The Week in Review September 10-16.09.2017
Click here for a review of the week's main events
Roxana Vasile, 16.09.2017, 13:39
Changes in the government membership
The government in Bucharest made up of the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats went through a small reshuffle on Monday. The economy minister Mihai Fifor took over the defence ministry, while his position was taken over by the MP Gheorghe Simon. Fifor was appointed after the resignation of his predecessor Adrian Tutuianu a week earlier amid a scandal over the salary fund for the military. As soon as he took over the defence ministry, Mihai Fifor attended a meeting of the countrys Supreme Defence Council on Thursday, which approved the participation of the Romanian army with a naval capability to a NATO mission in the second part of this year. The Council also approved the national strategy for the 2017-2019 period for the prevention of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The strategy also aims at strengthening the rapid reaction capability and the consolidation of inter-institutional cooperation. Energy security was another topic discussed. The Council agreed on the need for an efficient legal framework and for strengthening the responsibilities of the relevant state bodies to ensure a viable exploitation of Romanias energy resources.
The first adjustment of the 2017 state budget
The government in Bucharest has this week approved the first adjustment of the 2017 budget, with the budget deficit being maintained under 3% of the GDP. The finance minister Ionut Misa said this was a positive adjustment given that, at 5.8%, Romanias economic growth rate was higher than expected in the first semester. According to the government, all public institutions have all the necessary funds to cover running costs. The agriculture, healthcare, interior and business, trade as well as entrepreneurship ministries will receive more money. The regional development, transport and communications and information society ministries will see budget cuts. The excise duty on fuel was also raised this week, and is to grow again as of October 1st. The government hopes the measure will bring in more money to the budget. Carriers are afraid fuel may become more expensive as a result, but the government has given assurances that this is not going to happen if the price of oil remains constant.
Jean-Claude Junker about Romania and the EU
The Romanian Presidency and Government have hailed the address on the future of the EU given before the Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday by the European Commission President Jean-Claude Junker. He proposed that the city of Sibiu, in central Romania, be the location of the summit on the future of the European Union to be held on March 30th, 2019, shortly after Brexit. Jean-Claude Junker also announced that the European Commission will launch a tool aimed at technically supporting the countries that are not members of the Eurozone, including Romania. Also, Junker said that both Romania and Bulgaria should immediately join Schengen. The European official also stressed that it is unacceptable that there are still children in Europe who die killed by diseases that have been long eradicated elsewhere. Children in Romania and Italy must have equal access to vaccination against measles just like the children in the other member countries, the European Commission President also said.
A new school year started in Romania
A new school year started on September 11th for more than 2.3 million children in Romania. For the new year, the Education Ministry has prepared several changes, including an earlier start for the high-school graduation examination, the Baccalaureate. As of this school year, high-school graduates will sit for the oral testing in February, not in June as before. Also, teachers will be allowed to correct the tests online, from home. Attending the opening of the new school year at a prestigious high-school in Bucharest, president Klaus Iohannis said that the education law should stop being just a jigsaw puzzle whose pieces keep changing. Building an educated Romania cannot be done in the absence of a predictable education system, centered on the student, the President also said.
Less rights for the Romanian students in Ukraine
High-ranking Romanian officials have voiced worries this week over the recent endorsement by the Ukrainian Parliament of a new Education Law, which limits education in the languages of the national minorities living in Ukraine. In Kiev, three ethnic Romanian, Bulgarian and Hungarian deputies called on president Petro Porosenko not to promulgate the document. Also, the Romanian delegation at the Council of Europes Parliamentary Assembly will propose an urgent debate on the situation generated by the new law. The Romanian opposition Peoples Movement Party has called for an urgent meeting of the Joint Romanian – Ukrainian Presidential Committee to urge Kiev to change the law so as to observe the international norms in the field. The law provides that teaching in high-schools and higher education institutions be done only in the Ukranian language, and education in the minorities languages would only be possible in kindergartens and primary schools. There are some 500,000 Romanians living in Ukraine.
