October 9, 2017

An emergency debate regarding Ukraines controversial education law is held this week in Strasbourg.

Newsroom, 09.10.2017, 13:20

NATO — Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has said on Monday, at the autumn session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Bucharest, that Romania will continue to be a responsible NATO ally. Iohannis has also said that Romania became a relevant contributor to the security of the region and mentioned the country’s having allotted 2% of its GDP to defense this year, which will continue to do for the next 10 years. In his turn, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said that the Alliance is concerned with Russia’s military advance and its lack of transparency. Stoltenbeg has mentioned however that NATO has no intention to isolate Russia.

CATALONIA — Spain’s Prime Minster Mariano Rajoy has said that his country will not be divided, because its national unity will be defended. In an interview with the German daily Die Welt, Rajoy has said he will do everything that he can, in keeping with the country’s laws, to prevent Catalonia from unilaterally declaring independence. Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of Barcelona on Sunday, in support of Spain’s unity and against Catalonia’s break-up from Spain. Two million voters out of Catalonia’s 5.3 million inhabitants took part in the referendum on October 1st, with 90% of them favoring independence from Spain.

SALARIES — The average salary in Romania went down by a little over 1% in the month of August against July, in terms of both net and gross value. Romanians got an average salary of 2,364 lei, which is over 500 euros, by 27 lei or 6 euros less than in the previous month. The IT sector is the best paid, with average salaries of 1,300 euros, while the smallest salaries are reported in the hotels and restaurant sector – around 300 euros. The unemployment rate at national level stood at 4.18% in August, the same as the previous month.

EXERCISE — The Romanian Defense Ministry has announced that the multinational and inter-institutional exercise “CETATEA 2017” has started today and will end on October 18. Planned by the Romanian Army General Staff and coordinated by the Army’s IT&C Department, the exercise is aimed at testing, developing, assessing and confirming the interoperability of the command and control systems, communications, computers, information, surveillance and research. Alongside IT&C structures from the Romanian army, several NATO member countries are also participating in the exercise.

DEBATES — An emergency debate regarding Ukraine’s controversial education law is held this week in Strasbourg, at the autumn session of the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly. The debate was initiated by the Romanian delegation with the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly and has been motivated by the new education law adopted in Ukraine, that restricts the rights of national minorities, including the Romanian one, to study in their mother tongue. Ukraine has announced it will submit the education law to the Council of Europe to be green lighted by experts while President Petro Poroshenko is expected in Strasbourg to offer clarifications on this matter.

TENNIS — With a run to the final of the China Open in Beijing, Romanias Simona Halep became the new WTA World No.1 on Monday, October 9, when the updated rankings were released. The 26-year-old becomes the first player representing Romania to achieve this historic milestone since the computer rankings were introduced in 1975, and will be the 25th woman overall to hold the No.1 ranking. In the last 52 weeks, Halep has won the Madrid Open for the third Premier Mandatory title of her career, and reached the final of the French Open, the Italian Open and the Cincinnati Open, and the quarterfinals of Wimbledon. This season, shes scored five Top 10 victories and has made the last eight in 11 of her past 13 tournaments. At the conclusion of the 2017 Wimbledon Championships, Halep became the active player with the longest streak of consecutive weeks ranked inside the worlds Top 10. Halep entered the Top 10 for the first time on January 27, 2014, and has been there ever since.

FOOTBALL — Romania’s national football squad played on Sunday its last game counting towards the 2018 World Cup preliminaries. Cosmin Contra’s trainees drew 1-all against Denmark away from home. Romania ranked 4th in Group E. Poland is qualified to the World Cup, and Denmark will play in the playoffs.

(Translated by Elena Enache)