre les avis de la Commission de Venise. En
réplique, la cheffe du Sénat de Bucarest, Alina Gorghiu, affirme que le pays a
besoin rapidement de ce vote pour se voir accorder une bonne note à son rapport
sur la justice. Pourtant, si en décembre, la Commission de Venise fait des
recommandations de modification de ces lois, alors on procédera sans hésitation
à harmoniser nos documents.

Un nouveau ministre de l’Education

Le premier ministre roumain, Nicolae
Ciuca, affirme soutenir la nouvelle ministre de l’Education nationale, Ligia
Deca, dans ses efforts de mener à bon terme le projet présidentiel « La
Roumanie éduquée » de sorte que les nouvelles lois en la matière arrivent sur
la table du Parlement d’ici la fin du mois. Ancienne conseillère
présidentielle, Ligia Deca a prêté serment lundi pour le poste de Ministre de l’Education,
après la démission de Sorin Cîmpeanu, accusé de plagiat. Elle a été proposée
pour ce fauteuil par le Bureau politique national du PNL.

La Banque centrale roumaine a augmenté à
nouveau son taux directeur

Le Conseil
d’administration de la Banque centrale roumaine a majoré à nouveau son taux
directeur dans le cadre des efforts de l’institution de contrôler la hausse des
prix. C’est la septième majoration de cette année, qui a porté le taux
directeur à 6,25%, soit le niveau le plus élevé des 12 dernières années. Aux
dires du vice-président de l’Association des professionnels des investissements
de Roumanie, l’analyste financier Adrian Codîrlasu, la Banque nationale de
Roumanie s’attend à ce que l’inflation continue son évolution à la hausse et
propose une majoration du taux directeur supérieur aux prévisions sur le
marché. Selon les experts de la Banque Centrale, le taux annuel d’inflation garderait
probablement une trajectoire ascendante jusqu’à la fin de l’année, mais à un
rythme visiblement ralenti. Cette situation serait une
conséquence de la flambée du prix du gaz naturel et de l’énergie électrique, ainsi
que des aliments dans le contexte de la guerre en Ukraine et de la sécheresse
prolongée de l’été dernier. Selon les chiffres de la Banque nationale de
Roumanie, le taux annuel d’inflation a franchi les 15,32% au mois d’août de
cette année.

Affaire
d’espionnage autour des réserves minérales de la Roumanie

Les procureurs de la Direction d’investigation des infractions de
criminalité organisée et de terrorisme de Bucarest ont mis sous accusation
quatre personnes (citoyens roumains et étrangers) dans un dossier d’espionnage qui vise la
compagnie serbe NIS Petrol, contrôlée par
le groupe russe Gazprom. Les hommes de la loi ont opéré neuf
perquisitions à Bucarest et à Timisoara, dans l’ouest, tant au siège central de
la compagnie qu’aux domiciles des plusieurs salariés, suite auxquels ils ont
saisi plusieurs documents et moyens de stockage de données. Les quatre
personnes sont accusées d’avoir divulgué des informations classées secrets de
travail ou non – publiques et d’avoir transféré sans autorisation des
informations sur les réserves minérales de la Roumanie, a fait savoir le
parquet antiterroriste. Le paquet majoritaire d’actions de la société serbe NIS
a été acheté en 2009 par Gazprom suite à un accord signé entre les
gouvernements de Belgrade et de Moscou.

7 October 2022
October 4, 2022 UPDATE

ESPIONAGE Prosecutors with the Directorate Investigating Organised
Crime and Terrorism Offences (DIICOT) have indicted 4 Romanian and foreign
nationals as part of an espionage inquiry targeting the Serbian company NIS
Petrol, a subsidiary of the Russian energy giant Gazprom. Prosecutors have
ordered searches in Bucharest and Timișoara, both at the company headquarters, and
at the homes of a number of employees, confiscating documents and data storage devices.
The four are accused of having traded classified information and of
facilitating the unauthorised transfer of data concerning Romania’s mineral reserves,
prosecutors say. In 2009, Gazprom bought the majority stake in NIS under an
agreement signed by Belgrade and Moscow.

ECONOMY Romania’s economy
is expected to grow by 4.6% this year, the World Bank announced on Tuesday. The
estimate is better than the one made public in June, when the figure only
stood at 2.9%. The improvement is based on robust private consumption and early
signs that investments would pick up, but the outlook depends on the
developments in Ukraine and their impact on the European economy on the whole,
the institution says.

MOTION USR Deputies, in opposition, together with MPs from the Force
of the Right, have tabled a simple motion in the Chamber of Deputies against
the interior minister Lucian Bode, whom they accuse of incompetence and
protecting party interests. The USR leader Cătălin Drulă says Bode must answer,
among other things, to allegations that the Romanian Police purchased new cars
through public procurement procedures that favoured companies linked to the Liberal
Party. Bode is also criticised for failing to reach a number of targets,
including the electronic monitoring of offenders and the interior
ministry reform. The motion will be discussed and voted on next Tuesday.

LEGISLATION A draft law regulating the judge and prosecutor
professions was endorsed on Tuesday in the Chamber of Deputies. The bill had
passed all the required stages of the legislative process, including the approval
of the Higher Council of Magistrates, the justice minister Cătălin Predoiu said.
The act was criticised however by the USR and AUR parties, in opposition. The
decision-making body in this case is the Senate. The bill is the 3rd
normative act in a law package regulating the judiciary, next to one on the
Higher Council of Magistrates and the organisation of courts, which have
already been endorsed by the Chamber of Deputies.

FUNDING Romania may get about EUR 1.5 billion for energy
independence projects and for fighting energy poverty, following the
endorsement of the REpowerEU plan by the Economic and Financial Council in
Luxembourg. Romania is the 6th EU member state to benefit from the
new funding, said the finance minister Adrian Câciu. He explained that during
negotiations the funding earmarked for Romania practically doubled compared to
the original proposal made by the European Commission this May.

NOBEL The Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to
Alain Aspect (France), John F. Clauser (USA) and Anton Zeillinger (Austria) for
their revolutionary experiments with entangled photons, establishing the
violation of Bell inequalities and pioneering quantum information science.
Their findings have laid the foundation for a new era of quantum technology. (AMP)

4 October 2022
Romania has a new education minister

In the last 32 years, ever since the communist regime
collapsed in Romania, education has seen the most frequent, and often
confusing, changes of all public sectors in this country. Amid chronic
political instability, the education ministry has seen a great many different
ministers, all bent on making new changes. Although none of them lasted for too
long, they each managed, while in office, to cancel the reforms promoted by
their predecessors.

After three decades of constant changes, the results
are visible. Pupils and parents alike are complaining about the confusion
caused by constantly changing the rules in the middle of the game. Those who can
afford it prefer to send their children to study abroad, while the best
graduates of Romanian universities also choose to leave the country. Vocational
education is no longer effective, so it’s becoming increasingly difficult to
find a skilled plumber or car mechanic. Because of the stress and the low
salaries, teaching is no longer attractive as a profession, so especially in
the countryside and in small towns, schools are relying increasingly on substitute
teachers. Although the figures vary, specialist studies all indicate there’s a
large rate of functional illiteracy among the graduates of Romania’s schools.

Against this background, the new university year began
on Monday without a full minister in charge of education, following the
resignation of the former occupant Sorin Cîmpeanu
amid vocal criticism of the reforms he wished to impose, and, worse still, amid
accusations of plagiarism. He is a member of the National Liberal Party (PNL),
who are in power in Romania in a coalition together with the Social Democratic
Party (PSD) and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania (UDMR). The
Liberals have nominated Ligia Deca to take over from Cîmpeanu. A former
education and research advisor to president Klaus Iohannis, Deca holds a
doctoral degree in political science and published many articles and studies in
prestigious magazines in the field of education policy. She also coordinated
the drafting of the Educated Romania project promoted by the president and
promises that implementing it will be her priority in office.

In the meantime, according to a World
Vision survey, there’s a lot of impatience and frustration in the education
system. Two in three teachers are warning that the curriculum is still too busy
and that school drop-out is still to be tackled. Due to poverty, 35% of
Romanian adolescents don’t have sufficient school supplies and books. One in
ten parents pulls out their children from school temporarily or definitively in
order to cope with expenses. Half of teachers say they are discouraged by the
lack of parents’ involvement in their children’s education and 65% say more
money is needed for school labs and sports facilities. All of which makes for a
depressing picture of the Educated Romania promised by president Klaus
Iohannis, himself a former physics teacher in Sibiu before going into politics. (CM)

4 October 2022
Resignation and plagiarism

The
Liberal Sorin Cîmpeanu Thursday night stepped down as education minister, amid
plagiarism allegations. The announcement of his resignation however made no
reference to academic fraud accusations. It was an opportunity and an honour
for me to start a thorough reform of the national education system. I took over
the ministry not because I had too much free time or to add this position to my
resume. I came at a very difficult time, with the desire to change things for
the better, Cîmpeanu posted on his Facebook page.

The
outgoing education minister takes pride in drafting the education laws as part
of a presidential programme entitled ‘Educated Romania,’ and announces he will
continue to support them as a professor, university rector and a Senator.

Sorin
Cîmpeanu is accused of having plagiarised over 90 pages of a university course
textbook from the work of 2 professors with the University of Agricultural
Sciences and Veterinary Medicine in Bucharest. The journalist Emilia Şercan, specialising
in the investigation of academic fraud, wrote that Sorin Cîmpeanu had
appropriated 13 chapters published previously under the signature of two other
professors. The then-minister dismissed the allegations, claiming that they had
been made by people who were trying by all means to hinder the education laws, and
whom he described as wholesome illiterates.

With
this resignation, Sorin Cîmpeanu also dodged the uncomfortable motion under
which the Opposition was asking him to step down. Romania educated to cheat. Sorin Cîmpeanu is a disgrace
to education is the tale-telling title of the motion text. The move has
now lost all practical significance, but the issue of plagiarism remains a
plague among politicians, and seems to grow acute. Cîmpeanu’s own party chief,
the PM Nicolae Ciucă, is himself suspected of plagiarism. And the lure of
academic fraud sweeps the entire political class, irrespective of parties. A
former prime minister, the Social Democrat Victor Ponta, was proved to be a
plagiarist.

The reform in which Cîmpeanu takes so much pride,
but which is criticised in many respects, includes a suspicious measure, to say
the least, namely the dismantling of the National Council Attesting Academic
Titles, Diplomas and Certificates. The measure is not constructive and
does not contribute to a true reform of the education sector, argue the leaders
of several universities. They
believe the allegations against Sorin Cîmpeanu must be analysed thoroughly, outside
any kind of pressure, by the relevant bodies of the university in question and
other public institutions.

The
theft will go on, until Romania has implemented in-depth reform, able to return
education to where it belongs, next to hard work and honesty, says the MEP Dacian
Cioloş, a former technocratic prime minister. He believes Cîmpeanu’s
resignation to be a failed act, in that it does not explain the resignation,
but rather claims only achievements and accomplishments. (AMP)

30 September 2022