May 23, 2023

Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 23.05.2023, 13:55

STRIKE Romania’s teachers are in the second day of their
strike and trade unions say they won’t give up their protest until the
coalition government PNL-PSD-UDMR comes with a credible solution to their
claims. Although teachers aren’t satisfied with the offer made by the
authorities, Prime Minister Ciuca has called on them to go back to schools and at
the same time invited representatives of parent-student associations for a new
round of talks over the situation in Romania’s education system. In another
development, the Senate in Bucharest on Monday endorsed the new education laws,
which are to be promulgated. According to the political parties in the ruling
coalition, the new measures for the undergraduate and university education are
going to reform the system. However, the opposition believes the amendments are
not going to solve the existing problems.

TALKS
Romania’s Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu jointly with his Spanish and Polish
counterparts, Jose Manuel Albares Bueno and Zbigniew Rau, respectively, is
inaugurating the trilateral format Romania – Spain – Poland during a meeting to
take place in the Spanish city of Valencia. According to a communiqué of the
Romanian Foreign Ministry, the beginning of this trilateral dialogue represents
a materialization of the close cooperation between the three countries at the
EU and NATO levels in accordance with the similar and interconnected strategic
interests, even if they are at different extremities of the European continent.
Furthermore, each of the three countries has special responsibilities at the EU
and NATO borders, the sources say. The agenda of the trilateral talks includes
the top priorities of the Spanish presidency of the European Union Council, the
upcoming two summits of the European Political Communities in Chisinau on June
1st and Granada on October 5th, the strategic resilience
and the EU enlargement, the migration, the consolidation of the Schengen
region, as well as the cooperation in terms of energy security. In the field of
security and cooperation inside NATO, the participants will also focus on other
issues such as the management of the consequences of Russia’s aggression war in
Ukraine, the support for that country and the other partners affected by the
Russian aggression, especially the Republic of Moldova, the priorities of the
NATO summit in Vilnius this year, the challenges facing the eastern and
southern vicinity of the Black Sea, the Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean.

PROTEST Scores of farmers from Romania have gone to Brussels
to participate today in a protest rally of farmers and associations staged by
the so-called enlarged Visegrad Group. Farmers are disgruntled by the serious
problems and imbalances affecting the agrifood sector in Central and Eastern
Europe against the background of the war in Ukraine. The meeting is being
attended by 200 participants from six countries, Romania, Poland, Hungary, the
Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Slovakia. 50 of these participants are coming from
Romania, representatives of the Alliance for Agriculture and Cooperation AAC
have announced. According to them the situation is serious and farmers in the
aforementioned countries are presently facing plummeting prices and a sharp
drop in the demand for cereals and seeds caused by the imports of cheap cereals
from Ukraine although these shipments have initially been bound for third
countries or the traditional buyers of Ukrainian products.

COUNCIL The Romanian Defence Minister Angel Tîlvăr is in Brussels to participate in the
Foreign Affairs Council in its defence configuration. The Romanian official
will be also participating in the meeting of the European Defence Agency. High
of the FAC agenda is the EU support for the invaded Ukraine as well as the
recent initiatives over the joint defence purchases and the revitalization of
the industrial capabilities of the member states. The EU High Representative
for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell is expected to be presenting
the latest developments in the EU’s operational commitments and the headway in
the Permanent Structured Cooperation initiative also known as PESCO. NATO
Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will be participating in a working lunch
which has high on the agenda the EU-NATO cooperation on various levels,
especially in the area of providing a joint response to the challenges of the
present security environment.

(bill)