May 17, 2024
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Newsroom, 17.05.2024, 13:55
ECONOMY Confidex, the index that measures Romanian managers’ confidence in the local economy, has reached its highest level in 4 years-52.5, according to the latest relevant poll. Companies in the services sector are the most optimistic, followed by IT, constructions and retail firms. At the opposite pole are businesses in agriculture, energy and industry.
ELECTIONS Romania’s Foreign Ministry and the Permanent Electoral Authority have put together the Guidelines for Romanian voters in polling stations abroad for the European Parliament elections scheduled for June 9, 2024. The document answers the most frequent questions concerning the organisation of the ballot: who can vote, the identity documents required for voting, the opening hours of polling stations, the voting procedure and the operation of the IT system monitoring voter turnout and preventing illegal voting. Citizens can find the guidelines on the ministry’s website. The foreign ministry, via Romania’s diplomatic missions and consular offices abroad, organises 915 polling stations for Romania’s members in the European Parliament, over double the number of stations opened for the European elections in 2019. Romanian nationals who live or travel abroad temporarily will be able to cast their ballots in any polling station abroad, using Romanian IDs valid on the day of the vote.
HUMAN TRAFFICKING The government of Romania has put together a national strategy against trafficking in human beings, under which the authorities intend for Romania to have a national system to counter human trafficking operational by the end of 2028. The strategy rests on 4 core pillars: prevention, punishment, protection and partnership, and the novelty is an integrated governmental mechanism to earmark funding for victim protection and assistance. According to the National Agency against Human Trafficking (ANTIP), since 2005 as many as 19,000 human trafficking victims have been reported in Romania, and 4,000 traffickers have been convicted.
STUDENTS A government resolution sets out the overall enrolment figures for public undergraduate and higher education units in Romania in the 2024 – 2025 academic year. The document sets the number of students to be enrolled in preschools, primary, secondary and high schools in the country, including for Romanian nationals living abroad, and for foreign citizens under bilateral agreements and unilateral commitments. Romanians living abroad will benefit from 1,900 places in undergraduate education units and 7,065 places in public universities, with a total of 800 monthly grants. For foreign citizens, 1,800 places have been earmarked in undergraduate education units and 4,430 in higher education institutions, with a total 1,710 monthly grants. Enrolment plans also include special places for minors who have applied for or received protection in Romania, and for stateless minors officially recognised as residing in Romania, the government explained.
CHILDREN The Romanian health minister Alexandru Rafila said on Friday in Iaşi (north-eastern Romania), that preparations are under way for receiving Palestinian children to be treated in Romanian healthcare units after being wounded in Israeli attacks in Gaza. Alexandru Rafila, who did not disclose the number of beneficiary kids, stated that they will be brought to Romania under the EU Protection Mechanism. He also said the exact date of arrival cannot be made public at the moment, but that the children will reach Romania “in the very, very near future.”
INVESTMENTS The government approved a number of road and railway infrastructure investment projects. Over EUR 2.2 bln will be spent on revamping the approx. 150 km Focşani – Roman railway route in the east of the country in the next 3 years, a spokesman for the Cabinet announced. According to him, a rough EUR 200 mln has been earmarked for the revamping of a 42-km long segment of the A1 Bucharest-Piteşti motorway in the next 48 months.
NATO The Romanian Defence Chief of Staff, gen. Gheorghiţă Vlad, took part on Thursday in Brussels in a meeting of the NATO Military Committee in Chiefs of Defence Session. Topics of strategic relevance were discussed, including the implementation of the NATO Warfighting Capstone Concept, the state of play in Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine, and NATO’s continued support for Ukraine. Gen. Gheorghiţă Vlad emphasised “the need to develop national and regional mobility corridors to ensure smooth and quick transit of troops and materials at the times and to the places requested by the Alliance.” (AMP)
