July 5, 2021 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 05.07.2021, 19:59

Covid ▪ Romania’s entire territory remains in the green scenario regarding the spread of the novel coronavirus. 28 new cases of contamination were reported on Monday out of almost 12 thousand tests made in the past 24 hours. 45 deaths were also announced of which 44 are from previous months. 65 patients are currently in ICUs. Since the onset of the vaccination campaign in Romania on December 27, 2020 almost 4.6 million persons have been fully vaccinated.

Tarom ▪ The European Commission announced on Monday that it opened an in-depth investigation to assess whether the aid granted by the Romanian authorities to the TAROM airline comply with EU rules on state aid granted to companies in difficulty. TAROM, the Romanian government-owned airline, has been facing financial difficulties for many years. In February 2020, TAROM received from the Romanian state a temporary rescue loan of about 36.7 million Euros, after approval by the Commission, under EU state aid regulations. On May 28, 2021, the Romanian authorities notified the Commission about a restructuring plan for TAROM, which they want to restructure through public funding worth approximately 190 million Euros. This aid is to be provided in the form of a capital injection, a subsidy and through the elimination of debts corresponding to the amount of the rescue aid (approximately 36.7 million Euros) and the related interest. The opening of an investigation offers Romania and interested third parties the opportunity to submit comments and it does not anticipate the investigation’s outcome.

Justice ▪ The Romanian Justice Minister, Stelian Ion, has announced that Parliament could meet in an extraordinary session to discuss the project aimed at dismantling the Special Section to investigate crimes committed by magistrates (SIIJ), after receiving a favorable opinion in this regard from the Venice Commission. He said that he expected the Senate to put this bill on the agenda next week. Minister Ion reminded that, in the government program, the disbanding of the controversial special section is the first measure in the Justice chapter that was supposed to be taken, but the project was blocked in Parliament. The dismantling of the Special Section to investigate crimes committed by magistrates is opportune – says the Venice Commission which also recommends the elimination of articles from the bill that could create super-immunity for magistrates. The European Justice Forum also welcomed the intention of the Romanian authorities to reform the judiciary.

Exams ▪ In Romania, the final results of the National Evaluation exams have been released. After solving the appeals, the percentage of candidates with average results higher than or equal to 5 is about 77%. A special session was held on Monday for students who, due to medical reasons, were unable to attend the first stage of the exam. On the other hand, the results of the Baccalaureate exam have been released. The cumulative graduation rate, before appeals, at country level, is almost 68%, on the rise by about 5% as compared to the same release stage in the June-July session of 2020 — the Education Ministry shows. High school graduates dissatisfied with the grades received at the Baccalaureate exam can appeal against them, with the final results being released on July 9.

Football ▪ Romanias Under-23 team continues training for the Tokyo Olympics. Romania is playing in Group B and will face Honduras on July 22, South Korea on July 25 and New Zealand on July 28. The Romanian footballers have qualified for the Olympics after having reached the semifinals of the European Under-21 Championship in 2019, hosted by Italy and San Marino. Romania has not participated in the Olympic football tournament since 1964, when it ranked 5th also in Tokyo. Before 1964, Romania had participated only in the European Championships of Paris in 1924 and of Helsinki in 1952.

Education ▪ On Monday, President Klaus Iohannis started a series of consultations with the political parties and the social partners on the Educated Romania project, in the context of finalizing the public debate. He met at the Cotroceni Palace with Prime Minister Florin Cîţu, the Education Minister and the leaders of the governing coalition. On Tuesday, Klaus Iohannis will discuss with the Parliament leadership and with members of the Parliament’s education committees, and on Wednesday with the social dialogue partners in the field of education and with the representatives of the NGOs involved in the project. The Presidential Administration announced last week that the main areas of reform and lines of action of the Educated Romania project would be presented during the discussions, in order to achieve a social and political consensus, which should guarantee its implementation and cross-party commitment. ‘Educated Romania’ was launched by the Romanian President in 2016 and went through several stages of public debates, without having so far produced any change in the education system. (LS)