June 10, 2023
A roundup of local and international news.
Newsroom, 10.06.2023, 13:21
STRIKE – The Romanian pre-university teaching staff are expected to announce whether or not they agree to the Governments new proposal, in the context of their extensive protests and the all-out strike that has been unfolding for three weeks. On Friday, after a new round of negotiations, the Government offered employees in the field another 5% increase in their salaries, in addition to the 40% already promised as of January 1, 2024 and an annual bonus of 300 euros, which will be granted every year for the next five years, on October 5, when International Education Day is celebrated. Previously, the Government also adopted a memorandum regarding salary increases granted to the education staff under the future salary law. As a consequence of the all out strike in education, the Education Ministry put out for public debate the draft of an emergency order that eliminates, this year, the oral exams at the Baccalaureate, which will be replaced with the grade obtained by students during the four years of high school. Also, the national evaluation of the 6th-grade students is eliminated this year. Teachers who must pass the exam to occupy a vacant seat in pre-university education will no longer have to give the inspection test in the classroom, but only hold the written exam. According to the Education Ministry, these changes are needed because of the strike.
PM – The leaders of the PNL-PSD-UDMR ruling coalition in Romania must take a decision regarding the rotation of prime ministers, with Parliament likely to vote on a new Executive as early as next week. According to political sources, informal meetings of the Liberals and Social Democrats have been scheduled this weekend ahead of the rotation, which was supposed to take place on May 26 but was postponed due to the strike in education. Liberal Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă is to resign his post, which will be taken over by PSD leader Marcel Ciolacu. We remind you that a political agreement between PNL and PSD, forged at the end of 2021, stipulates that each of the two parties will hold the position of prime minister for a year and a half.
FIRE- Wildfires have spread in western Canada, while hundreds of fires continue to burn in the opposite part of the country, with the smoke also affecting cities in the north-east of the United States. Canada is facing its worst start to the wildfire season on record, with almost 2,400 fires since the start of the year and 4.4 million hectares affected, about 15 times more than the annual average of the last decade. Although such fires are common in Canada, simultaneous outbreaks in the east and west are unusual, fueling fears of worsening climate change. Firefighters from South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, as well as hundreds of firefighters from the United States arrived in Canada to help put out the fires.
LONDON – The former British Prime Minister, the conservative Boris Johnson, announced on Friday evening that he is handing over his mandate as parliament member, amid a parliamentary investigation into parties organized in Downing Street, in violation of the restrictions in place during the Covid-19 pandemic. A year after he was ousted as prime minister by his party majority, at the end of three years in power marked by a succession of scandals, Boris Johnson, 58, has been the subject of a parliamentary inquiry into whether he misled Parliament in relation to the so-called partygate affair. Boris Johnson accused the commission of having drawn up a report “riddled with inaccuracies and reeks of prejudice”, without giving him the opportunity to challenge it.
MONUMENT – The Triumphal Arch in Bucharest, one of the best-known symbols of the Romanian capital, is open to visitors as of this Saturday until October 29. The historical monument, dedicated to the victory of the Romanian Army in the First World War, can be visited every weekend. Its construction began in 1922 and its inauguration took place in 1936. Between 2014 and 2016, consolidation works were under way. The Triumphal Arch in Bucharest, similar to that in Paris, has a height of 27 meters.
FILM FESTIVAL – The center of Cluj, a city in the north-west of Romania, has turned into a film citadel on Friday evening. The Union Square in the city became an open-air cinema that hosted the opening ceremony of the 22nd edition of the most important film festival in Romania — the Transylvania International Film Festival. The opening was followed by the screening of the film “Nordic Comfort” (Iceland/Great Britain/Germany, 2023), in the presence of a part of the team. The Transylvania International Film Festival will unfold until June 18, during which time 200 films from 45 countries will be screened. Over one thousand people from the world of cinema, from Romania and abroad, have been invited to the festival. (EE)
