June 27, 2022

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 27.06.2022, 13:55

Motion. The Romanian Chamber
of Deputies is debating, today, the simple motion of no confidence filed by the opposition Save
Romanian Union against the Liberal Minister of Energy, Virgil Popescu. The
signatories to the document say that under his mandates the price of energy for
the population and companies has increased constantly, and the minister is
guilty of incompetence and ill-will. The Social Democrats too expressed their dissatisfaction with the
minister, saying that Popescu should have managed the energy price situation
better. They also condemn the draft ordinance, initiated by the minister, under
which coal-based production facilities would be closed. The vote on the motion
will take place on Wednesday, in the plenary of the Chamber of Deputies. On
Tuesday, the deputies will vote on the request of the National Anticorruption Directorate to lift the parliamentary
immunity of the former Minister of Agriculture, the Social Democrat Adrian
Chesnoiu. He is accused by anti-corruption prosecutors of abuse of office.

Reactors. President Klaus
Iohannis and Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca welcomed the announcement made on
Sunday by US President Joe Biden at the G7 summit in Germany, according to
which the United States will finance with 14 million dollars the preliminary
stage of engineering and design studies for the development of small modular
reactors in Romania. Ensuring energy security is a common goal of the
Romanian-American Strategic Partnership, Klaus Iohannis wrote on social media,
while Nicolae Ciuca said in a statement, among other things, that the development
of the nuclear program will boost economic growth.

Baccalaureate. The Romanian
Minister of Education, Sorin Câmpeanu, has said today that this year’s
Baccalaureate examinations produced the best results in last 10 years were registered, and this fact
would be due to the simplification of the subjects. The exam pass rate was over 73%. 162 students got
a final 10 , 32 of whom are from Bucharest. The highest promotion rate was
registered in Cluj county (northwest), Campeanu also said. The results can be
seen on the bacalaureat.edu.ro platform and on the schools’ notice boards. The
identity of the students will not be disclosed, their names being replaced by
the individual codes received at the first test. More than 126,000 high school
graduates sat the Baccalaureate exam this year, the lowest number since the
1989 anti-communist revolution.

Partnership. Romania’s two-chamber parliament will convene on Tuesday in a joint meeting dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the conclusion of the Strategic Partnership between Romania and the United States of America. The Bucharest authorities have stressed that this collaboration has been, over the years, an essential landmark for the country’s foreign policy, as well as a tool to support domestic efforts for Romania’s economic, military and administrative reform. In a post on Facebook, Romania’s Ambassador to Washington, Andrei Muraru, says that he was received at the White House by president Joe Biden, to whom he conveyed president Iohannis’s message and the Romanian state’s will to strengthen the strategic partnership between the two countries. The Romanian diplomat stated that without President Biden’s courage and determination, NATO may not have been as strong and united as it is today. The White House leader thanked Romania for the invaluable help it has provided to Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion

Festival. The city of Sibiu, in central Romania, is until July 3, the International Theater Festival. The theme chosen for this edition, the 29th, is ‘beauty’. The event brings together theater, dance, circus, film and music productions. Street theater performances, concerts, book launches and exhibitions are organized every day. For ten days, great artists of the world stage are giving the public the opportunity to enjoy some of the most appreciated shows in the world, internationally recognized and rewarded with prestigious awards. The festival takes place in both physical and hybrid formats, so that some of the performances that take place in performance halls, in unconventional spaces, in churches and in the central squares of Sibiu can be watched on the official SITF website, on the digital streaming platform, www.scena-digitala.ro, as well as on the Festival’s Facebook page and YouTube channel.

Swimming. The double world
champion in swimming, the Romanian David Popovici, will receive an award from
the Government today, and President Klaus Iohannis will decorate him with the
Order of Star of Romania in the rank of Knight. David Popovici returned to
the country last night, after, during the week, he had won two gold medals in
the finals of the 100 and 200 meters freestyle finals of the FINA World
Championships in Budapest. His colleague Robert Glinta came in fifth in the
50-meter backstroke final and eighth in the 100-meter backstroke. (MI)