March 2, 2023 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 02.03.2023, 20:00
PROTESTS – Trade unionists in
the education sector are staging a new series of protests, unhappy with low
salaries. In Iași, some 300 people rallied in front of the Prefect’s Office,
calling on the government to find ways to increase the revenues of auxiliary
teaching staff and pay overtime. Moreover, protesters want regulations to apply
so as to award bonuses for special working conditions, considering workers in
the education sector do not benefit from these salary rights. Protesters are
determined to move to all-out strikes, one of the union leaders said. Protest
actions are scheduled across the country in the coming period.
MOLDOVA -Bucharest
authorities will unreservedly support Moldova’s leadership to reach their EU
accession goal. This message was conveyed by president Klaus Iohannis to
Moldova’s new PM, Dorin Recean, who made a visit to Romania. Recean also met
with PM Nicolae Ciucă and with the Speaker of the Chamber of
Deputies, Marcel Ciolacu. The latter assured the Moldovan official of Romania’s
support as regards the supply of natural gas, through the import contract
signed with Azerbaijan.
UKRAINE – The Ukrainian army
keeps things under control on all battlefronts in the country, dpa news agency
cited President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as saying. He said in a video message that
people behind the frontline continue to suffer. Deliberate terror, Zelenskyy
said about the Russian artillery attacks on towns and villages in the south,
where Moscow constantly tries to destroy everything that people have. According
to the Ukrainian president, the country’s military are trying to keep those
people safe. We recall that February 24 marked a year since the start of the
Russian military aggression against Ukraine, which has so far made tens of
thousands of victims. Entire towns have been destroyed and around 8 million
people have fled war and have taken refuge in numerous countries, including
Romania.
ENERGY – We must invest in
all low-carbon emission energy sources, in order to reach the decarbonisation
objective assumed at European level and achieve energy independence, Romanian
Energy Minister Virgil Popescu has said. He is attending, in Zagreb, Croatia,
the works of the 4th ministerial meeting of the Partnership for Transatlantic
Energy and Climate Cooperation (P-TECC). Popescu said the social and economic
advantages of nuclear energy and of any other source of energy are worth
considering. P-TECC is a multilateral initiative led by the US Department of
Energy, that focuses on the rapid decarbonisation of Central and East European
economies, helping strengthen energy security in the region, create business
connections with US companies, and foster cooperation. The meeting focuses on
fostering and enhancing solidarity among European countries amidst the current
energy crisis, ensuring energy transition efforts move forward alongside energy
security actions, and furthering coordination and cooperation on energy-related
projects in Central and Eastern Europe.
CRASH – The head-on
collision between two trains in Greece on Tuesday night, that killed over 40 people, was caused by a tragic human error, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos
Mitsotakis has said. The country’s transport minister, Kostas Karamanlis, has
resigned after the passenger train from Athens to Thessaloniki, carrying more
than 350 people collided with a freight train near the city of Larissa, in the
north. He said the railway system the government inherited in 2019, when he was
appointed minister, was not up to 21st century standards. Most victims are
young people, the PM said. Many students were returning to Thessaloniki after a
long weekend, with Monday being a bank holiday. The Romanian Foreign Ministry has
announced that no assistance requests have been received so far. (EE & VP)
