March 29, 2023 UPDATE
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Newsroom, 29.03.2023, 20:00
Education – In Bucharest, the education draft laws were approved in the government meeting on Wednesday and are to be debated and adopted in Parliament, in an emergency procedure. The line minister, Ligia Deca, stated that the documents brought together the desiderata and vision of society as a whole with regard to education in the run up to 2030. She gave some examples of changes to the law, such as centering the educational system on the student, stimulating the potential that each child has and accompanying this potential from early education to adulthood. Another desideratum would be to increase the quality and level of functional literacy. Ligia Deca also said that the lessons learned as a result of the successive crises of the recent years were also included in the two laws.
Protest – Two Romanian trade union federations on Wednesday staged a protest outside the government headquarters, unhappy with the salary scheme in this sector. They demand urgent solutions to enhance the incomes of the auxiliary teaching staff and overtime pay for the teaching and auxiliary staff. The federations also demand the application of the regulations on the payment of bonuses for working conditions, saying that the education employees are the only category of public employees that does not benefit from such bonuses. Similar protests were held last week around the country. Trade unions say they are planning a protest rally in Bucharest in May and even warn of a general strike unless the government finds solutions to the problems of the employees in the education sector.
Pensions – The Senate has passed a bill on the reform of special pensions, with 79 MPs voting in favor and 37 against. After intense discussions, the bill was approved on Tuesday by the specialist committees, who only accepted the amendments proposed by the parliamentary majority. One of the changes refers to an additional tax of 15% on the special pensions exceeding the gross average salary. Also, special pensions can no longer exceed the incomes obtained before retirement, and beneficiaries cannot receive both a salary and a pension. Around 200,000 people currently benefit from special pensions, of whom 170,000 are former defense and public order employees. Romania has 7 categories of special pensions, including those of magistrates, military and diplomats. Yearly budget expenses connected to special pensions amount to some 2.4 billion Euros. Former magistrates have the highest pensions, even amounting to some 3,600 Euros a month, ten times more than the average state pension. Changing this pension system is a requirement laid down in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and failure to make the change may lose Romania almost 3 billion Euros of EU funding.
Natural gas – EU energy ministers have decided to extend by another year the recommendation to cut natural gas use by 15%. The measure was initially proposed after the start of the war in Ukraine in an attempt to reduce dependence on Russian gas. According to the Swedish presidency of the EU, thanks to this recommendation, European gas use dropped by almost 20% from August to January. The reduction in consumption also contributed to a drop in prices, said the EU officials.
Drill — Sea Shield 2023, the most complex NATO military training exercise planned and conducted by the Romanian Naval Forces this year, continued on the Black Sea shore. An evacuation exercise took place on Wednesday, in which the forces involved manage a situation of illegal transport of refugees by sea. Romanian and Bulgarian ships participated. About 3,400 soldiers and representatives of several institutions from the national defense system, as well as from 12 allied and partner states, are participating in Sea Shield 2023. (CM, LS)
