September 10, 2018
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Newsroom, 10.09.2018, 13:15
2018-2019 SCHOOL YEAR — Some 3 million school and pre-school children are today starting a new school year. State Secretary with the Education Ministry Florian Lixandru told Radio Romania that 80% of pre-university schooling units have public health permits, while the remaining 20% are in the process of obtaining one or don’t have one. In another development, the Chamber of Deputies’ Education Committee next week will hear the head of the Pedagogical Publishing House after serious errors were identified in several textbooks.
SWINE FEVER VIRUS — The African swine fever virus has spread to Giurgiu County as well, the 12th county were fever hotbeds have been identified. So far 160,000 pigs have been culled. Last week the Prosecutor General’s Office launched an investigation into the epidemic, with actionable negligence and reckless misconduct being considered as possible offences. Under harsh criticism from pig farmers, the opposition and President Iohannis for the way it handled the crisis, the Government has promised compensations.
TRADE DEFICIT — Romania’s trade deficit in the first seven months of the year stood at 7.6 billion euros, up by 10% as compared to the similar period in 2017, the National Statistics Institute reports. Exports to EU member states exceeded 30.5 billion euros while imports stood at 35.5 billion. Trade with EU states accounted for 75% of total trade.
FOREIGN POLICY TALKS — Romania’s Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu today met in Bucharest with his Swiss counterpart, Ignazio Cassis. The agenda for talks focused on bilateral relations and EU topics. Finalizing negotiations over a framework agreement between the EU and Switzerland is one of the priorities of Romania’s term at the helm of the EU Council, Minister Melescanu said. In turn, Minister Cassis argued in favor of improving two-way trade, considering Switzerland is Romania’s 8th investor. In another development, Minister Melescanu will take part in a new round of trilateral talks Romania-Poland-Turkey on Tuesday. According to the Ministry, talks will focus on NATO operations in the region and global security developments. The informal talks are part of a strategic dialogue between the three states, the Foreign Ministry has announced.
MANEUVERS — Russia on Tuesday will commence its largest series of military maneuvers, criticized by NATO as a rehearsal for a large-scale conflict. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, some 300,000 military will take part, including Chinese and Mongolian soldiers, 36,000 vehicles, a thousand aircraft and 80 navy vessels. Titled EST-2018, the military exercise will end on September 17. Maneuvers are underway against the backdrop of tense relations with the Western powers, marked by the Ukrainian crisis, the Syrian conflict and the numerous allegations of involvement in the internal politics of numerous states, including the USA.
ELECTION IN SWEDEN — Swedish Social-Democrat Prime Minister Stefan Lofven has invited the center-right opposition to consultations after Sunday’s legislative election, won by the far-right. Lofven expressed his will to continue as prime minister and block the anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats Party’s aspirations to form a ruling coalition. The center-left and the center-right factions grabbed a little over 40% of the vote. The final results will be made public on Wednesday. With 17.6%, the far-right got an additional 5% of the vote as compared to the previous election.
FOOTBALL — Romania’s national football team is today playing Serbia in the second match of UEFA Nations League. On Friday, in the first game of the campaign in the third tier’s Group 4, Romania drew nil-all against Montenegro at home. The results reported in Nations League will count towards the 2020 European Championship preliminaries. On the other hand, Romania’s Under-21 team will take on Bosnia Herzegovina at home in Group 8 of the European Championship preliminaries. On Friday, Romania won 2-1 against Portugal. After seven games, Romania is ranked second in the group tables with 15 points.
(Translated by V. Palcu)
