COVID-19 The coronavirus epidemic stays on a downward trend in Romania. On Tuesday the
\nauthorities reported 4,128 new Covid infections out of over 55,000 tests, which
\naccounts for a 7.41% positive rate. Another 397 related fatalities were also
\nreported, including 54 that had not been recorded in the system earlier. Some
\n14,000 Covid patients are currently receiving hospital treatment, including
\nalmost 1,700 in intensive care. The incidence rate is on the decrease in
\nBucharest, dropping to 5.34 cases per 1,000 inhabitants on Tuesday. In related
\nnews, non-invasive testing is due to begin in schools for children and
\nteachers. At the moment, almost three quarters of Romanian schools and kindergartens
\nare holding in-person classes, the rule being that only schools with a
\nvaccination rate among their staff of at least 60% can reopen for in-person
\nteaching, the rest holding classes on line. As for vaccination, the pace has
\ndropped steadily in recent days, compared to a peak of over 110,000 doses
\nadministered on 27 September. Nearly 7 million Romanians are fully vaccinated
\nat present. <\/p>\n
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SCHOOLS Legal and financial education have become
\ncompulsory skills in primary and middle schools in Romania. President Klaus
\nIohannis Tuesday signed a law amending the Education Act, to include these
\nareas in the national curriculum. The document also includes financial and
\nlegal education in the teaching programmes of local lifelong learning community
\ncentres. In a first stage, these subjects can be introduced as optional school
\nsubjects only, because national curricula must be approved by the Education
\nMinistry.<\/p>\n
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ECONOMY Romania,
\nHungary and Lithuania have the biggest annual growth rate in the European Union
\nin the third quarter of this year compared with the same period last year,
\naccording to preliminary data published by the European statistical office
\nEurostat. GDP grew in the EU by 3.9%, with Romania at 8%, Hungary at 6.1% and
\nLithuania at 6%. However, according to the latest figures published by the
\nNational Institute for Statistics, Romania’s economic growth rate slowed down
\nto 0.3% in the third quarter compared with the previous quarter. In the first
\nnine months of the year, GDP grew by 7.1% compared with the same period last
\nyear. Economic experts say the growth rate will slow down even more this autumn
\nand winter, while the inflation rate may go up to 8% in the context of the
\ncurrent political crisis.<\/p>\n
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EU Romania’s
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MILITARY The EU is considering a joint military force of up to 5,000 troops by
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Click here for a roundup of local and world news<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":105194,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[35684,35339,35374,29822,36438,29212,29120,29615,29613,30320,32086,35531,29933,29457,32738,31180,35403,35673,36437,36182,32402],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-105504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-belarus","tag-coronavirus","tag-covid-19","tag-crisis","tag-curriculum","tag-economy","tag-eu","tag-growth","tag-migrants","tag-military","tag-negotiations","tag-plan","tag-pm","tag-politics","tag-public","tag-radio","tag-rate","tag-schools","tag-skills","tag-television","tag-vaccine"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nforeign minister Bogdan Aurescu attended a ministerial meeting of the Eastern
\nPartnership held in Brussels, where EU foreign ministers agreed to expand the
\ncriteria for imposing new sanctions against Belarus. The new sanctions would
\ntarget those involved in weaponising the plight of migrants. The European Union
\nis accusing Belarus of intentionally creating a migrant crisis on the border
\nwith Poland and the Baltic countries in retaliation to the Union’s earlier
\nsanctions against the regime in Belarus for its crackdown on the opposition.
\nMinister Aurescu presented Romania’s stand on the strategic priorities of the
\nEastern Partnership post-2020 and called for a consolidation of the security
\ndimension in the Eastern Neighbourhood, as well as for greater involvement from
\nthe EU in solving the frozen or protracted conflicts in this region.<\/span><\/p>\n
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\n2025, to intervene in a number of crises without needing to rely on the US,
\naccording to a draft strategic plan, Reuters says. The EU
\nRapid Deployment Capacity should include land, sea and air capabilities. Two decades after the EU leaders first agreed to
\nset up a force of 50,000-60,000 troops, which never became operational, the
\nstrategy drafted by the EU diplomacy chief Josep Borrell is the most concrete
\neffort to create an independent military force that does not rely on US assets.
\nNot all the 27 EU member states would have to contribute troops, but a
\nconsensus would be required for any deployment. Since 2007, the EU has had
\nbattlegroups of 1,500 troops available, but they have never been deployed, in
\nspite of efforts to use them in Chad and Libya.<\/p>\n
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\nRadio and TV Parliament
\napproved the new leadership of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation,
\nwhich Radio Romania International also forms part of. With the support of the
\nSocial Democratic Party, the new director general at Radio Romania isR\u0103zvan-Ioan
\nDinc\u0103, a former National Opera director who has a court of first instance
\nconviction for abuse of office and false statement but who was later acquitted.
\nThe leadership of the Romanian television was also appointed, with the
\njournalist Dan Cristian Turturic\u0103 becoming the new director general, with the
\nsupport of the National Liberal Party. The members of the new boards are
\nappointed for a 4-year term and have to take an oath in Parliament. (tr. A.M. Popescu)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"