Radio România Internațional

Tag: laws

  • September 10, 2024

    September 10, 2024

     

    EC – Romania could receive, in the future European Commission makeup, the portfolio for social rights and housing, a position also with competences related to salaries, pensions and benefits, according to Romanian government sources. According to the same sources, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu had a discussion with the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, in which MEP Roxana Mânzatu also participated, the latter being Romania’s proposal for the position of European Commissioner. Ursula von der Leyen will announce  the allocation of portfolios in the future European Commission on Wednesday.

     

    SENATE – The Romanian Senate starts debating an emergency order that sets a three-day deadline for toxicology test results, following the testing of drivers in traffic. If the results of the anti-doping tests, carried out only by forensic medicine institutions, will not be ready in time, the drivers will get their driving licenses back. Also in the Senate, the draft law on the introduction of the European minimum wage in Romania is being debated by the expert committees. The normative act establishes a new mechanism by which the minimum salary will be updated annually, so that it accounts for at least half of the average salary. On the other hand, deputies from the labor committee have on their agenda this week several legislative projects with measures for people with disabilities, which concern facilitating their access to public transportation or to polling stations.

     

    CARMAKING – At the Dacia-Renault factories in Pitesti (southern Romania) a program of voluntary departures has begun, with employees being compensated with substantial sums of money, proportional to their seniority in the unit. The management of the factory hopes to thus reduce the staff by several hundred employees, especially from the sections that will be reorganized following some automation processes. The premiums are 22,000 lei for seniorities of up to two years and can reach 150,000 lei for those with more than 16 years. During the campaign of voluntary departures two years ago, approximately 500 employees benefited from these financial rights.

     

    CHISINAU – 16 national theaters from Romania and the Republic of Moldova have met starting today until September 22, in Chisinau, where the 9th edition of the “Reunion of Romanian National Theaters” is taking place. During this period, the public in the Moldovan capital  can take part in 46 cultural events, indoor and outdoor performances, eight radio show auditions and six premieres. There will also be book launches, meetings with people of culture and personalities from the theater world. The event in Chisinau takes place under the slogan “European Connections” and benefits from the high patronage of the presidents of Romania and the Republic of Moldova, Klaus Iohannis and Maia Sandu, respectively. The guest of honor of the festival is the “Ivan Franko” National Drama Theater from Kyiv.

     

    FOOTBALL  – The Romanian national football team defeated the Lithuanian national squad, 3-1, on Monday evening, in Bucharest, in Group C2 of the Nations League. Winners also in Kosovo, on Friday ( 3-nil), the Romanians are group leaders, with 6 points. Romania will play the following matches next month, on October 12 against Cyprus and on October 15 against Lithuania, both away. The 2024/25 Nations League will also have a direct effect on the European qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup. The best four group winners from the Nations League, excluding the teams that finished in the top two places in the qualifying groups, will participate in the play-off matches for the 2026 World Championship, along with all 12 second place teams from the classic preliminaries.

     

    SCHOOL– In Romania, the new school year comes with a series of important provisions. Students from the 8th and 12th grades will finish school earlier, and the exam calendar, both for the National Assessment and for the Baccalaureate, has been changed. For those who will not take the exams, the courses will last 36 weeks and will end on June 20, 2025. Also from this year, students will receive a grade at the end of each module, access to education institutions will be prohibited with the mobile phone and special rooms will be created for students who disturb classes. In the new school year, the national plan to combat school violence is applied in all education units in Romania.

     

    COMPETITION – The HBFS Robotics team of the Politehnica Bucharest National University of Science and Technology  returned to the country with two gold, two silver and one bronze medals from the biggest robotics championship in the world, “RobotChallenge” 2024, held in Beijing, China. More than 5,000 participants from 31 countries  took part in the competition. Romania ranked fifth in the general ranking of countries in terms of number of medals obtained, leaving behind numerous states with tradition and influence in the field of robotics.

     

  • Parliament passes tougher legislation

    Parliament passes tougher legislation

     

    The bill introducing tougher penalties for driving under the influence has been passed by the Chamber of Deputies in Bucharest, the decision-making body in this respect. The document also bans the postponement of prison sentences for manslaughter in DUI cases.

     

    Once the new legislation takes effect, apart from the sentence drivers caught in traffic under the influence of alcohol or other psychoactive substances will also be banned from driving vehicles for a period of up to 10 years, as opposed to up to 5 years at present, explains the Social Democratic Senator Robert Cazanciuc, who tabled the bill.

     

    The penalty will only apply for motorists caught driving with blood alcohol content of over 0.08, which is the level above which such infringements are treated as criminal offences. Moreover, when DUI traffic accidents kill people, the penalty will range between 15 and 25 years behind bars. Under the same law, drivers caught in possession of banned substances will no longer receive fines, but prison sentences.

     

    The document amends the Anastasia Act, which took effect last year, and which introduces prison sentences without suspension for DUI-manslaughter. The law was named after Anastasia, a 4-year old girl killed in 2022 by a driver without a license. The list of high-risk drugs has also been updated to include 6 new synthetic substances.

     

    Meanwhile, the Chamber of Deputies has also passed a law forcing fugitives that attempt to escape prosecution or prison to cover the judicial costs of their repatriation, more specifically, the expenses incurred by the government for their extradition.

     

    According to the justice minister Alina Gorghiu, the costs for each person brought back to Romania to serve their sentences may reach as much as EUR 25,000, currently covered by the government, and the number of fugitives rises from one year to the next.

     

    The law applies for persons subject to European arrest warrants and to those who have left the European Union and with respect to whom extradition procedures are in place.

     

    The former mayor general of Bucharest, Sorin Oprescu, the former chief of the Directorate Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism Offences Alina Bica, the son of the Professional Football League president Mario Iorgulescu and prince Paul Philippe (grandson of the Romanian King Carol II) are just a few examples of high-profile fugitives who left Romania for countries like Italy and Greece after being sentenced in the country.

     

    Romania has been struggling for years to bring some of them back to the country, but without success. (AMP)

  • January 18, 2024 UPDATE

    January 18, 2024 UPDATE

    LAWS The government
    in Bucharest on Thursday endorsed a series of bills to implement the solutions
    agreed upon after the talks it had with transporters and farmers following the
    latter’s protests of late. Among them there are amendments to the ways of
    weighing products at the border checkpoints. Aspects regarding the periodical
    technical checking of the vehicles registered in Romania and the professional
    certification of the specialized personnel in the field of road transportation
    have also been clarified. Under the new amendments, the prices of the mandatory
    insurance for trucks will go down. In another development, the government is
    granting a direct support of 100 Euros per hectare to the producers of
    vegetables in order to offset the losses they incurred due to the war in
    Ukraine. Farmers and transporters of Romania carried on their protests on
    Thursday for the ninth day in a row. They took to the streets of Afumati, a
    commune close to Bucharest, and to the checkpoints at the border with Ukraine. Also
    on Thursday, the mayor of Bucharest, Nicusor Dan, announced the local
    authorities approved a fresh protest on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday in
    Bucharest. Five thousand people, 100 tractors and 100 tractor heads are to
    participate in the aforementioned protest. Another professional category who is protesting against the
    government’s austerity measures these days is the family physicians and the
    medical personnel in the outpatient care units.




    RATE According
    to data released by the EU statistical office, EUROSTAT, Romania was among the
    EU countries with the highest inflation rate, in December last year. The average
    inflation rate at EU level stood at 3.4 % in December higher than a month
    before, when it reached 3.1%. The EU members with the highest inflation rates
    were the Czech Republic with 7.6%, Romania with 7% and Slovakia with 6.6%. The
    lowest inflation rates were reported in Denmark, 0.4%, Italy and Belgium, each
    with 0.5%. As compared to November 2023, the annual inflation rate went down in
    15 member states, was stable in Spain and rose in 11 countries.




    DEFICIT Romania’s
    budget deficit this year will be around 5% of the GDP, Finance Minister Marcel
    Bolos has announced. He said that Romania is among the countries with significant
    deficits, and that ten countries, including Poland and France will enter the excessive
    deficit procedure. According to Bolos, the government in Bucharest has to carry
    on its fiscal-budgetary measures, projects related to digitization, or aimed at
    implementing an improved collection of taxes and fighting tax evasion.




    EU The
    European Commission has announced it kicked off a detailed research into the
    legislation of Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, the first step in the process
    of the two countries’ EU accession. The Commission is concurrently assessing
    the way in which, Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova have already applied what
    the EU has requested as a preliminary condition. The Community Executive is
    working on a draft of the negotiation framework with the two states, a document
    to be submitted to the Council for approval, which will also mark the formal
    opening of the accession negotiations. The decision to launch this process was made
    by the European Council in December 2023.


    (bill)

  • January 8, 2024 UPDATE

    January 8, 2024 UPDATE

    LAWS Parliament
    is due to convene for a new session in Bucharest on February 1. Until then, the
    Romanian MPs are working on new bills, focusing, among other things,
    on regulating gambling and curbing drug consumption. The new legislation
    includes several measures such as the relocation of casinos and betting houses
    outside towns and cities, limiting gambling commercials and banning gambling
    ads near schools, parks or hospitals. According to the authors of the bills,
    some of them introduced as early as in 2022, the amendments come in the context
    of the latest expert warnings on the
    younger generation’s alarmingly growing addiction to gambling and drug consumption
    as well as their vulnerability to various advertising campaigns. Drug
    trafficking is punished with up to 10-year prison sentences. Other draft laws ban
    minors’ access to energy drinks and restrict commercials to vaping products and
    accessories.




    INVESTMENTS
    According to data released by the National Institute for Statistics, in the
    first nine months of 2023 Romania’s construction sector reported over RON 74
    billion worth of investment, which accounts for 62.6% out of the total
    investment in the country’s economy. In the same period, investments in
    Romania’s national economy stood at roughly RON 118.5 billion, a 14.4% rise as
    compared to the period between January and September 2022.




    CYBER SECURITY A
    new EU Cyber Security Regulation has taken effect in the EU, introducing a
    minimal set of measures for public institutions in EU member countries to
    protect themselves from online attacks. In Romania, just like in most EU
    countries, the number of cyber-attacks from Russia has increased since the
    start of the war in Ukraine. Under the Regulation, an EU Cyber Security Board
    will also be set up, which will monitor the implementation of security
    measures. Member state institutions are to initiate a security enhancement
    process this year and to introduce protocols to manage information networks. Under
    the Orange Business Internet Security Report, 31% of the attacks against
    Romania targeted the energy sector, 22% transports and 19% the governmental and
    public services sector. The attacks caused losses of billions of US dollars,
    and the institutions targeted in the past 2 years include the National Cyber
    Security Directorate, the Defence Ministry, the Border Police and the Passenger
    Railway Corporation (CFR).




    SCHOOLS Students
    resumed classes on Monday in the third module of the academic year in
    Romania. The next school holiday is to be decided by county inspectorates and
    most likely will kick off on February 19th. In another development, against the
    background of a new wave of respiratory infections, medical authorities are
    urging parents not to send their children to school if they show any symptoms
    of a respiratory disease.




    TENNIS Romanian
    tennis player Ana Bogdan on Monday qualified for the round of sixteen of the
    WTA 500 tournament in Adelaide, Australia with over 900 thousand dollars in
    prize money. The Romanian secured a 6-3, 6-4 win against Katie Boulter of
    Britain. Also on Monday the all-Romanian pair Ana Bogdan/Monica Niculescu was
    defeated by the US-Dutch pair Asia Muhammad/Demi Schuurs 7-6, 6-4 in the
    doubles first round. (AMP, bill)

  • May 22, 2023

    May 22, 2023

    STRIKE An all-out strike has been initiated today in Romanian public
    undergraduate education. According to trade unions, taking part are over 150,000
    teachers and 70,000 non-teaching staff, disgruntled with the government’s
    salary policies. A two-hour token strike in higher education is also scheduled
    for today.


    EDUCATION The new undergraduate and higher education bills are discussed and voted on as of today in the Senate, the
    decision-making parliamentary body in this respect.
    At the end of last week’s talks in the Senate’s committee on education, the
    representatives of students and parents said that over 90% of their requests were
    answered in the new legislation. In turn, the religious denominations welcomed
    the amendments to the new bills. With respect to the undergraduate education,
    the National Liberal Party, the Social Democratic Party and the Democratic
    Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, in power, say the bill meets students’
    educational needs, supports teachers’ career development and fosters quality and
    equity in the education system. The draft law includes measures to enhance
    safety in schools and to ensure the access of children with special needs to
    regular classes. The opposition, on the other hand, believes these important issues
    noted by civil society are not solved.


    VISIT The president of Germany, Frank-Walter
    Steinmeier, will make an official visit to Romania on the 24th to 26th
    May, at the invitation of president Klaus Iohannis. According
    to the Romanian presidency, the visit is a major landmark for the excellent
    Romanian-German relations. Talks will focus on extending and deepening
    bilateral cooperation in political, security and economic areas. The Romanian
    presidency also mentions that Germany is a reliable ally of Romania,
    contributing to the security in the region, and also the country’s main trade
    partner and the second-largest foreign investor in the national economy. The
    two heads of state will also exchange opinions on current security developments
    and on consolidating the defence posture in NATO’s eastern flank. During
    his visit to Romania, the president of Germany will also travel to Sibiu
    (centre) and Timisoara (west).


    DIPLOMACY The Romanian foreign
    minister Bogdan Aurescu takes part today in the meeting of the EU Foreign
    Affairs Council in Brussels. The EU foreign ministers discuss measures to
    mitigate the effects of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. According to the
    Romanian foreign ministry, Bogdan Aurescu will reiterate Romania’s firm, multidimensional
    and continuing support for Ukraine and will express hopes that an agreement
    will be reached as soon as possible on the 8th support package for
    the Ukrainian air forces under the EU Peace Facility. Minister Aurescu will
    also highlight the importance of keeping pressure on Russia by consolidating
    sanctions, and will reiterate the idea of setting up a special international tribunal
    for the crime of aggression to prosecute Russian crimes of aggression during
    the war in Ukraine.


    TECHNOLOGY Bucharest Tech
    Week, the largest technology and innovation trade fair in Central and Eastern
    Europe, has begun in Bucharest today. The event brings together over 70 speakers,
    national and international tech experts, and 1,500 professionals from over 100
    companies operating in various fields. The first 5 days are devoted to
    conferences on innovation, HR, retail, Java and Software Architecture, under
    the heading Business Summits. The largest technology and innovation
    exhibition, Tech Expo, will also be open to the public over the weekend of 26 May.


    GREECE The right-of-centre party headed by Greece’s incumbent PM,
    Kyriakos Mitsotakis, has won Sunday’s parliamentary election, but failed to get
    absolute majority. New Democracy won over 41% of the votes, and will have 146 seats
    in parliament. Its left-of-centre rivals, Syriza party, won 21% of the votes
    and 71 seats in parliament. The 3% threshold has been reached by 5 of the 36 parties
    that took part in the election. Kyriakos Mitsotakis ruled out a coalition
    government. Unless the winning parties manage to form a government, early
    elections will be held on 25 June.


    FOOTBALL Farul Constanţa
    won Romania’s football championships, after defeating FCSB 3-2, on home turf
    on Sunday night, in the 9th round of the Super League. Farul managed a spectacular come-back in the championship final,
    after FCSB had been leading 2-0. (AMP)

  • May 19, 2023

    May 19, 2023

    FORUM
    Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction and the EU accession efforts of that country
    and of the Republic of Moldova are among the topics discussed in Bucharest in a
    forum devoted to security challenges at the Black Sea and in the Balkans. The
    2-day event comprises over 40 sessions, attended by senior civilian and
    military officials, diplomats and experts from the European Union and NATO, as
    well as partner states. Attending the event, PM Nicolae Ciucă pleaded for a
    strengthened NATO presence at the Black Sea, where free maritime and air
    traffic are jeopardised by Russia’s threats.


    SOLAR
    POWER Individual households in Bucharest and Ilfov County may enroll, as of
    today, in a new session of the Photovoltaic Green Home programme, addressing
    people who want to install solar panels using state assistance. According to
    the environment ministry, the app used for enrolment is available for separate
    development regions, in alphabetical order, with 3 working days earmarked for
    each region. The programme has a budget of around EUR 35 mln, covering over 87,000
    photovoltaic systems.


    EDUCATION Members of the
    Senate’s committee on education have today resumed discussions on the
    undergraduate education bill. On Thursday the analysis of the higher education
    bill was finalized and a positive report was issued, with certain amendments. The
    Opposition criticized the final draft of the document, which they say fails to
    ensure a true reform of the system. On the other hand, the representatives of
    the ruling coalition, made up of the Social Democratic Party, National Liberal
    Party and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, said the
    amendments improved the bill. Parliament is scheduled to vote on both education
    bills on Monday, when trade unions in the sector announced they would go on
    all-out strike. Negociations continue today to avoid a strike, but
    after the talks yesterday the unions announced they would not give up their
    planned strike unless their salary demands were met.


    UNESCO Codex Aureus, the
    best-known and most important illuminated medieval manuscript, currently in Alba
    Iulia, central Romania, has been included in the UNESCO heritage list. According
    to the National Library of Romania, the famous manuscript is part of the Memory
    of the World Register, which comprises 9 other 1,200-year old works from various
    countries in Europe. Most
    manuscripts are fragments of Latin gospel books, written in gold ink, and
    featuring portraits of the 4 evangelists.


    SANCTIONS The
    US and their G7 allies Friday announced new sanctions to reduce Russia’s
    ability to carry on its war in Ukraine. The sanctions, which target Russia’s
    highly profitable diamond exports, were decided right ahead of the G7 Summit in
    Hiroshima, Japan. Diamond exports, mainly to the UAE, India and EU member state
    Belgium, earn Moscow several billion US dollars a year. A
    EU official said India’s joining the new set of sanctions would be crucial. Invited to
    attend the summit in Hiroshima is also the Indian PM Narendra Modi, whose
    country has strong ties with Moscow and has been reluctant so far to condemning
    Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.


    RADIO The Romanian and
    Bulgarian public radio broadcasters announced they would strengthen their
    cooperation. The president and director general of the Romanian Radio
    Broadcasting Corporation, Răzvan Ioan Dincă, and the head of the Bulgarian
    National Radio Corporation, Milen Mitev, will sign an agreement in Sofia, under
    which the 2 parties will exchange news and radio programmes free of charge,
    will produce joint programmes and will provide access to archive recordings to
    their respective listeners in the next 2 years.. Radio Romania International aired
    Bulgarian-language programmes between 1946 and 1949, and again between 1995 and
    2004. Since 2022 the Bulgarian National Radio has a Romanian-language web page.
    (AMP)

  • May 10, 2023 UPDATE

    May 10, 2023 UPDATE

    Education laws — The package of laws reforming the education system in Romania was voted on Wednesday by the Chamber of Deputies, as the first body notified. During the general debates, the Education Minister, Ligia Deca, recalled that the measures are aimed at reducing the phenomenon of functional illiteracy and at preventing school dropout. The opposition parties criticized the draft laws and voted against them. The two bills go to the Senate for debate and a decisive vote. Also on Wednesday, in Bucharest, the Education trade unions organized a protest rally aimed at drawing attention to the problems facing the Romanian education system. The trade unionists are asking the Government to increase the salaries of the education staff, to pay the extra hours worked by the auxiliary teaching and non-teaching staff, and also to increase the annual investments, and to improve the infrastructure. The union leaders remind that a referendum is under way on the triggering of an all-out strike in education, starting on May 22. Recently, the education minister stated that she is confident that there will be no all-out strike in education, and that the school year will end well.



    Visit – The President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, on Wednesday received the Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea, Han Duck-soo, in the context of the latter’s official visit to Bucharest. The President spoke in favor of capitalizing on the potential of bilateral cooperation, showing that the relations between the two countries can register a new qualitative leap, by updating the Strategic Partnership. The Korean official hailed the intensive bilateral dialogue and the intensification of economic cooperation, by increasing mutual investments. At the same time, Han Duck-soo shared the same vision with that of Klaus Iohannis regarding regional and global challenges, against the backdrop of the consequences of the war launched by Russia against Ukraine. With the Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca, the Seoul official agreed to strengthen relations in areas such as investments and industry, including the defense and cyber security industries. The Korean side expressed readiness to contribute to the construction of the new reactors 3 and 4 at the Cernavodă Nuclear Power Plant, as well as to the development of small modular reactors. On this occasion, a memorandum of understanding was also signed between the administrations of the ports of Constanta and Busan in South Korea, the fifth busiest port in the world by tonnage and the largest in Northeast Asia in terms of transshipment capacity.



    Defense – The Chief of the Defense Staff of Romania, General Daniel Petrescu, is taking part on Wednesday and Thursday in the meetings of the NATO Military Committee and the EU Military Committee, respectively. Defense chiefs from the 31 Allied states, with the Swedish chief of defense as a guest, will look at the dynamics of the war in Ukraine. Talks will focus on analyzing the implementation of measures aimed at strengthening NATOs defense and deterrence posture, ahead of the decisions to be made at the NATO Summit in Vilnius. The participants will also look at ways to continue supporting Ukraine. Another major topic of the meeting is the analysis of member and partner states participation in EU missions and operations.



    Independence – Romania celebrated its National Independence Day on Wednesday. On May 10, 1877, Prince Carol I, who would subsequently become the first king of Romania, signed the countrys Proclamation of Independence from the Ottoman Empire. The document had been read in Parliament the day before by the foreign minister Mihail Kogălniceanu, and endorsed by Parliaments two chambers. The occasion was celebrated in Bucharest with a ceremony at the Heroes Monument in front of the National Defense University, while military and religious ceremonies were also held in cities across the country.



    Gaudeamus – The Gaudeamus Radio Romania Book Fair opened its doors on Wednesday in Oradea (north-west). On an area of ​​over 660 square meters, until May 14, editorial events, contests with prizes in books and workshops for children will take place. At this edition, more than 50 brands are present in 45 stands, among which the most prestigious publishing houses and Romanian and foreign book distribution agencies. The editorial offer is completed by a selection of educational games and quality music, as well as by a new area called Bookoteca, for second-hand books. The honorary president of this edition is the historian PhD Constantin Demeter, an active personality in the cultural life of the city.



    Gas – The European Commission launched, on Wednesday, the first-ever international tender for joint purchasing of EU gas supplies in a move to help boost security of supply and tackle high energy prices. The EC representatives say that the joint purchasing of gas will help the European industry not only through prices, but also through the establishment of economic relations for contracting alternatives, given that the member states want to completely eliminate Russian gas from consumption. The first tender will take place until May 15 and targets gas to be delivery as of June 2023 until May 2024. (LS, AMP)



  • May 3, 2023

    May 3, 2023

    BANK The foreign currency reserves of the
    National Bank of Romania were in excess of EUR 53 bln at the end of April, up 0.21%
    compared to the previous month. The gold reserves stay at 103.6 tonnes. High
    forex reserves ensure investor confidence, analysts explain, adding that this
    was mostly due to EU fund receipts.


    UNEMPLOYMENT The unemployment rate in Romania dropped slightly, from
    5.5% in February to 5.4% in March, but unemployment among youth remains high,
    at 22.2%, the National Statistics Institute reports. The number of people
    between the ages of 15 and 74 receiving unemployment benefits in March was over
    453,000, a decrease compared both to the previous month of this year and to the
    corresponding period in 2022. Among men, the rate was 5.8%, whereas the
    proportion of unemployed women was 5%. For adults aged 25 to 74, the
    unemployment rate stood at 4.4%.


    CORONATION Margareta, Custodian of the Crown of
    Romania, and the Prince Consort, will take part on Saturday in the coronation
    of King Charles III of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland,
    the Royal House of Romania announced today in a Facebook post. In the 157 years of existence of the Royal House of
    Romania, the connection with the British royal family has been steady, based on
    admiration, respect and affection, both in its official dimension, representing
    the two nations, and in its private, family aspect, reads the post. The Royal
    House adds that this reliable relationship has spanned the 19th, 20th
    and 21st centuries and five generations.


    PRESS The World Press Freedom
    Day celebrated on the 3rd of May occasioned the opening of a special
    exhibition at the National Romanian Literature Museum in Bucharest. The event
    was organized jointly with the Romanian Union of Professional Journalists. The
    exhibition, which opens a series of events devoted to journalists in all fields,
    is intended as a starting point for a future Museum of Romanian Press. The World
    Press Freedom Day was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in 1993, and is
    designed to highlight the importance of and the need for freedom of expression.


    EDUCATION A draft law regulating higher education in Romania was
    approved by the specialist committee in the Chamber of Deputies, with a number
    of amendments. Among other things, grants and training programmes will be
    offered every year to Romanians from abroad who wish to study in Romania. Welfare
    grants may be received concurrently with other types of grants, should student
    meet relevant criteria. As for salaries, higher education institutions may
    increase salaries within their approved budgets. Fines have also been
    introduced, ranging from EUR 20,000 to 40,000, for those who sell BA, MA or
    doctoral theses online, in violation of intellectual property rights. The new
    laws on the undergraduate and higher education sectors will most likely be
    subject to voting in the Chamber of Deputies next week. The Senate is then to take
    its final vote.


    GRAINS The European Commission
    announced exceptional and temporary preventive measures on imports of
    a limited number of products from Ukraine. They concern only 4 products-wheat, maize,
    rapeseed and sunflower seed-and are designed to alleviate logistical
    bottlenecks concerning these products in Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and
    Slovakia. Meanwhile, Romania will receive an additional EUR 30 bln
    to support farmers affected by the cheap grains imports from Ukraine. (AMP)

  • April 10, 2023 UPDATE

    April 10, 2023 UPDATE

    DEFENCE The president of Romania Klaus Iohannis has convened a
    meeting of the country’s Higher Defence Council on Tuesday. The security
    situation at the Black Sea, triggered by Russia’s aggression on Ukraine and the
    foreign interference in Moldova’s democratic process are on the agenda. The
    development of the Romanian military aviation will also be discussed.


    CEREMONY We will always rely on the Romanian Army, on our
    servicemen who, together with our allies, will ensure the defence of Romania
    and of NATO’s eastern flank, PM Nicolae Ciucă said in the eastern Romanian
    town of Focsani on Monday. He attended a ceremony celebrating 140 years since
    the Union of Principalities 282 Brigade was set up. The PM reiterated that
    near Romania’s borders, a long-term war of attrition is taking place, which is
    a challenge for the free world, for democracy, for a rule-based world. The 282
    Brigade carries forward the military traditions of the 6th Infantry
    Division established on April 1, 1883, and stationed in Focşani. Throughout its
    existence, the 6th Infantry Division took part in the Balkan War and
    the 2 world wars, while in recent times structures within the brigade
    participated in many operations in the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan.


    DIASPORA Romanian PM Nicolae Ciuca Monday took part in the opening ceremony
    of the conference Smart Diaspora 2023 – Diaspora in higher education, science,
    innovation and entrepreneurship, held in Timisoara, western Romania. Around
    400 participants from the Diaspora, 550 from Romania and 300 from the member
    universities of Timisoara University Alliance are expected to attend the 38
    workshops held for 4 days on topics such as education, psychology, global
    economy, governance, smart cities, intercultural communication and many others.
    The guests from the Diaspora come from more than 30 countries, most of them in
    the EU, but also from the US, Britain, Moldova, Japan, Singapore and Australia. President Klaus Iohannis has
    sent a message saying education is the key to Romania’s sustainable
    development.


    EDUCATION The new education bills have reached the Chamber of
    Deputies for review. In the case of undergraduate education, new mandatory Language
    and communication and Math and sciences exams have been introduced for 2nd, 4th
    and 6th grade students, while the bill on higher education provides for an
    extension of doctoral studies from 3 to 4 years. The leaders of the ruling
    coalition have promised to pass the new legislation by the end of Parliament’s current
    session.


    HOLY WEEK Orthodox and Greek Catholic believers all over the world,
    including Romania, a mostly Orthodox country, have entered the Holy Week, the
    last week before Easter. Holy Week services are attended by large crowds.
    Romanian pilgrims have already arrived at the holy places in Jerusalem,
    Nazareth and Bethlehem, for the religious service on Easter Sunday, according
    to RRI’s correspondent in Israel. This year, Catholic and Protestant Christians
    celebrated Easter a week before the Orthodox and Greek Catholics. On Sunday,
    during his traditional Easter address before the large crowds gathered in St.
    Peter’s Square of the Vatican, Pope Francis condemned the numerous obstacles in
    the way of world peace and called on the international community to put an end
    to the conflict in Ukraine and to all other conflicts in the world.


    CUSTOMS The customs authorities in Romania and the neighbouring
    Republic of Moldova have approved a Common Action Plan designed to help
    streamline cross-border travel during the Easter holidays, more precisely
    between 7 April and 7 May 2023. According to the Romanian Customs Authority, in
    order to handle the surge in traveller numbers, the two authorities will increase
    the number of customs workers and identify and earmark separate lanes to
    redirect and speed up passenger travel. (AMP)

  • Complicated Parliament Agenda

    Complicated Parliament Agenda

    Parliament in Bucharest is in for more heated debates this
    week after two draft laws, on the abuse of office and special pensions – have
    been submitted for debates and voting.


    Voting on the two bills has become predictable in principle, thanks
    to the comfortable majority the ruling PNL-PSD-UDMR coalition is presently enjoying.
    The Chamber of Deputies is a decision making forum regarding these two bills.






    The draft law on the abuse of office is to be endorsed
    within a ceiling of 9,000 lei, (18 hundred Euros) above which the deed is to be
    criminalized and punishable with jail sentences for public employees- PSD
    leader Marcel Ciolacu says. He believes that Justice Minister Cătălin Predoiu
    should have assumed the aforementioned value limit as early as the draft’s
    initial form, and that should have prevented the first endorsement at a higher
    ceiling of 250 thousand lei.




    Marcel Ciolacu: ʺI am firmly
    convinced together with my colleagues from the PSD PNL and UDMR that this law
    will get promulgated with the ceiling of 18 hundred Euros, as proposed by the Justice
    Minister.




    However, the opposition USR has lashed out at the form
    endorsed by the PSD, PNL, UDMR senators.


    Stelian Ion: The
    Constitutional Court’s decision imposed a ceiling, which was common sense,
    reasonable at the level of the minimum wages.




    Also in spite of the oppositions’ protests, a draft on
    reforming the special pensions paid to state employees has made it to the
    Chamber of Deputies.


    Under the new amendments backed by the ruling
    coalition, no special pension has to exceed the incomes before the person’s
    retirement. Accumulated pension plans have been banned and a tax of maximum 15%
    has been introduced for the non-contribution period. Unsatisfactory, says the
    opposition, which has called for the introduction of the contribution system
    for all pensions irrespective of the activity domain. 200 thousand people are
    presently benefitting from special pensions, most of them former employees of
    the country’s defence and public order structures. However, the former magistrates, judges and
    prosecutors are presently enjoying the biggest special pensions, which can go
    up to 36 hundred Euros, ten times above a regular pension. Reforming the
    country’s pension system is a request provided by the National Plan of Recovery
    and Resilience and we recall that the approval of roughly 3 billion dollars worth
    of EU funds hinges on this plan.


    Other bills on the Parliament agenda in Bucharest
    might be the new laws on education, based on Romanian president Klaus Iohannis’
    project entitled Educated Romania’. The
    law is aimed at curbing school dropout and functional illiteracy, at placing
    the student at the center of the country’s educational process, at the same
    time backing the European cooperation of universities in Romania. The
    opposition has criticized the draft laws as faulty and prone to cause
    imbalances.


    (bill)

  • Draft education laws pending approval

    Draft education laws pending approval

    Submitted for public
    review a few days ago, the new legislative package on education includes the
    under-graduate education bill and the higher education bill, both officially
    endorsed by the government. The main declared goals are to improve the quality
    of public education and reduce functional illiteracy.




    The under-graduate
    education bill provides for compulsory nation-wide evaluations in language and
    communication and in maths and science at the end of the second, fourth and
    sixth grade. High schools will be able to organise admission tests for maximum
    60% of the number of places available, after students have graduated the
    compulsory national evaluation.




    As for the high school
    graduation exam, for humanities students it will include a written test in maths,
    physics, chemistry or biology, while science students will also have to prove
    that they have acquired basic skills in psychology, sociology, logics, economics
    or philosophy.




    The higher education bill
    increases the Ph.D. studies period from three to four years, with post-grad students
    allowed to conduct paid teaching activities.




    The line minister, Ligia
    Deca, told Radio Romania about the most important changes:

    Ligia Deca: In principle, there are reforms aimed at improving the
    quality of public education and at reducing functional illiteracy. This
    includes increasing the performance of teaching staff and improving the outlook
    on and support for the teaching career, with a substantial increase of salaries
    and more respect for teachers in society. Basically, the entire salary scheme
    in public education will start from the average national wage level, so any
    entry-level teacher will have this perspective of a decent salary. We will also
    improve the quality of teachers’ training, by introducing a teaching MA
    programme, 80% of which will consist of practical activities under the guidance
    of a mentor, at various education levels and in various environments, so that
    we may have entry-level teachers who are well trained and prepared for the
    challenges they will be facing in the classroom. There will be an entire series
    of national programmes, one of which will seek to reduce drop-out rates, by
    means of providing school supplies, covering commuting costs, healthy meals for
    over one million children. Support will also be given in the form of remedial
    classes, in order to cover the schooling gaps that unfortunately the pandemic
    years left among our children.




    As Ligia Deca also said, a
    national programme to reduce functional illiteracy will also be in place. By
    means of the educational portfolio and annual testing, this programme seeks to
    ensure that children no longer leave school with inadequate literacy skill
    levels at the PISA test taken at the age of 15. (AMP)

  • Education bills trigger disagreement

    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)

  • September 28, 2022

    September 28, 2022

    ECONOMY The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has
    upgraded its estimates on Romania’s economic performance in 2022 and 2023, but warns that a significant slow-down is expected next year,
    according to a report made public on Wednesday. According to the new forecasts,
    Romania’s economy is expected to grow by 5.4% this year and 1.9% next year, a
    significant improvement from the 2.9% for 2022 and negative 1.1% for 2023,
    estimated in May. EBRD is a major institutional investor in Romania, running
    nearly 500 projects with a combined budget of close to EUR 10 billion.


    TRADE Trade
    exchanges between Romania and the US reached USD 5.4 billion last year, as
    against USD 2.4 billion in 2011, according to a report released by the American
    Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Romania, AmCham, as part of the U.S. -
    Romania Economic Forum on Wednesday. Direct and indirect US investment in
    Romania went up from USD 6.5 billion in 2019, to USD 7.5 billion in 2020. The
    US is Romania’s 5th-largest trade partner, accounting for 6.8% of the country’s
    international trade, and the largest outside the EU. The biggest US investments
    in Romania by turnover are in manufacturing, agriculture and healthcare. As
    many as 900 companies in Romania are running on US capital, ranking 3rd after
    Hungary and the Czech Republic.


    PLAGIARISM The University of
    Bucharest says the plagiarism accusations against the education minister Sorin
    Cîmpeanu must be analysed thoroughly, outside any type of pressure, by the
    relevant bodies in the university in question and other public institutions. The
    University condemns any measure that breaches academic ethics and integrity. In
    turn, the National School of Political and Administrative Studies condemns all
    forms of plagiarism and highlights that the education minister’s decision to
    dismantle the National Council Attesting
    University Titles, Diplomas and Certificates is not constructive and does not
    contribute to a true reform of the education sector. On the other hand, USR and Force of the Right MPs, in
    opposition in Romania, have tabled a simple motion entitled Romania
    educated to steal. Sorin Cîmpeanu is a disgrace for education. Plagiarism
    allegations against the education minister have been circulated in the media. Cîmpeanu
    denied the allegations and argued that they are a move to undermine the
    education laws.


    JUDICIARY A special parliamentary committee on the justice laws today
    carries on talks on the draft statute regulating the judge and prosecutor
    professions. On Tuesday, the committee accepted some amendments brought by the
    National Liberal Party (in power) and the Higher Council of Magistrates, but
    dismissed all the amendments tabled by the opposition. USR and AUR parties
    requested changes in judge and prosecutor secondment and delegation procedures,
    and in the procedures for dismissing magistrates. The bill is next to be
    reviewed by the Chamber of Deputies. This is the 3rd act in the
    justice law package to be discussed by the committee, after the ones concerning
    the Higher Council of Magistrates and the organisation of courts, which have
    already been endorsed by the Chamber of Deputies. The Senate is the
    decision-making parliamentary body in this respect.


    UKRAINE Ukraine’s foreign ministry Wednesday called for a substantial
    increase of Western military support, one day after the so-called referendums
    regarding the annexation of 4 Ukrainian regions by Russia. The ballots have
    been criticised by a large part of the international community, France Presse
    reports. Kyiv also urged all countries and international organisations to
    condemn Kremlin’s illegal actions in the territories occupied in Ukraine. The
    pro-Russian authorities in the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk,
    Zaporizhzhia and Kherson Tuesday announced the votes were in favour of the
    annexation by Russia. In the next stage, Russia’s parliament is to vote on a
    document making the integration of the 4 regions in the Russian Federation
    official. The EU announced it would
    never recognise the results of the referendums. (A.M.P.)

  • December 23, 2021

    December 23, 2021

    REVOLUTION Romania’s Parliament convened this morning in a solemn
    meeting devoted to the 32 years since the anti-communist revolution of December
    1989. Originating in Timișoara (west), on 16th December, the uprising spread
    across the country, culminating with dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu fleeing the
    capital city on 22nd December amid the protests of hundreds of thousands of
    Romanians. Captured by the Army, Ceauşescu and his wife Elena were subject to a
    summary trial and executed in the southern town of Târgovişte. Romania was the
    only country behind the Iron Curtain where the change of regime was accompanied
    by bloodshed. Over 1,000 people were killed and some 3,000 wounded.


    BUDGET Romanian MPs are due to vote today on the draft state budget and
    social security budget laws for 2022. The government
    passed the bills on Monday and promised the budget ensures stability and
    predictability. The Liberal leader and ex-PM Florin Cîţu criticised the fact
    that 6.7% of GDP was earmarked for investments, instead of 7% as agreed within
    the ruling coalition. The Social Democratic leader Marcel Ciolacu argued
    however that the budget execution is more important than the exact breakdown of
    expenditure. The leader of USR party in opposition, Dacian Cioloş, says the
    draft budget relies on over-estimated revenues and said although public
    education is a priority for President Iohannis, not enough funding has been
    earmarked for the sector.


    COVID-19 775 new SARS-CoV-2 infection cases were reported in the past 24 hours in Romania, along with 81 related
    fatalities, 44 of them from a previous date. Since the start of the pandemic
    Romania has had around 1.8 million COVID-19 cases,
    and more than 58,000 patients died. Amid
    anti-vaccine sentiments fuelled by some media, politicians and opinion leaders,
    the country has the 2nd lowest immunisation rate in the EU, after Bulgaria.


    EU
    FUNDING The government
    of Romania passed an emergency order allowing for the accessing of a roughly
    15-billion euro loan granted by the European Commission under the Recovery and
    Resilience Mechanism. The loan agreement between the European Commission and
    Romania was signed in Bucharest on 26th November and in Brussels on 15th
    December. Under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, Romania benefits
    from some 29 billion euro, of which approx. 14 billion in non-reimbursable
    funds and some 15 billion in loans. The loan will be available until the end of
    2026.


    BASKETBALL The national men’s basketball champions, Universitatea-Banca
    Transilvania Cluj-Napoca, qualified into the second stage of the Champions
    League group matches, after defeating the Turkish side Daruşşafaka in a suspensefull
    match away from home, 103-101. The Romanian team is thus the leader of Group G,
    with 5 wins and one defeat. Group leaders go straight into the second stage of
    the competition, scheduled for January-March 2022. (tr. A.M. Popescu)

  • December 22, 2021 UPDATE

    December 22, 2021 UPDATE

    REVOLUTION The heroes who died in the December 1989 anti-communist
    uprising were commemorated on Wednesday in Bucharest. Religious services and
    military ceremonies were held at the cemeteries and monuments across the
    country devoted to those who sacrificed their lives for freedom. Thirty-two years ago, Bucharest became the heart of the
    protests that culminated with the ousting of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. The
    president of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, sent a message on the Day of
    the Victory of the Romanian Revolution and of Freedom. December 1989 opened
    Romania’s path to democracy, allowed for our NATO and EU accession, for signing
    the Strategic Partnership with the USA and turned Romania into a regional
    security provider. None of this would have been possible without our
    anti-communist revolution, Iohannis pointed out. He said it is a shame that no one has paid for the victims of the terrible
    crackdown and called on the judiciary to bring the ones responsible to justice.


    BUDGET The draft state budget and
    social security budget laws for 2022 are being discussed by the Parliament of
    Romania. At the start of the session, PM Nicolae Ciucă said the proposed state
    budget is balanced, responsible and realistic, and able to consolidate the
    economy in the long run. He also said it is the budget that earmarked the
    largest amounts for investments in the last 32 years. Cuica promised that taxes
    will not go up and there will be no pressure on the business community.
    Previously, Parliament’s specialised committees had green-lighted the bills. The budget is based on an
    estimated economic growth rate of 4.6% and a GDP of some 260 billion euro, a
    predicted inflation rate of 6.5% and gross average salaries of 1,200 euros per
    month. USR party in opposition is considering
    taking the draft budget law to the Constitutional Court, claiming that mayors
    from that party have not received budget appropriations, which is an instance
    of discrimination.


    PROTESTS The
    Romanian police arrested 2 people and fined around 200 organisers and
    participants in Wednesday’s protest of the supporters of AUR party, an ultra-nationalist
    and anti-vaccine party in Romania’s parliament. The protest was sparked by the
    authorities’ plan to make the digital COVID certificate a requirement at the
    workplace. The rally spiralled into vandalism, with one of the arrested
    participants pushing through the Parliament’s gates and the other suspected of
    having vandalised 4 vehicles. The investigation continues.



    COVID-19     Nearly 200,000 people have generated digital
    forms to enter Romanian territory since the launch of the application, most of
    them at the ‘Henri Coandă’ International Airport in Bucharest. As of December
    20, all passengers arriving in Romania are to fill in the Passenger Locator
    Form (PLF), a document used by 18 EU member countries. Meanwhile, 851 new Covid-19
    infections were reported for the past 24 hours in Romania, along with 62 related fatalities, 18 of them from a
    previous date. As many as 2,830 SARS-CoV-2 patients are hospitalised, including
    62 children. More than 7.7 million people in Romania are fully vaccinated. (tr. A.M. Popescu)