Radio România Internațional

Tag: women

March 8, 2021

COVID-19 Romania’s PM Florin Cîţu announced he asked the
coordinator of the national vaccination programme Valeriu Gheorghiţă and the
health minister Vlad Voiculescu to take steps to initiate the 3rd
vaccination phase sooner than planned, because in March Romania will receive
2.6 million anti-COVID vaccine doses, which is more than originally estimated.
The PM said that where citizens entitled to vaccines in the 1st and
2nd stages of the programme decline getting the jabs, the respective
doses should go to the general public scheduled for immunisation in the 3rd
phase. So far 1.16 million people have received the vaccine in Romania. On the
other hand, more than 830,000 infections have been reported in Romania since
the start of the pandemic, with the death toll standing at nearly 21,000. Face-to-face classes continue for senior-year middle and
high school students, but in a mixed system, with half of the children
attending classes online, under a joint order issued by the education and
health ministries. The measure is in place up to a COVID infection rate of 6 per
thousand

POLICE The Romanian interior ministry intends to increase the number of police forces monitoring compliance with the new COVID-19 containment measures introduced as of Monday in Bucharest and in Timişoara (west). The city of Timişoara and several villages in Timiş County are under lockdown as of midnight, as the number of coronavirus cases is on the rise. Bucharest is also subject to new restrictions, such as the closing of restaurants, cafes and bars. These measures add to the ones already in place in other red-code regions in the country, where the COVID-19 infection rate is over 3 per 1,000.

WOMEN Romania ranks first in the EU by number of women holding top corporate posts, according to a release issued by a women-founded business centre, which quotes a Eurostat report. According to these figures, 34% of the total senior executive positions in Romania are held by women. Also, over 500,000 active businesses in Romania have women as shareholders. Across Europe, women account for 37% of managers, 28% of board members and 18% of the senior executives. The European Parliament is celebrating today the International Womens Day, in a plenary session. In a conference on “Women on the frontline and lessons learned from managing the crisis, women in politics, healthcare and gender equality share personal experiences and good practices with MEPs.

PANDEMIC The European Union begins talks today with the United States of America to secure the supply of US-made materials for anti-COVID vaccines, which are subject to tight export controls. The point is to coordinate efforts so as to avoid bottlenecks, AFP reports, quoting EU sources. These components include bags fitted to the manufacturers vats, as well as vials, syringes and so-called “nanolipid particles used to encapsulate some messenger RNA vaccines. Meanwhile, Hungary introduces new containment measures on Monday, with most shops closed for 2 weeks. The UK on the other hand is beginning to lift restrictions, and millions of children are returning to schools after a 2-month break. In turn, Israel is returning to normal. Some restrictions were lifted on Sunday, 15 days ahead of national elections, and Israelis can now go to cafes, restaurants and schools. Worldwide, according to worldometers updates, nearly 117.4 million people have caught the virus, of whom 93 million have recovered and 2.6 million died since the start of the pandemic a year ago.

FILM Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn, the most recent film of Romanian director Radu Jude, won the Golden Bear at the 71st edition of Berlin International Film Festival – Berlinale, held online. The film looks into the relations between the individual and society when the leaked sex video of a school teacher goes viral on the Internet, turning her life upside down.

TENNIS Several Romanian athletes are playing today in the main draw on the Dubai tennis tournament, which has over 1.84 million US dollars in prize money. The first Romanian in the competition, Ana Bogdan (100 WTA) lost to Marketa Vondrousova, Czech Republic, (20 WTA), in 2 sets. Sorana Cîrstea (67 WTA) takes on the Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko (142 WTA), Irina Begu (72 WA) is facing Garbine Muguruza of Spain (16 WTA), and Patricia Țig (61 WTA) plays against Latvias Jelena Ostapenko (51 WTA). Two Romanians are also taking part in the doubles competition. Last years winner of the Dubai tournament, the Romanian Simona Halep, 3 WTA, is not taking part in the competition this year. (tr. A.M. Popescu)

8 March 2021
March 7, 2021 UPDATE

Covid Romania. More than 1,174,000 million
people have been vaccinated against Covid-19 in Romania, where a new batch of over 224,000 Pfizer-BioNTech doses is being delivered
on Monday. Almost
3,300 new Covid cases were recorded in this country on Sunday, with the total
number of infections now passing 828,000 and the death toll 20,900. Some 1,100 Covid patients are in intensive
care. Amid rising infection rates, the education and health ministries issued a
joint order saying that pupils in their finals years will continue to go to
school even if Romania enters the red tier, in a combination of remote and in-person
learning. This decision remains in place until the infection rate hits six cases
per 1,000 inhabitants, when it will be reviewed. Wearing face masks in class is
mandatory, with the exception of music school pupils studying wind instruments,
of all children during physical exercise classes and of pre-school children. A
few counties are in the red zone, reporting more than 3 cases per 1,000
inhabitants over the course of 14 days, namely Timiş (west), Maramureş
(north-west), Ilfov (south), Cluj (north-west) and Braşov (centre). The capital
Bucharest has also re-entered the red zone, with restaurants and cafes now
closed for business indoors. The western city of Timişoara and four
neighbouring villages will go into lockdown on Sunday midnight because of high
infection rates. A few hundred people staged a protest
on Sunday in Bucharest against draft legislation on vaccination under
debate in Parliament.

Hospitals. Romania will build more hospitals in the next four years
using European funds. This promise was made by prime minister Florin Cîţu, who
said he would like this to be a legacy of his government. He explained that the
only condition for using the European money is for the new hospitals to be
finalised by 2026, just like the other projects carried out under the EU’s
Recovery and Resilience Facility, under which Romania can benefit from 30
billion euros worth of funding. Cîţu said this instrument will be simple and transparent,
and that private projects and entities will also be eligible for funding,
alongside public companies and institutions. Prime minister Cîţu said earlier
that education will receive some 9% of the budget of the recovery and
resilience fund, while healthcare will receive some 3 billion euros.

Pope Iraq. On the final day of his historic
trip to Iraq, Pope Francis met on Sunday members of the Christian community in
northern Iraq. In Mosul, amid the ruins of the churches destroyed by the
Islamic State jihadist organisation, the pontiff said the Christians’ exodus
from the Middle East was an incalculable loss. The occupation of a third of
Iraq’s territory by the Islamic State from 2014 to 2017 was the latest episode
in a series of conflicts that drove most Iraqi Christians into exile. Today,
only 400,000 of the country’s inhabitants identify as Christians, compared with
1.3 million in 2003, before the US-led invasion. After Mosul, the pope travelled to Qaraqosh, where he met the faithful in Al-Tahira church,
which was restored for this occasion after being burnt to the ground by the jihadists
in 2014.

Statistics. The proportion of women holding seats in the national
Parliaments of EU member states grew from 21% in 2004 to 33% in 2020, according
to statistics published by Eurostat. Although this percentage varies
significantly across the Union, no country has more women than men in
Parliament. Last year, the highest proportion of women in Parliament was
recorded in Sweden (almost 50%), Belgium (43%) and Spain (42%), while Hungary
and Malta had the lowest percentages (both 13%), alongside Romania and the
Czech Republic (with 20%). With respect to the proportion of women in
government in 2020, Finland had the highest level (55%), followed by Austria
(53%), Sweden (52%), France (51%) and Belgium (50%), while the lowest numbers
were recorded in Malta (8%), Greece (11%), Estonia (13%) and Romania (17%). Eurostat
published this report ahead of International Women’s Day on 8th
March.

Tennis. Several Romanian players are
in competition at the Dubai WTA tennis tournament worth 1.84 million dollars in
prize money and which got under way on Sunday. Sorana
Cîrstea (67 WTA)
and Patricia Țig (61 WTA) went straight to the
main draw, while Ana Bogdan (100 WTA) and Irina Begu (72
WTA) had to go through the qualifiers. Two Romanian players are also in competition in the
doubles. Simona Halep, the winner of the Dubai singles
trophy in 2020, is not playing this year. (CM)

7 March 2021
March 7, 2021

Hospitals. Romania will build more hospitals in the next four years
using European funds. This promise was made by prime minister Florin Cîţu, who
said he would like this to be a legacy of his government. He explained that the
only condition for using the European money is for the new hospitals to be
finalised by 2026, just like the other projects carried out under the EU’s
Recovery and Resilience Facility, under which Romania can benefit from 30
billion euros worth of funding. Cîţu said this instrument will be simple and transparent,
and that private projects and entities will also be eligible for funding,
alongside public companies and institutions. Prime minister Cîţu said earlier
that education will receive some 9% of the budget of the recovery and
resilience fund, while healthcare will receive some 3 billion euros.

Covid Romania. More than 1.16 million
people have been vaccinated against Covid-19 in Romania, most of them with the
Pfizer-BioNTech jab. The Moderna and AstraZeneca jab are also used. Romania
reported almost 3,300 new cases on Sunday, with the total number of infections
now passing 828,000, 90% of whom have recovered. The death toll passed 20,900
and some 1,100 Covid patients are in intensive care. Amid rising infection
rates, the education and health ministries issued a joint order saying that
pupils in their finals years will continue to go to school even if Romania
enters the red tier, in a combination of remote and in-person learning. This
decision remains in place until the infection rate hits six cases per 1,000
inhabitants, when it will be reviewed. Wearing face masks in class is
mandatory, with the exception of music school pupils studying wind instruments,
of all children during physical exercise classes and of pre-school children. A
few counties are in the red zone, reporting more than 3 cases per 1,000
inhabitants over the course of 14 days, namely Timiş (west), Maramureş
(north-west), Ilfov (south), Cluj (north-west) and Braşov (centre). The capital
Bucharest has also re-entered the red zone, with restaurants and cafes now closed
for business indoors. The western city of Timişoara and four neighbouring
villages will go into lockdown on Sunday midnight because of high infection
rates, while Râmnicu Vâlcea, in the south, and four
other villages in Vâlcea county entered the red tier.

Covid world. The European Union will
begin talks with the US on the provision of American parts for the Covid
vaccines and which are subject to severe export restrictions by Washington. In
another development, thousands of people protested in Vienna against the
restrictions to combat the pandemic. Austria lifted some restrictions in
February, reopening schools, shops and museums, but other measures are still in
place, with cafes and restaurants still closed and mandatory Covid tests for
pupils attending in-person classes. Globally, Covid infections are nearing 117
million, while the death toll is 2.6 million.

Statistics. The proportion of women holding seats in the national
Parliaments of EU member states grew from 21% in 2004 to 33% in 2020, according
to statistics published by Eurostat. Although this percentage varies
significantly across the Union, no country has more women than men in
Parliament. Last year, the highest proportion of women in Parliament was
recorded in Sweden (almost 50%), Belgium (43%) and Spain (42%), while Hungary
and Malta had the lowest percentages (both 13%), alongside Romania and the
Czech Republic (with 20%). With respect to the proportion of women in
government in 2020, Finland had the highest level (55%), followed by Austria
(53%), Sweden (52%), France (51%) and Belgium (50%), while the lowest numbers
were recorded in Malta (8%), Greece (11%), Estonia (13%) and Romania (17%). Eurostat
published this report ahead of International Women’s Day on 8th
March.

Pope visit. On the final day of his historic
trip to Iraq, Pope Francis is meeting today members of the Christian community
in northern Iraq. The pontiff will pray for the victims of wars in Mosul and
Qaraqosh, two cities still in ruin after the devastation caused by the Islamic
State jihadist organisation. The pope’s final day in Iraq will end with a large
outdoor mass in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, considered an oasis of
peace in a region devastated by war and which is a place of refuge for many
Iraqi Christians. On Saturday, the pope met Iraq’s top
Shiite cleric, the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, and visited Ur, the
city believed to be the birthplace of Abraham, the patriarch of Judaism,
Christianity and Islam. During an ecumenical prayer, the pope denounced
terrorism that abuses religion. The pope’s visits abroad to mostly Muslim
countries such as Turkey, Jordan, Egypt, Bangladesh, Azerbaijan, the United
Arab Emirates and the Palestinian territories, have been aimed at boosting
inter-religious dialogue.

Tennis. Several Romanian players are
in competition at the Dubai WTA tennis tournament worth 1.84 million dollars in
prize money and which got under way today. Ana Bogdan (ranked 100 in the world)
reached the main draw after defeating Russia’s Kamilla Rakhimova in the qualifiers. Sorana Cîrstea (67 WTA) and Patricia
Țig (61 WTA) are two other Romanian players on the main draw in
Dubai. Țig will face Latvia‘s Jelena Ostapenko, while Cîrstea will
play a qualifier. Irina Begu (world no. 72) may be the fourth Romanian player in
competition if she defeats Austria’s Barbara Haas. Simona
Halep, the winner of the Dubai trophy last year, is not playing this year. (CM)

7 March 2021
October 25, 2020 UPDATE

COVID-19 Bucharest is considering the reintroduction of night curfews in several parts of the country, the PM Ludovic Orban said after 3 counties in central Romania (Alba, Cluj and Harghita) as well as the capital Bucharest have passed 3 infections per thousand inhabitants this week. According to the most recent national update, 3,855 new cases and 73 deaths were reported in 24 hours, taking the total death toll to 6,391. Over 800 COVID-19 patients are in intensive care. Romania is one of the 23 European countries where the pandemic causes serious concern at EU level, both in terms of the daily infection numbers among the elderly, and in terms of the death rate, which is the second-highest in Europe.

PANDEMIC Spain decided on Sunday to declare a state of emergency and to order lockdowns across the country, as the number of COVID-19 cases is again rising at a fast pace. This will be the second time a state of emergency is declared in Spain, after one that lasted from March until June. A growing number of countries have introduced new restrictions to help contain the pandemic. Spain and France are seeing the largest numbers of infections, over 1 million cases each, out of the total 8.5 million reported in Europe as a whole. Across Europe, the number of COVID-19 related deaths has passed 260,000.

VISIT The PM of Romania Ludovic Orban will be on an official visit to France on Monday and Tuesday. According to the Romanian Government, Ludovic Orban will have meetings with his French counterpart Jean Castex, with the speakers of the National Assembly, Richard Ferrand, and the Senate, Gerard Larcher, and with the leader of the centre-right party ‘Les Republicains’, Christian Jacob. The Romanian PM will also take part in a meeting of the Council of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, and will have official talks with the OECD secretary general Angel Gurria. The visit also includes a meeting with members of the Romanian community in France.

KING In Bucharest, an international sculpture competition was officially launched on Sunday, for a statue of Michael I, the last king of Romania. The statue will be place next year in Sinaia, a mountain town that was the royal residence during the rule of Romanias first king, Carol I. The ceremony was organised on the day when Romania marks 99 years since the birth of King Michael I. Romanias last sovereign died on December 5, 2017.

HANDBALL The Romanian womens handball team CSM Bucharest Sunday defeated the German side SG BBM Bietigheim, 32-22, away from home, in the Champions League Group A. CSM tops the group at present. The other Romanian team in the competition, SCM Râmnicu Vâlcea, was scheduled to play at home on Saturday against the german club BV Borussia 09 Dortmund, but the match was postponed after several members of the Vȃlcea team tested positive for Covid-19. SCM Ramnicu Vâlcea is ranking last in Group B of the Champions League. The top 4 teams in each group qualify into the competitions quarter-finals. (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

25 October 2020
The Sofia Nadejde Awards Gala for Literature by Women

Todays edition is about the Sofia Nadejde Awards Gala for Literature by Women, held in Bucharest. The winners of this third edition were Sputnik in the Garden, by Gabriella Eftimie, Sonia Raises Her Hand, by Lavinia Braniste, Fotocrom Paradis, by Deniz Otay, and Marcels Children, by Ema Stere. The name of the gala is in dedication to a major figure in Romanian culture, Sofia Nadejde, the first woman in Romania to be allowed to hold her high school graduation in a boys gymnasium, the first woman to lead a literary magazine, and author of the first feminist novel in the history of Romanian literature.

The Sofia Nadejde Awards Gala for Literature by Women was held as part of the Sofia Nadejde Days event, which started in late August with an evening of short films made by women. Here is poet and journalist Elena Vladareanu, initiator of the gala:

“I was interested right from the start by this intersection of arts, and this year we have a partnership with the Romanian Association of Women in Cinema. As such, the writers nominated for fiction will take part in a series of meetings with the directors selected after the call issued by this association. It is equally important that, starting this year, we have a partnership with Scena.ro, the most important platform in the country dedicated to theater. Starting with the previous edition, Scena.ro grants a special drama award as part of the Sofia Nadejde Awards, and the prize this year went to Alexandra Pazgu, a very interesting playwright who has been living in Vienna for a few years, and who started writing in German. Speaking of this intersection of the arts, I would also like to emphasize the long term partnership with tranzit.ro, long term because we have been running a series of debates with them. In addition, tranzit.ro is a partner in this gala, they helped financially by offering one of the prizes. I think this intersection is very important, I also hope that we will be able to hold the workshop proposed by artist Liliana Basarab, a workshop centered on the book as an object, which starts off from the nominated books.”

At the gala, Sanda Cordos was awarded the special award A Room Just for Them, granted for the effervescence with which, for decades, she has been supporting contemporary Romanian literature with her articles. Gratiela Benga-Tutuianu critic and literary historian, is a member of the jury of the Gala:

“It is, in my opinion, a very good choice, because nothing bad can be said about Sanda Cordos and her persuasive criticism work. Also, this choice is an answer given to a reality that makes us sad most of the time. Because many times we have seen how critics and literary historians are still referring to the literature and criticism written by women in perpetual minority terms, and in thematic and stylistic stereotypes. And if we apply an honest reading to everything that Sanda Cordos has written, it is an answer to such criticism. Unfortunately, we are part of a literature that we still carve up into categories, male and female, and this boxing seems to me totally inadequate, because literature has to reflect the whole world, humanity means more than limiting oneself to a given formula.”

Poet and translator Alexandra Turcu and visual artist Liliana Basarab have been part of the Sofia Nadejde Awards for Literature by Women since the first edition. We talked to them about the need for such an event, and the reactions it elicited. Here is Alexandra Turcu:

“I realized that I wanted to help literature more than I wanted to write it, especially help literature by women, and for this reason I joined the initiative launched by Elena Vadareanu. I had various reactions, some of them negative after the first edition, and I got discouraged for a moment, but as time went by I realized that these awards are welcome, and they have grown from one edition to the next. Even if there are still unfavorable reactions to this project, I believe it is very important that we continue it. I believe this is precisely the idea of the awards, more than just granting some prizes, they want to dismantle prejudices towards literature written by women, and towards the place of women in the world in general.”

And here is Liliana Basarab:

“I had the feeling that I had very much to learn while working with the Sofia Nadejde Awards team, and that we were building them up together. As you have heard before, this initiative is not limited to giving out some prizes. The Sofia Nadejde Days include a lot of activities that come in recognition of womens creations, the more so that I see the need for such undertaking, and I hope this continues. I believe these awards have started to produce changes in mentality. Which Is why I think they should be continued, and we should find new ways of emphasizing the creations of women, which sometimes are not appreciate, or treated as minor art.”

17 October 2020
Sports Weekend

On Thursday, Vienna hosted the drawing of the Euro 2020 European Womens Handball Championship groups. The matches are scheduled to take place in December in Norway and Denmark.

Romanias team is playing in Group D, alongside Norway, Germany and Poland. Group D matches will be played in Trondheim, Norway, and so will Group C matches, with the defending world champions Netherlands, and Hungary, Serbia and Croatia as protagonists.

Groups A and B matches will take place in Denmark. The defending European champions, France, will play in Group A, in Herning, against Denmark, Montenegro and Slovenia. Olympic champions Russia are the stars in Group B, scheduled to play in Frederikshavn, opposite Sweden, Spain and the Czech Republic.

The top 3 teams in each group will move forward into the main groups. Romanias womens handball team qualified straight into the EHF EURO 2020 after the remaining matches were cancelled by the Executive Committee of the European Handball Federation in March, over the coronavirus pandemic.

Four legs in the qualifying series were outstanding at that point, and Romania had won 2 matches out of 2, in a group that also included Poland, Ukraine and the Faroe Islands. In the previous edition of the European Championship, held in 2018, Romania came out 4th. In the history of the competition, Romania only won one medal, a bronze one, in 2010, an edition hosted once again by Norway and Denmark.

We move on to football now. This week saw the 4th round of the Romanian League One playouts. On Tuesday, FC Voluntari won 2-1 away from home against Sepsi Sfântu Gheorghe. On Wednesday, in Ploiesti, Chindia Târgoviște also won 2-1 against Viitorul Constanța. On Thursday, Academica Clinceni outperformed Poli Iași, 1-0 away from home. The match pitting FC Hermannstadt against Dinamo will be rescheduled.

The 4th round of the playoffs will take place over the weekend. One match on Friday, Universitatea Craiova vs Astra Giurgiu. On Saturday FC Botoșani takes on CFR Cluj, while on Sunday in Bucharest FCSB plays against Gaz Metan Mediaș.

Top of the current standings are Cluj, with 33 points, followed by FCSB and Craiova, with 26 points each.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

19 June 2020
Sports Weekend

On Thursday, Vienna hosted the drawing of the Euro 2020 European Womens Handball Championship groups. The matches are scheduled to take place in December in Norway and Denmark.

Romanias team is playing in Group D, alongside Norway, Germany and Poland. Group D matches will be played in Trondheim, Norway, and so will Group C matches, with the defending world champions Netherlands, and Hungary, Serbia and Croatia as protagonists.

Groups A and B matches will take place in Denmark. The defending European champions, France, will play in Group A, in Herning, against Denmark, Montenegro and Slovenia. Olympic champions Russia are the stars in Group B, scheduled to play in Frederikshavn, opposite Sweden, Spain and the Czech Republic.

The top 3 teams in each group will move forward into the main groups. Romanias womens handball team qualified straight into the EHF EURO 2020 after the remaining matches were cancelled by the Executive Committee of the European Handball Federation in March, over the coronavirus pandemic.

Four legs in the qualifying series were outstanding at that point, and Romania had won 2 matches out of 2, in a group that also included Poland, Ukraine and the Faroe Islands. In the previous edition of the European Championship, held in 2018, Romania came out 4th. In the history of the competition, Romania only won one medal, a bronze one, in 2010, an edition hosted once again by Norway and Denmark.

We move on to football now. This week saw the 4th round of the Romanian League One playouts. On Tuesday, FC Voluntari won 2-1 away from home against Sepsi Sfântu Gheorghe. On Wednesday, in Ploiesti, Chindia Târgoviște also won 2-1 against Viitorul Constanța. On Thursday, Academica Clinceni outperformed Poli Iași, 1-0 away from home. The match pitting FC Hermannstadt against Dinamo will be rescheduled.

The 4th round of the playoffs will take place over the weekend. One match on Friday, Universitatea Craiova vs Astra Giurgiu. On Saturday FC Botoșani takes on CFR Cluj, while on Sunday in Bucharest FCSB plays against Gaz Metan Mediaș.

Top of the current standings are Cluj, with 33 points, followed by FCSB and Craiova, with 26 points each.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

19 June 2020
Women’s Health and Domestic Violence

In Romania, information on womens health and measures against domestic violence have a hard time reaching the people directly interested in them. Statistics exist on the effects of the lack of information. For instance, one in five women have never been to the doctor for a check-up, and 20% of pregnant women never went to the doctor during their pregnancy. As many as 10% of mothers who give birth in the country are minors, while Romania ranks among the countries with the highest incidence of breast and cervical cancer. In order to address the situation, a feminist organization Filia Center has come up with a project called Bona Dea, promoting womens health and safety. Andreea Rusu, representing Filia Center, took part in the project, and told us about their aims and what they have achieved since last August:

Andreea Rusu: “With this project, we wanted to provide women with a safe space where they could talk about their issues, but also get useful information from experts. We went to 18 village clusters where we talked about maternal health and breastfeeding, about preventing breast and cervical cancer, and about preventing and combating violence against women. We also went to 6 cities, where we talked on the same topics, adding to these labour market discrimination against women and combating sexual harassment. In six months, we met with around 1,700 women, and travelled 11,000 km to get to 85 meetings. Unfortunately, we noticed that lack of information is rampant not only in rural, underdeveloped areas, but also in cities. For instance, Romania ranks very low in the EU in terms of prevention of breast and cervical cancer. We rank first in the number of deaths caused by this type of cancer. This also happens because women dont know how to identify the early signs for this disease.”

As part of the Bona Dea project, representatives of the Filia Center were able to confirm the statistics, and to understand the mentality and customs behind them.

Andreea Rusu: “In Romania, we still have this idea of not talking about sexuality, or contraception, or even sex education. That is taboo. This happens although, according to UNICEF, the average age people start their sex lives at is 15 and a half. However, many women lack access to information. For instance, many dont know what an ectopic pregnancy is. Best case scenario, they heard someone else had it and got scared. They dont understand why they have to go to the doctor during pregnancy. A lot of times, they see it as a luxury and dont understand that the health of the baby depends on medical check-ups. They hide behind some myths.”

This may be precisely why the first such contacts under the Bona Dea contract were more difficult, as recalled by another participant in the program, Elena Samoila:

Elena Samoila: “Women were very reluctant at first. This was my impression… everything seemed strange to them, they didnt know us… they didnt know what to expect, and why they would have to take time out of their day to come to our meetings. However, after the first meeting, the one on maternal health and breastfeeding, we saw that they were interested in getting informed. Which is why they came back, they asked questions, and were very active in our discussions.”

Andreea Rusu told us that they had a very different experience with local administrators and police:

Andreea Rusu: “Unfortunately, sometimes the authorities are either incompetent, or ill-willed. On the bright side, we met some extraordinary people too: social workers or health workers, who go out into the community every day, who know peoples problems, and know how to help them. We met some extraordinary women in the police, who were really getting involved. It is true that we have had some ugly interactions with the authorities, but they pale in comparison to the good experiences, learning experiences for us.”

Local police involvement is crucial in enforcing legislation against domestic violence. In Romania, one in four women is physically or sexually assaulted by their partner or former partner. Over 20,000 cases of battery or other kinds of violence among family members were filed with the police in 2017, and the situation improved in July 2018, when legislation on restraining orders came into effect, called provisional protection in Romania. 150 such orders were issued within 10 days of the law being introduced. Andreea Rusu told us that the first hurdle is the fact that the authorities themselves have to get used to this situation:

Andreea Rusu: “If among the authorities the mentality persists that a womans place is in the home, where she has to clean and raise the kids, then the information that they have to disseminate is distorted. If a police agent believes that a woman deserves a beating for failing to clean up the house, then it stands to reason that they would not issue a restraining order, and would not protect her rights.”

Elena Samoila picks up from there:

Elena Samoila: “Clearly a woman suffering domestic violence will not have the courage to complain to a police agent, to get the protection she is entitled to. This restraining order legislation was introduced so that a police agent can issue it on the spot, by filling in a form. With this order, the aggressor can be removed from the premises for up to five days. In this time, the victim has the possibility to initiate court proceedings and get an extension from the court.”

The Bona Dea project started in the summer of last year, and will be completed at the end of this month, when the representatives of Filia Center hope to register a drop in the lack of information.

(translated by: Calin Cotoiu)

11 September 2019
June 21, 2019 UPDATE

EU The president of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker and the president of the European Council Donald Tusk hailed at the end of the Community summit on Friday in Brussels what they called a successful presidency of the Council of the EU on Romanias part. In turn, the president of Romania Klaus Iohannis presented a report on the Romanian semester and said the strategic agenda adopted by the EU leaders on Thursday fully reflects the 10 commitments included in the Sibiu Summit Declaration in May. He also voiced his satisfaction with the fact that, at his request, the EU leaders agreed to include the consolidation of support for the Republic of Moldova.

HACKERS The perpetrators of the recent cyber-attacks on Romanian hospitals might be Chinese, experts with the Romanian Intelligence Services Cyberint Centre announced on Friday. The suspicion is based on the time when the hackers were active and on clues in the ransom messages. Four hospitals, in Bucharest, Husi, Dorohoi (in the north-east) and Alba (centre) were affected by Bad Rabbit 4. The attacks caused problems in the activity of the targeted hospitals, with delays in patient admission and discharge and in the issue of prescriptions.

5G Romania joined the 12 developed states that have introduced 5G strategies in mobile telephony, which greatly increases rates of data transfer for mobile devices. A decision to this end was made in Thursdays government meeting, upon proposal by the Ministry of Communications. The ministry said in a press release that the 5G strategy for Romania had been the object of wider public debate, including proposals from industry and experts. In principle, Romania wants to launch such networks next year, with 5G coverage of all urban centres and the main roadways by 2025. It is estimated that this new technology will create over 250.000 jobs in Romania, with benefits amounting to 5 billion Euro.

EUROPEAN GAMES The 2nd edition of the European Games began in Minsk, Belarus on June 21st. Until June 30th, 4,000 athletes from 50 countries will compete in 15 sports. Romania is represented by 123 athletes. The results in athletics, badminton, cycling, judo, karate, table tennis, archery and shooting will count towards qualification in next years Olympic Games in Tokyo. In the first edition of the European Games, held in Baku in 2015, Romanias Olympic team won 12 medals: 3 gold, 5 silver and 4 bronze.

HANDBALL Lots were drawn in Tokyo on Friday for the four groups of the Worlds Women Handball Championships due to unfold between November 30th and December 15th. Romanias national side has been included in Group C together with Hungary, Spain, Montenegro, Senegal and Kazakhstan. The top three sides in these groups will qualify for the two main groups of the competition. Japan, as a host country, France, the world defending champions, Romania, Russia and the Netherlands (thanks to their good results in the European Championships) have directly qualified for the final tournament.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

21 June 2019
March 5, 2019 UPDATE

JUDICIARY The Government of Romania Tuesday passed changes to the controversial Emergency Order 7 on the justice laws, which had triggered protests across the country. Under the changes announced by Justice Minister Tudorel Toader, only prosecutors with at least 15 years of seniority may hold top positions in the Public Ministry, and only the prosecutors division of the Higher Council of Magistrates, instead of the entire body, is required to give an advisory opinion on appointments. Also, good reputation will no longer be a criterion in dismissing magistrates, and the salaries of IT experts in the judicial system remain unchanged. Tudorel Toader made no comments on the controversial provisions regarding the new division investigating magistrates, which stay in place. The new changes have been operated despite the negative opinion of the Higher Council of Magistrates. Last Sunday in Bucharest and other major cities nearly 8,000 people protested against Emergency Order 7 modifying the justice laws. The prosecutors and judges in some 80 courts and prosecutors offices in half the country have also protested these days, by suspending work or by picketing court buildings.

VISIT The Romanian PM Viorica Dăncilă announced a working visit to Brussels on Wednesday and Thursday, when she will attend 2 events devoted to equal opportunity and promoting womens rights and will have meetings with senior EU officials, including the European Commission first vice-president Frans Timmermans and the Brexit chief negotiator Michel Barnier. This years edition of the Womens European Council is held in a partnership with the Romanian presidency of the Council of the EU, and will focus on better representation of women in politics and on promoting women into leadership positions, Viorica Dăncilă said. The second event will be organised by Romanias permanent representation to the EU, and will also be devoted to gender equality. The Romanian PM also added that on Thursday and Friday in Brussels, the Justice and Home Affairs Council will convene, chaired by Interior Minister Carmen Dan and Justice Minister Tudorel Toader. The agenda includes EU-wide cooperation in the field of the judiciary and border security, the Common European Asylum System and the Unions response to migration and terrorism.

FLU Two more people died in Romania because of the flu, the National Centre for Infectious Disease Monitoring and Control confirmed on Tuesday. The 2 women were over 80 and also suffered from other, chronic conditions, and only one of them had been immunised against the flu. The total number of deaths caused this season by the flu has reached 165. According to the latest data, over 1.3 million people have been vaccinated so far.

VOLLEYBALL The Romanian womens volleyball team CSM Alba Blaj Tuesday defeated Ştiinţa Bacău 3-0, in the return leg of the Romanian semi-final of the CEV Cup, the second top official competition in Europe. Alba Blaj had also won the first leg, in Bacau, 3-0, a week ago. Last year, Alba also played the Champions League final, which they lost in Bucharest to the Turkish club VakifBank Istanbul. The other semi-final of the CEV Cup pits Hungarian team Swietelsky Bekescsaba against Yamamay e-work Busto Arsizio of Italy.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

5 March 2019
Writer Margarita Miller Verghy

Of the plethora of women who contributed to Romanias war effort in WWI, working towards the Great Union of 1918, Margarita Miller Verghy stands out, not least for the way in which she coped with what fate handed her. In childhood she was plagued by several medical conditions, and yet she overcame them to become a teacher, a journalist, a writer, a feminist activist, and a volunteer nurse in the war.

Here is Monica Negru from the National Archives of Romania, sketching for us a biography of Margarita Miller Verghy: “She was born in Iasi in 1865, the daughter of a professor and politician who was descended from a Polish noble family. Her father died when she was young. The girl was left with her mother, and soon after she contracted bone tuberculosis, and her mother made the decision to seek treatment abroad; for that reason she was educated in Geneva and Paris. There she learned six foreign languages. When she got back in the country, she got her baccalaureate at the Elena Doamna boarding school, and eventually she got an advanced degree and PhD in philosophy at the University of Geneva. Settling eventually in Bucharest, Margarita Miller Verghy was headmistress of the Elena Doamna Normal School for Girls, where she wrote the first textbooks: a textbook for learning French, and several textbooks for younger pupils.”

In 1912, she published a book called “Razvans Children”, a book that got an award from the Romanian Academy, and a first among textbooks, as it was the first volume of supplementary reading for gymnasium students. Her educational endeavors were a natural extension of her literary preoccupations, as Monica Negru told us: “Margarita Miller Verghys debut was in a newspaper, with a short story. She was also the first translator of Queen Maries writings into Romanian. During WWI, Margarita, just like pianist Cella Delavrancea, was on the side of the Central Powers, not the Allies, as a Germanophile. However, when Romania joined the war in 1916, her school, Elena Doamna, was turned into a military hospital, so she enlisted as a volunteer nurse with the Romanian Red Cross. During the German occupation, just like other members of charitable organizations, she was caring for war orphans.”

During the interwar period, Margarita Miller Verghy continued with her literary and journalistic activity. In the 1940s she contributed to radio theater productions for Radio Romania, in spite of her frail health. In 1924 she had a car accident which left her almost completely blind. Literary activity blended with activism in her life, even before the Great War. Monica Negru: “In 1915, together with other Romanian women writers, she founded the Romanian Women Scouts Association. Later, together with Adela, sister to historian Alexandru Xenopol, she founded the Society of Women Writers. She acted as its vice-president and contributed articles to the societys magazine. She was a member of various feminist organizations of her time. We found a document attesting that in 1935 she was active in the Romanian National Council of Women, led by Alexandra Cantacuzino. In the history of literature she is remembered as the first female writer to publish a detective novel, The Princess in Crinoline, which Margarita Miller Verghy wrote when she was 82 years old. She also wrote short stories, theater plays and ethnography works which the Romanian Academy granted her awards for. She also contributed to the book The Evolution of Feminist Writing in Romania. “

Margarita Miller Verghy passed away in 1953, at 87 years of age, as a major figure in the world of Romanian literature, letters and activism.

16 February 2019
Women of the Great War

Before the Great Union of 1918, during WWI, which was a difficult period for the Romanian Kingdom, as most of it was under German occupation at that time, not only the soldiers on the frontline proved to be real heroes. Women also had a significant contribution to Romania’s war efforts by getting involved in a series of activities from raising the morale of the troops to charity and diplomatic events. A vintage photo exhibition, which also had on display documents and manuscripts, has been recently mounted by the National Archives in an attempt to highlight the activity of several remarkable women, who were also precursors of the Romanian feminism. Here is now Monica Negru, curator of this exhibition entitled “Discovering History. Women of the Great War” with more on the activity carried out by these women. She starts with Alexandrina Cantacuzino, a symbol of the feminine movement of the inter-war Romania.

Monica Negru: “Alexandrina Cantacuzino was a woman with vast knowledge and an iron will. She was animated by a religious, traditionalist and nationalist spirit, being at the same time a speaker of European level. Alexandrina was born in September 1876 and married Conservative politician Grigore G. Cantacuzino, who served as a minister, state secretary and senator. She financially supported the Romanian women’s emancipation movement and made donations to 33 schools. She also sent thousands of books to Bessarabia. Alexandrina Cantacuzino was a leading figure of Romanian and international feminism in the first four decades of the 20th century. Since 1918 she led the National Orthodox Society of Romanian Women, which supported the foundation of cultural associations, the construction of schools and social houses in Bucharest and other cities. In the first years of WWI, Alexandrina Cantacuzino chose to remain in Bucharest during the German occupation, where as a Red Cross member, she contributed to the good functioning of a military hospital and helped POWs in several camps in Bucharest.”

After the war, Alexandrina Cantacuzino continued her activities of helping the girls who lived on limited means and the emancipation of women in general. Alexandrina Cantacuzino supported the foundation of Women’s Little Entente, bringing together women from Romania, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Greece. In 1923 and 1924 she was the president of the body, while between 1925 and 1936 Alexandrina Cantacuzino was vice-president of the International Women’s Council. She lived a very long life, dying in 1944. Alexandra Cantacuzino’s activity enjoyed the support of Alexandrina Falcoianu.

With details on that, here is Monica Negru once again: “Alexandrina Fălcoianu was born into an old family of Wallachian boyars. Her father was a mathematician and university professor in Bucharest. Her first cousin was Elena Vacarescu, together with whom she lived in the west for a while. Alexandrina Falcoinanu wrote her memoirs, whose manuscript version is preserved in the National Archives. During the Balkan War years she took a course for voluntary nurses. She became a member of the Balkan Red Cross, she was constantly active, even on a Romanian ambulance sent to Bulgaria in 1913. In 1916 when Bucharest was conquered by the Central Powers, she set up a canteen near Titu railway station, close to the capital city, where she offered soldiers a daily hot meal. There, those who had sustained injuries, received a bowl of broth, a quarter loaf of bread and tea, that is 40,000 soldiers a day, on an average.”

Also during the war, Alexandrina Falcoianu was at the helm of several hospitals in Bucharest, being appointed by the Red Cross. In her memoirs, Alexandrina Falcoianu wrote about the protection granted to escaping Romanian prisoners, who hid in one of those hospitals And it was also under the supervision of Alexandrina Cantacuzino that another remarkable woman was trained, known as “the prisoners’ fairy.”

Speaking about that, here is Monica Negru once again: ”Zoe Ramniceanu, a prominent member of SONFR, was one of the founding leaders, acting as a general treasurer. During WWI, she was a medical trained nurse with Hospital 113 in Bucharest, jointly with Alexandrina Falcoianu. The two served time in prison for a short while, on charges of taking action against the then German occupation. Zoe Ramniceanu was a member of the Romanian Red Cross, activating continually to help Romanian prisoners and visited concentration camps. Starting December 1st, 1916, she provided food and medical care for the 4,000 prisoners in the Capital city.”

Alongside those women, in the first years of Greater Romania, there were other women, who compelled recognition, as philanthropists and social activists, but also as promoters of arts and science.

19 January 2019
Women in the digital world

Romanian IT&C experts have long gained appreciation at home and abroad. They include a lot of girls and women who, in spite of the stereotype that women are not fit for technical professions, have been making a career in the field, even more so than in other states. For instance, according to the 2017 statistics of the US Company Hacker Ran, Romania ranks sixth, with a score of 164.9 in a top of women programmers’ performance.

These data concur with those provided by EU institutions. According to Eurostat, Romania and Lithuania have the second largest share of women working in IT&C — 25.7% in 2017, while the European average is nearly 17%. Bulgaria ranks first, with women accounting for 26.5% of its IT&C employees. That is no wonder if we think of the development of education in the field, as Veronica Stefan, founder of the Digital Citizens Romania Association points out:

Veronica Stefan: “We fare well especially as regards young women studying computing and taking their degree. We’re less successful in terms of women getting an MA or PhD degree, which means those young women don’t specialize at a higher level. But we do have women programmers, who develop various technological products. All in all, Romania has a large number of certified IT&C experts. Half of the high school computer science classes are made up of boys and half of girls. Our educational system encourages technical tuition and that is apparent in the big cities.”

Nevertheless, it is difficult to say how many women working in the IT&C sector hold managerial offices or are mere employees. Furthermore, the IT market in Romania relies on outsourcing, with many companies producing and developing ideas that come from elsewhere. Moreover, few women are on the managing board of Romanian start-ups or who are managers of Romanian entrepreneurship projects.

Veronica Stefan: “Women are team members but not necessarily team leaders. They are often members of the communication team, or of the team developing ideas. So when it comes to entrepreneurship, figures are below expectations. It is a good thing that 30% of girls and women work and study in the IT&C sector, but things are not as good as regards entrepreneurship.”

Things aren’t better in this respect in the rest of the EU either. Gender equality experts say that the small number of women working not only in IT, but in technology and science in general, has to do with women’s self-confidence and with the aspirations instilled by tradition and education. Lina Salanauskaite, a researcher with the European Institute for Gender Equality in Vilnius, tells us more about it:

Lina Salanauskaite: “If you look at the share of women in terms of ICT specialists in the EU, it is about 17%, and you see that this average across all EU countries is in this group that says table, which essentially means that in the last five years there was nothing changing. We also see that in a number of countries, despite this low share of women among ICT specialists, the number of women is even dropping. There are different reasons for why we have few women in ICT professions and they relate to larger differences of why there are few women in science and engineering professions and how the gender stereotypes walk across these things. But I wanted to point out to you about the aspirations. If you look at the age of 15, essentially it’s settled, so at the age of 15, from 3% minimum of teenagers — we take the whole population of teenage boys across the EU and ask — this was the survey done by the OECD- how many of them would aspire to become ICT professionals, and so from minimum 3% maximum 15% of teenage boys wanted to become ICT professionals. Then we look in terms of girls aspirations to become ICT professionals and we see that maximum of just above 1% in four countries we have girls that aspire to become ICT professionals. So girls are not even reaching the minimum aspirations of the boys currently. And this is one of the reflections where we show that this motivation, confidence, is not about digital skills, is not about math skills, or scientific skills, it’s more about how boys and girls see their future, where they see they can be strong, where they can have maybe a progression of career going forward, where they could be able to combine work and family, etc., so we see that the age of 15 is in a way divided.”

Back to Romania, when it comes to specialising in ITC and in basic digital skills, such as using the computer or going online to create content, for information or for looking for a job, Romania is full of paradoxes, says Veronica Stefan:

Veronica Stefan: “Although we now speak of how well we stand in the IT and digital sector in terms of the number or specialists, when we look at the overall population, statistics show we are at the bottom of the ranking. Around 30% of the general population has basic digital competencies, which puts us on the last place in the EU. We do very well in this respect in big cities like Bucharest, Cluj, Iasi, Constanta, Craiova, Sibiu and Brasov, but large parts of the population outside these cities simply lack these skills.”

(translated by: Ana-Maria Palcu, Elena Enache)

29 August 2018
Women in the media and the IT sector

EU statistics say that women continue to be poorly represented in the IT sector and mass media, though some progress has been made in this respect in recent years. However, the statistics point to certain differences separating Romania from other EU countries. In many European countries, there are more women journalists than men. However, less women journalists than men hold management positions. For instance, on an average, at a European level, in 2015, 48% of women reporters and senior producers worked in television, 40% were broadcast journalists and 34% worked in the print press. Nevertheless, 38% of women had management positions in mass media and only 36% held top positions.

According to a survey conducted by the Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) every five years, in 2015, though 80% of the graduates of relevant faculties were women, only 35% of them worked in the print press, radio and TV, and only 38% were active on the news sites. However, an improvement was noted as against the GMMP report of 2010, not necessarily in terms of the number of news and broadcast producers, but rather in terms of their content, says Oana Baluta, a female activist and associate professor at the Journalism School of the University of Bucharest:

Oana Baluta: “There is a symbolical annihilation in mass media: less women work in mass media than men. When they do work in this sector, women are often trivialized, even those holding managerial positions. We take more interest in a woman managers hairdo than in her professional performance or resume. Another problem is that the mass media tends to reinforce stereotypes regarding women. Interestingly, mostly men are interviewed as experts or invited as guests in various talk shows, indicating where the power of expertise and knowledge is thought to lie. Women are generally invited when social issues are addressed. All those problems should be food for thought.

Similar findings are presented in a complex report on equal opportunities for men and women in six key areas and two adjacent ones. Oana Baluta believes that there are no flattering results regarding Romania in the EU Gender Equality Index:

Oana Baluta: “According to the European Gender Equality Index, Romania is at the bottom of the EU ranking in terms of gender equality. The Index measures gender equality in several domains such as knowledge, education, power and time. For instance, the extent to which women and men have access to free time, given that apart from working, women also do house chores and take care of children.

This is the overall picture, but a closer look at some segments shows that at present, the Romanian Government is headed by a woman, and 8 other ministries are also led by women. In Romania, only 5% of women earn less than men in similar positions, as compared to the European average of 16%. Furthermore, in IT, a sector which is increasingly connected to the mass media, Romanian women are better represented than most European women. According to data released by Eurostat, the proportion of Romanian women specialists in the field stands at 27%, as against to the 16% EU average, our country ranking second in Europe, after Bulgaria and ahead of Latvia. However, in this sector, too, women are under-represented at European level, MEP Claudia Ţapardel concludes:

Claudia Ţapardel: “As regards the advantages offered by the IT&C domain, women only benefit from one-third of these advantages. Also, there is an alarming trend at European level, namely that many of the ladies who are already active in the field will later in their career give up their work in this domain and embrace another one. This happens at a time when the European Commission forecasts that, by 2020, there will be a deficit of 1,000,000 IT&C experts in Europe. In another field associated with the IT industry, namely science and engineering, only one-fifth of management positions are held by women.

In order to reduce gender gaps on the labour market, Romania intends to introduce a new job, in accordance with the international legislation that our country has already adopted. Graţiela Drăghici, the President of the National Agency for Gender Equality, has more:

Graţiela Drăghici: “The gender equality expert job is an instrument that we make available to Romanian society and all public and private entities. A new bill regulates the possibility for all public and private entities with more than 50 employees to identify an employee who can be assigned the position of gender equality expert, or to hire one from outside the respective institution or firm. This is not mandatory, we only sought to offer an instrument without imposing an obligation. This instrument has a high potential of promoting the issue of gender equality in society.

The draft law meant to regulate the position of gender equality expert has already been passed by the government and is to be debated in Parliament.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Palcu, Diana Vijeu)

21 March 2018
October 31, 2017 UPDATE

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

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

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

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

The act was carried out by a lone wolf

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

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

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

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

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

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

31 October 2017