September 17, 2022
A roundup of local and international news.
Newsroom, 17.09.2022, 14:00
NRRP – Romania will receive in the upcoming weeks a first trench of 2.6 billion euros under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, after the European Commission confirmed that Bucharest had reached all 21 targets assumed under the plan. The money will go into road and rail infrastructure, the modernization of 100 nurseries, digitization of universities, hydrogen co-generation and production and prevention of school dropout. PM Nicolae Ciuca has said Romania may adjust, as of next year, the minimum wage level recently adopted by the European Parliament. The law establishes procedures for the adequacy of statutory minimum wages, promotes collective bargaining on wage setting and enhances the effective access to minimum wage protection for those workers who are entitled to a minimum wage under national law. Setting minimum wages remains a national prerogative, but member states should ensure that national minimum wages allow workers to live decently, taking into account the cost of living and wider wage levels.
CYBER SECURITY – Romania’s team ranked 8th out of 33 at the European Cyber Security Challenge held in Vienna between September 13 and 16. Denmark ranked 1st, followed by Germany and France. Top cyber talents from each participating country met in Austria-s capital to network and collaborate and finally compete against each other. Contestants were challenged in solving security related tasks from domains such as web security, mobile security, crypto puzzles, reverse engineering and forensics and in the process collected points for solving them. The European Cyber Security Challenge is an initiative by the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) and aims at enhancing cyber security talent across Europe and connecting high potentials with industry leading organizations. Romania has won the 2019 edition of the competition and was twice European vice-champion.
MEDIA – The European Commission adopted on Friday a European Media Freedom Act, a novel set of rules to protect media pluralism and independence in the EU. According to a release by the European Commission, the proposed regulation includes, among others, safeguards against political interference in editorial decisions and against surveillance, puts a focus on the independence and stable funding of public service media as well as on the transparency of media ownership and of the allocation of state advertising. Vice-President for Values and Transparency, Věra Jourová, said “We need to establish clear principles: no journalist should be spied on because of their job; no public media should be turned into propaganda channel.”
CELEBRATION – Bucharest celebrates its 563rd anniversary this weekend. Street shows, photo exhibitions, film screenings and concerts have been scheduled to celebrate the event. From tango, foxtrot and swing to classical music, the cultural events held this weekend try to reconstitute the inter-war period, when Romania’s capital was called Little Paris. In its 563 years of existence, Bucharest has been the main arena for Romania’s artistic, cultural, and political changes.
TENNIS – The Romanian and Slovakian tennis teams each have 1 point in the first round of the Davis Cup — The World Cup of Tennis, following two singles matches held on Friday in Bratislava. Alex Molcan, the best Slovak player at the moment, defeated Marius Copil 7-5, 6-1, while Nicholas David Ionel of Romania beat Norbert Gombos in three sets, 6-7, 7-5, 6-4. Men’s doubles matches have been scheduled for today, with Marius Copil and Vlad Cornea up against Lukas Klein/Igor Zelenay while in the singles Nicholas David Ionel plays again Alex Molcan and Marius Copil is up against Norbert Gombos. (EE)
