September 16, 2013
Click here for a roundup of news from Romania.
Leyla Cheamil, 16.09.2013, 13:57
Romania’s president Traian Basescu has said in a speech delivered in Bucharest on Monday, at the European Forum for Diplomacy that, Romania has a worse image in the European public opinion than in reality. He has identified the causes of this phenomenon, among which the denigration of state institutions by politicians. The president believes another cause is the Romanians’ lack of confidence in Romania. The president has said “the Romanians can’t be proud that they have 10 nuclear aircraft carriers or that their country has the largest population in the world, but they can be proud that they are talented, relatively well educated people, capable of making efforts, that they have consistent governments and that politicians place the national interest ahead of party interests.”
Romanian foreign minister, Titus Corlatean, has told the AGERPRES news agency that Romania will make all necessary approaches with the EU member states for them to make a positive decision in December, on Romania’s Schengen accession. Corlatean has underlined that according to the conclusions drawn by the Council in June 2011, both Romania and Bulgaria meet the required criteria to completely apply the Schengen acquis. Romania’s Schengen accession is on the provisional agenda of the Justice and Home Affairs Council due in December, when the reports issued by the European Commission on the progress made by Romania and Bulgaria within the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism are also expected.
Romanian interior minister, Radu Stroe, has today said in the south-eastern Romanian county of Galati, severely affected by floods and flash-floods caused by torrential rain over the past few days that the critical threshold is left behind and the situation on the ground has improved. The minister has added that a report on the volume of material damage will be forwarded to the government to allot the necessary funds to rebuild the houses and roads destroyed by floods. According to the latest toll, 9 people have died, over 6,000 have been evacuated and some 2,000 houses have been flooded.
A new school year kick-starts today in Romania for approximately 3,200,000 pupils and preschoolers. The 2013-2014 school year brings a series of changes, among which the most significant one refers to the method of calculating the high school admission mark. Consequently, the mark obtained at the national examination in the eighth form will account for 75% of the final mark, whereas the average marks obtained from the fifth to the eighth form will account for 25%. As of this year too, tests of evaluation will be introduced for second, fourth and sixth graders as well as national simulations of the baccalaureate in the 11th form. We’ll revert to this issue, later in radio newsreel.
The miners who blocked themselves in the underground in Rosia Montana for five days, gave up their protest in support of the gold exploitation project, after a conversation with Prime Minister Victor Ponta on Sunday evening. Ponta announced that a special parliamentary committee will be set up to analyse this project. Scores of people protested against the project in Bucharest and other big cities on Sunday. The protesters claim that gold exploitation based on cyanides will have a negative impact on the environment, whereas the supporters of the project say the opening of the mine would create jobs and solve the economic and social problems in the area.
