September 1, 2021

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 01.09.2021, 13:50

Parliament. Bucharest’s two-chamber
Parliament today resumes after the summer recess. The senators and deputies
will elect their new leaders, including deputy speakers and secretaries, with
the exception of the speakers, who are elected for the whole term of the
current Parliament. The priorities of the new parliamentary session include a
bill on vulnerable consumers, dismantling the special department set up to
investigate crimes in the judiciary and a bill seeking to ban persons with
criminal convictions from holding public office. The Social Democratic
opposition are threatening to file a no-confidence motion against the
government formed by the National Liberal Party, the Save Romania Union and
PLUS Alliance and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania.

Diplomacy. The
challenges on the international arena are a driving force for the adaptation
and reinvention of diplomacy to serve more efficiently the best interest of the
state and its citizens, said Romanian foreign minister Bogdan
Aurescu on Romanian Diplomacy Day today. Rooted in sustainable values and
objectives, Romanian diplomacy has in the last year built and developed
important landmarks in the construction of a more resilient Romania, the
minister also said. He added that the process of reflection and strategic
planning for the coming period will continue at the Annual Meeting of Romanian
Diplomacy to be held online between the 7th and the 9th of
September and discussing the role of the diplomatic service in consolidating
Romania’s resilience.

Covid-19. The number of new
coronavirus cases is on the rise in Romania, with more than 1,440 new
infections recorded on Wednesday and 21 deaths. The authorities have again
called on the vaccine reticent population to get the vaccine. In another
development, the EU said on Tuesday that it reached its goal of vaccinating 70%
of adults, a goal established at the beginning of the year. Romania is bottom
of the ranking, with only 26.4% of its population being fully vaccinated.

Schools. Romanian health minister Ioana Mihaila and education minister Sorin Campeanu signed a common
order about the new school year which gets under way on 13th
September. Wearing facemasks will be mandatory in school and children will also
be able to use textile masks if they comply with certain criteria. Depending on
the infection rate in each locality published every Friday on the website of
the public health directorate, the authorities will decide whether learning
moves online in the following week. Classes will be held in person in all
nursery schools, kindergartens and schools below an infection rate of 6 per
1,000 inhabitants. Above this rate, only nursery schools and kindergartens will
remain open, with school children moving to online teaching, with the exception
of special learning.

Tennis. Romania’s Simona Halep, who
is no. 13 in the WTA ranking, is today playing Slovakia’s Kristina Kucova,
world no. 111, in the second round at the US Open, the final Grand Slam tennis
tournament of the year. Another Romanian player, world no. 39 Sorana Cîrstea
reached the second round after defeating Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova, world
no. 31, in three sets. Cîrstea will next face world no. 43 Shelby Rogers of the
US.

Radio drama. Between the 1st and the 30th of
September, Radio Romania is hosting the 9th edition of the Grand
Prix Nova Radio Drama International Festival, held exclusively online this
year. This edition, which is dedicated to innovation in radio drama, is
available at www.grandprixnova.ro and www.eteatru.ro. The festival is divided into
three sections, radio drama, short forms and binaural, bringing together 40
productions from around the world. (CM)