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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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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COVID-19 – The number of COVID-19 cases continues to drop in
\nRomania. A little over 1,800 new cases of infection were reported in the last
\n24 hours, by 600 less than Friday. 15 people have died during the same
\ninterval. Most cases – 290 – were reported in the capital-city Bucharest. Over
\n2,200 patients are being treated for COVID, 176 in intensive care. <\/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
\nhad started, some 2.1 million Ukrainian citizens have entered Romania. <\/p>\n
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GAZPROM – European Commissioner for Economy, Paolo Gentiloni,
\non Saturday said the European Union is ready to respond if Russia doesn’t
\nresume deliveries via the Nord Stream pipeline, the BBC reports. Commissioner
\nGentiloni has called on Moscow to honor its contractual agreements. Gazprom
\nannounced that the Nord Stream pipeline would be shut down pending the repair
\nof a faulty turbine. The announcement risks spiking concern among EU Member
\nStates, who are trying to avert an energy crisis in the coming winter and who
\naccuse 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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RE\u0218I\u021aA – Re\u0219i\u021ba in Western
\nRomania is the first Romanian city to join the Learning Cities UNESCO global
\nnetwork, giving it a unique opportunity to access large-scale education
\nprojects, the Romanian Education Ministry announced. According to UNESCO
\nDirector General, Audrey Azoulay, the selected cities are remarkable examples
\nwhereby lifelong learning can become reality at local level. The list of new
\nmembers includes 77 cities from 44 countries. Re\u0219i\u021ba is one of the five cities selected
\nfrom Southeastern Europe, alongside Lasko and Ptuj of Slovenia, and Ljubljana
\nand Trnava of Slovakia. <\/p>\n
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\n
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SWIMMING – Romanian swimmer Rebecca Diaconescu on Friday qualified
\nto the 50m backstroke final at the World Junior Swimming Championships in Lima,
\nPeru. Romania’s track record includes 5 medals so far: gold in the men’s 4x100m
\nfreestyle event (David Popovici, Alexandru Constantinescu, \u015etefan Cozma,
\nPatrick Sebastian Dinu), gold in the 200m freestyle event (David Popovici,
\nsilver in the 400m freestyle event (Vlad Stancu), silver in the mixed 4×100
\nfreestyle event (David Popovici, Patrick Sebastian Dinu, Rebecca Diaconescu,
\nBianca Costea) and bronze in the 800m freestyle 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":[36994,31550,32599,35103,36996,36995,30883,36997],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-106134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-border-crossing","tag-emergency-decree","tag-energy-prices","tag-gazprom","tag-learning-cities-unesco-network","tag-resita","tag-school-year","tag-world-junior-swimming-championships"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n