September 6, 2023

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 06.09.2023, 13:55

Summit.
The Three Seas Initiative Summit is getting under way in Bucharest today,
bringing together EU member states from Central and Eastern Europe. This year,
Greece will become the 13th country to participate in the Initiative, while Romania’s
neighbours Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova will be awarded the status of
associate countries. A declaration will be adopted at the end of the summit,
which will become an important guideline for the Initiative’s future activities
aimed at boosting cross-border interconnection in the field of transport
infrastructure, energy and digitalisation. The United States has reiterated its
support for the Three Seas Initiative objectives and its availability to work
closely with its partner states to advance this format. The US delegation at
the summit in Bucharest is led by the US special presidential envoy for
climate, John Kerry, who is also scheduled to meet prime minister Marcel
Ciolacu.

Moldova. Romania supports the request of the Republic of Moldova to
become an associate country of the cooperation format within the Three Seas
Initiative, said prime minister Marcel Ciolacu today during talks with the president
of neighbouring Moldova, Maia Sandu. Talks also looked at the stage of
bilateral relations, with the prime minister saying Romania recently
transferred the first tranche worth 10 million euros aimed at funding priority
projects, such as the purchase of school minibuses and infrastructure and local
development projects. Prime minister Ciolacu reiterated Romania’s support for
the accession of the Republic of Moldova to the European Union and said the
priority right now is securing a decision on opening accession talks at the
European Council in December.

Schools. With school starting in Romania on 11th
September, the authorities are planning tougher measures to prevent trafficking
in and consumption of psychoactive substances among pupils. They also aim to
crack down on bullying and reduce the risk of pupils’ exposure to crime,
especially violence. These are some of the most important elements of a
national safety plan signed on Tuesday by a number of cabinet ministers. Referring
to the controversial issue of pupils’ drug testing, education minister Ligia
Deca said a system would be devised to provide and finance such tests in the
event of reasonable suspicion, but only with parental approval and avoiding the
stigmatisation of children.

Economy. The Romanian minister for the economy,
entrepreneurship and tourism Ştefan Radu Oprea called, during a meeting with
the vice-president of the European Commission and EU commissioner for trade Valdis
Dombrovskis, for flexibility from the Commission during talks on the budget
deficit, given that Romania’s budget was affected by the direct and indirect
costs of the war in Ukraine. The Romanian official was in Brussels on 4th
and 5th September. His talks with the EU official focused on trade
relations with Ukraine, with emphasis on measures related to grain exports, as
well as on the need to find ways to support Romanian farmers.

Tennis. The Romanian tennis player Sorana Cîrstea
missed qualifying for the US Open semifinals, as she lost on Wednesday in
straight sets to the Czech player Karolina Muchova. Seeded 30, Cîrstea, aged
33, reached the US Open quarterfinals for the first time in her career. The
last time she reached this round was at the French Open in 2009, aged 19. From
Monday, she will go up to number 26 in the WTA ranking, being the
highest-ranked Romanian player. (CM)