DECREE – Romania’s Energy Minister, Virgil Popescu, wrote on
\nsocial media that the Government’s emergency decree capping energy prices does
\nnot breach European legislation. Romania’s National Energy Regulatory Authority
\n(ANRE) had previously warned that the decree might trigger infringement
\nprocedures against Romania at EU level. Minister Popescu said that Romania is
\nconstantly consulting with Brussels in every piece of legislation adopted in
\nthis field, and that the decree will be presented on September 9 at the
\nemergency meeting of EU Energy Ministers in Prague. Virgil Popescu recalled
\nthat European institutions also want to put an end to the conflicting interests
\nand greed of those who speculate the delicate context. Among other things, the
\ndecree stipulates that any intermediaries who oversell energy across the
\ndistribution chain will receive fines of up to 5% of their turnover. <\/p>\n
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\n
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SCHOOL YEAR – Nearly 3 million school and pre-school children
\nstart a new school year on Monday. The structure of the new year will comprise
\n5 modules, separated by 5 mini-holidays. A number of changes will be operated
\nstarting this year. Mid-term exams will no longer be compulsory, while the
\naverage grade for the secondary cycle of education in Romania, (grades 5-8)
\nwill be discarded as a criterion for enrolling in high-schools. At the end of
\nthe school year, pupils can no longer be expelled, and parents are no longer
\nallowed to raise money for presenting teaching staff with gifts. Referring to
\nsome of the unsolved issues ahead of the new school year, Education Minister
\nSorin C\u00eempeanu recognized that many schools lack fire safety permits. <\/p>\n
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\n
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BORDER CROSSING -
\nSome 317 thousand people entered or left Romania on Friday via all border
\ncrossing points. Some 11,000 Ukrainians entered Romania, down by 5.46% compared
\nto the previous day. Therefore, starting February 10, two weeks before the war had
\nstarted, some 2.1 million Ukrainian citizens have entered Romania. <\/p>\n
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\n
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GAZPROM – The European Commission has accused the Russian
\ngiant Gazprom for having suspended its natural gas deliveries to Germany via
\nthe Nord Stream pipeline in the Baltic Sea under fallacious pretenses. Gazprom’s
\nannouncement is another confirmation of its unreliability as a supplier and
\nproof of Russia’s cynicism, as it prefers to flare gas instead of honoring
\ncontracts, European Commission spokesman, Eric Mamer, tweeted on Friday.
\nGazprom announced that the Nord Stream pipeline would be shut down pending the
\nrepair of a faulty turbine. The announcement risks spiking concern among EU
\nMember States, who are trying to avert an energy crisis in the coming winter
\nand who accuse Moscow of using natural gas as a weapon to take revenge for the
\nsanctions the West has imposed on Russia in response to the latter’s invasion
\nof Ukraine. <\/p>\n
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\n
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SWIMMING – Romanian swimmer Rebecca Diaconescu on Friday
\nqualified to the 50m backstroke final at the World Junior Swimming
\nChampionships in Lima, Peru. Romania’s track record includes 5 medals so far:
\ngold in the men’s 4x100m freestyle event (David Popovici, Alexandru
\nConstantinescu, \u015etefan Cozma, Patrick Sebastian Dinu), gold in the 200m
\nfreestyle event (David Popovici, silver in the 400m freestyle event (Vlad
\nStancu), silver in the mixed 4×100 freestyle event (David Popovici, Patrick
\nSebastian Dinu, Rebecca Diaconescu, Bianca Costea) and bronze in the 800m
\nfreestyle event (Vlad Stancu). (VP)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A roundup of domestic and international news<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":105208,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[36993,36994,31550,32599,35103,36812],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-106133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-2022-2023-school-year","tag-border-crossing","tag-emergency-decree","tag-energy-prices","tag-gazprom","tag-swimming-championships"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n