Radio România Internațional

Tag: skills

  • The European Commissioner Roxana Mânzatu in Bucharest

    The European Commissioner Roxana Mânzatu in Bucharest

    Shortly after taking office, the European Commissioner nominated by Romania, Roxana Mânzatu, visited her home country in an official capacity.

     

    A member of the Social Democratic Party (in the ruling coalition) since 2000, when she was 20 years old, a former Deputy in the national parliament and a former MEP, with a brief term as minister for European funds, the Romanian politician is one of the vice-presidents of the new European Commission, in charge with “People, Skills and Preparedness”. In this capacity, she said, she manages around 20% of the European Union’s multiannual budget.

     

    At a meeting in Bucharest on Tuesday with Romania’s acting president, Klaus Iohannis, she discussed the role of education in fighting disinformation and manipulation, as well as in strengthening the democratic resilience of European societies.

     

    According to the Romanian Presidency, the head of state pointed out that areas such as artificial intelligence, security and defence have a major social component, and the success of these policies depends on society’s preparation and knowledge.

     

    One of the topics discussed with the Social-Democratic PM Marcel Ciolacu and his ministers of labour, European funds and education was the so-called “Compass”, a plan by Brussels to restore EU competitiveness. “We cannot be competitive without well-trained human resources and without good working conditions. The point of this compass is to guide future policies, financing (…) We prioritize new technologies, innovation, access to financing, the elimination of cumbersome administrative procedures, a lot of simplification, coordination between member states. But we can only do all this if we have workforce that is prepared and motivated to work in the respective sectors,” Commissioner Mânzatu argued.

     

    In February, she announced, the EC will launch the Clean Industrial Deal, a plan for the industrial decarbonisation of the continent, which she claims is “pragmatic, focused on interventions in important sectors that can ensure strategic autonomy for the European economy.” The automotive industry, among other sectors, is taken into account, which Roxana Mânzatu says is very relevant for Romania, has ensured Europe’s global leadership and provides 13 million jobs in the Union.

     

    In an exclusive interview for Radio Romania, Roxana Mânzatu said she regretted that there are not enough Romanian beneficiaries in the research and innovation areas in the relevant programmes launched by the Commission. “I told all my colleagues, we are fully open to working even better with European money, so that people can feel the impact of these funds even more,” the Commission vice-president concluded. (AMP)

  • November 16, 2021 UPDATE

    November 16, 2021 UPDATE

    COVID-19 The coronavirus epidemic stays on a downward trend in Romania. On Tuesday the
    authorities reported 4,128 new Covid infections out of over 55,000 tests, which
    accounts for a 7.41% positive rate. Another 397 related fatalities were also
    reported, including 54 that had not been recorded in the system earlier. Some
    14,000 Covid patients are currently receiving hospital treatment, including
    almost 1,700 in intensive care. The incidence rate is on the decrease in
    Bucharest, dropping to 5.34 cases per 1,000 inhabitants on Tuesday. In related
    news, non-invasive testing is due to begin in schools for children and
    teachers. At the moment, almost three quarters of Romanian schools and kindergartens
    are holding in-person classes, the rule being that only schools with a
    vaccination rate among their staff of at least 60% can reopen for in-person
    teaching, the rest holding classes on line. As for vaccination, the pace has
    dropped steadily in recent days, compared to a peak of over 110,000 doses
    administered on 27 September. Nearly 7 million Romanians are fully vaccinated
    at present.




    SCHOOLS Legal and financial education have become
    compulsory skills in primary and middle schools in Romania. President Klaus
    Iohannis Tuesday signed a law amending the Education Act, to include these
    areas in the national curriculum. The document also includes financial and
    legal education in the teaching programmes of local lifelong learning community
    centres. In a first stage, these subjects can be introduced as optional school
    subjects only, because national curricula must be approved by the Education
    Ministry.




    ECONOMY Romania,
    Hungary and Lithuania have the biggest annual growth rate in the European Union
    in the third quarter of this year compared with the same period last year,
    according to preliminary data published by the European statistical office
    Eurostat. GDP grew in the EU by 3.9%, with Romania at 8%, Hungary at 6.1% and
    Lithuania at 6%. However, according to the latest figures published by the
    National Institute for Statistics, Romania’s economic growth rate slowed down
    to 0.3% in the third quarter compared with the previous quarter. In the first
    nine months of the year, GDP grew by 7.1% compared with the same period last
    year. Economic experts say the growth rate will slow down even more this autumn
    and winter, while the inflation rate may go up to 8% in the context of the
    current political crisis.




    EU Romania’s
    foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu attended a ministerial meeting of the Eastern
    Partnership held in Brussels, where EU foreign ministers agreed to expand the
    criteria for imposing new sanctions against Belarus. The new sanctions would
    target those involved in weaponising the plight of migrants. The European Union
    is accusing Belarus of intentionally creating a migrant crisis on the border
    with Poland and the Baltic countries in retaliation to the Union’s earlier
    sanctions against the regime in Belarus for its crackdown on the opposition.
    Minister Aurescu presented Romania’s stand on the strategic priorities of the
    Eastern Partnership post-2020 and called for a consolidation of the security
    dimension in the Eastern Neighbourhood, as well as for greater involvement from
    the EU in solving the frozen or protracted conflicts in this region.




    MILITARY The EU is considering a joint military force of up to 5,000 troops by
    2025, to intervene in a number of crises without needing to rely on the US,
    according to a draft strategic plan, Reuters says. The EU
    Rapid Deployment Capacity should include land, sea and air capabilities. Two decades after the EU leaders first agreed to
    set up a force of 50,000-60,000 troops, which never became operational, the
    strategy drafted by the EU diplomacy chief Josep Borrell is the most concrete
    effort to create an independent military force that does not rely on US assets.
    Not all the 27 EU member states would have to contribute troops, but a
    consensus would be required for any deployment. Since 2007, the EU has had
    battlegroups of 1,500 troops available, but they have never been deployed, in
    spite of efforts to use them in Chad and Libya.





    Radio and TV Parliament
    approved the new leadership of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation,
    which Radio Romania International also forms part of. With the support of the
    Social Democratic Party, the new director general at Radio Romania isRăzvan-Ioan
    Dincă, a former National Opera director who has a court of first instance
    conviction for abuse of office and false statement but who was later acquitted.
    The leadership of the Romanian television was also appointed, with the
    journalist Dan Cristian Turturică becoming the new director general, with the
    support of the National Liberal Party. The members of the new boards are
    appointed for a 4-year term and have to take an oath in Parliament. (tr. A.M. Popescu)