September 9, 2019 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 09.09.2019, 19:55
SCHOOL – The biggest problem of the Romanian education system is its under-financing, alongside with an excessive focus on theoretical learning, to the detriment of a practical approach to education, said on Monday the European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport Tibor Navracsics. He attended, in Satu Mare, in north-western Romania, the opening of the school year. Nearly 3 million school and kindergarten children in Romania started the 2019-2020 school year on Monday. According to a news release issued by the National Education Ministry, over 215,000 educators will be teaching this year, during 35 weeks structured into 2 semesters. Attending the official opening in Bucharest, President Klaus Iohannis spoke about the failure of public education policies and their lack of creativity. In turn, PM Viorica Dăncilă, said in Hunedoara, in the south-west of the country, that education was vital to overcoming poverty.
GOVERNMENT – The Government of Romania convened on Monday to discuss a number of draft resolutions. One of them concerns the minimum amount of performance, merit, education and social scholarships to be granted in public undergraduate schools during the new academic year. The Government approved the technical and economic performance indicators for the investment in the Cluj Napoca Regional Emergency Hospital, a project benefiting from EU funding. Also, a memorandum on the Government debt management strategy for the coming 3 years was discussed at the meeting.
BRUSSELS – The EC president elect Ursula von der Leyen has announced the full list of accepted European Commissioners, and the Romanian Rovana Plumb is among them. The Council of the EU has to endorse the list, and then it will be published in the Official Journal of the European Union. On Tuesday, Ursula von der Leyen will announce the allocation of portfolios and the way in which she intends to organize the activity of the future European Commission. Currently, Rovana Plumb is the vice-president of the Socialists group in the European Parliament. She was a minister of the environment between 2012-2014, labour minister between 2014-2015 and minister delegate for European funds in 2017.
VISIT — The Romanian Minister for Romanians Abroad Natalia Intotero will pay a visit to Italy over September 10-18. She will take part in meetings with members of the Romanian community and the Romanian associative environment in Turin, Milan, Venice, Bologna, Florence, Cagliari, Catania, Cosenza, Bari, Naples and Rome with a view to informing the Romanian citizens in Italy about how they can vote at the elections due in November this year. The agenda also includes talks with representatives of the local authorities.
FESTIVAL – The “George Enescu” International Festival continued in Bucharest on Monday. The American soprano Laura Aikin performed George Enescus Seven Songs on lyrics by Clément Marot, together with Dresden Staatskapelle. The capital city also hosted a concert entitled From Classical to Jazz, with first performances inspired by George Enescus Rhapsody no I and II. Singer Teodora Enache was joined by Călin Grigoriu on guitar, Joca Perpignan (Israel) on percussion and Răzvan Suma on the cello. The central theme of this years edition is “The world in harmony”, and the artistic director is Vladimir Jurowski. Until September 22, Bucharest and 10 other cities in Romania, Germany, France, Italy, Canada and the Rep. of Moldova, will host performances associated to the Festival. Radio Romania has been a co-producer of the event ever since its first edition, in 1958.
NAVY – “King Ferdinand” Frigate, the military vessel with the biggest number of first performances in the post-communist history of the Romanian Naval Forces, celebrated on Monday 15 years of service within the Romanian navy. During this time, the vessel sailed thousands of miles in the Atlantic and Indian Ocean and 8 seas, and took part in hundreds of missions and exercises. It is the Romanian ship that took part in the first NATO combat mission since WW2, off the Libyan coast in 2011, and in combat missions against piracy in the Indian Ocean in 2012. In October the frigate takes part in NATOs multinational exercise “Sea Guardian”.
FOOTBALL – Romanias national team on Sunday defeated Malta, 1-0, in Group F of the European Football Championship preliminaries. In the same group, Sweden and Norway drew 1-1, while Spain defeated the Faroe Islands, 4-0. Spain tops the group with 18 points, followed by Sweden with 11, Romania – 10, Norway – 9, Malta – 3 and Faroe Islands with no points. Romanias next matches are scheduled for October 12 against the Faroe Islands away from home, and October 15 at home against Norway. The top 2 teams in the group will move forward to the final tournament. The draw for Euro 2020 will take place in Bucharest on November 30. Romania will also host 4 matches in the final tournament, 3 in the group stage and one in the eighth-finals.
