June 18, 2023

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 18.06.2023, 13:51

Legislation. A bill on
the reform of special pensions will reach the specialist committee of the
Chamber of Deputies on Monday. An objective of the ruling parties, the Social
Democratic Party and the National Liberal Party, the bill is an important
element of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan on which the allocation of
European funds depends. The government says the amendments submitted to the
bill already passed by the Senate are in keeping with the commitments made
under the Plan, while the opposition says they bring no significant changes.

Exam. The national
evaluation for 8th year pupils gets under way on Monday with the
written test in the Romanian language and literature. The exam lasts two hours
and will be video and audio monitored. On Wednesday, pupils will take the
mathematics exam and the grades will be published on 28th of June. In
a change to the system that has been in place for the last 20 years, the
average grade for the 6th-8th years will no longer be
taken into account for admission to high school, which will only be made based
on the national evaluation average.

Weather. Orange and yellow code
alerts for torrential rain are in place until Sunday evening in the eastern
half of the country. Showers, thunderstorms, strong gusts and even hail storms
are expected. The amount of precipitation is forecast to amount to 30-40 litres
per sq metre, even reaching 50-60 in some areas. A yellow code alert for
atmospheric instability is also in place until Monday morning in the eastern
half of the country. Hydrologists have announced that warning levels have been
exceeded on waterways across the country. The highs of the day are between 23
and 30 degrees Celsius.

Flooding. More than 100
people were temporarily evacuated in Romania from settlements affected by the
heavy rains reported in recent days. The south-west of the country was worst
hit, with hundreds of households being flooded. Roads have been blocked by
fallen trees or debris. In the mountains, pieces of rock broke off. Floods were
also reported in the north-east. According to the General Inspectorate for Emergency
Situations, more than 5,000 fire fighters and 3,000 pieces of equipment are on
stand-by, ready to help the population and the local authorities in the areas
affected by the dangerous weather phenomena forecast for this period.

Aid. Romanian prime minister Marcel
Ciolacu has promised that everyone affected by flooding will receive aid from
the government. He says the Department for Emergency Situations is making sure
the people who were evacuated receive a hot meal and water, as well as shelter
for the night. Money will be disbursed from the reserve fund to rebuild the
roads and address the damage, he has also said. Environment minister Mircea Fechet has urged the population not to travel near
waterways at this time of the year and especially not to try to cross them
where there are public warnings in place, or they may risk their lives.

NATO. The NATO summit in Vilnius next month will
redraw the security architecture of this part of Europe. NATO deputy secretary
general Mircea
Geoană said this would bring more security for Romania and more opportunities
for the Romanian defence industry. He added that Romania has never enjoyed more
security than today. We are extremely interested, when it comes to innovation
and new technologies, for all allied countries, including those in the east,
such as Romania, to work more intensely with high military technology and
technology firms in the West, said Geoană. He added that he believed the need
to help Ukraine in the long term, to transform the military and national
security systems, may lead to a genuine renaissance of national defence
industries, including in Romania. On a visit to Cluj, in north-western Romania,
Geoană met entrepreneurs in areas such as cyber security and innovation.

Football. Romania will be playing Switzerland on
Monday evening in a Group I qualifying match ahead of the 2024 European Football
Championship to be hosted by Germany. After the first three legs, Switzerland
top the group with a maximum of 9 points, followed by Romania with 7, Israel
with 4, Kosovo with 3, Andorra with 1 and Belarus with zero points. The two
best-ranked teams will qualify. (CM)