March 9, 2023

Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 09.03.2023, 13:55

BILLS Government in Bucharest will today hold talks on the final draft laws
on education to be submitted for Parliament approval. The government believes
that the laws, which have sparked off heated debates in society, will significantly
curb school dropout, improve the country’s education system and allow the young
people to adjust to the labour market requirements. However, the opposition has
lashed out at the amendments announced by field minister Ligia Deca, describing
the bills as faulty, superficially made and prone to creating imbalances. The
bills have also been criticized by all those involved in the educational
process, students, teachers and parents.

TALKS Defence Ministers from EU member countries on Wednesday convened in
Stockholm for talks over a two-billion euro plan of providing howitzer shells to
Ukraine so that the country will improve its fighting capabilities against Russia.
A final decision on the aforementioned project is expected during a similar
conference due on March 20th. According to press agencies, Ukraine
has cautioned that the quantity is not enough to make the difference in the war
against Russia. Ukraine’s Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov, who also attended
the conference in Stockholm, says that his country needs at least one million 155mm
artillery shells, which would cost 4 billion euros, double than the plan
presented in Stockholm. The total EU support for Ukraine presently stands at 12
billion euros.

COVID-19 The number of COVID-19 infections is on the rise in Romania and
according to the latest reports, the figures doubled last week as compared to
February. Physicians believe though that the present situation should not
create concern, whereas experts say that the real number of infections could be
higher than officially announced. At the same time, the number of respiratory
infections is dropping under 100 thousand cases confirmed in late February.

ENERGY Italian electricity and gas provider Enel has today announced the transfer
of its operations in Romania towards Public Power Corp (PPC) of Greece, in
exchange for 1.26 billion euros as part of a plan focusing on green energy
production and cutting debts. Enel has made public its intention to focus on
countries with growth potential like Italy, Spain, the United States, Brazil,
Chile and Columbia. The Enel-PPC deal is expected to complete in the third
quarter of this year. The Italian group has been a major player on Romania’s
energy market since 2005 and currently boasts 3 million customers in three
major regions of this country.

VISIT Presently on a Far East tour, which also took him to Japan, Romanian
president Klaus Iohannis is today paying a two-day visit to the Republic of
Singapore. Boosting cooperation in fields such as education, research, food
safety, fighting climate change and green transition are high on his agenda.
Romania is the third biggest EU provider of IT services to Singapore and
Bucharest is interested in boosting this cooperation through fresh bilateral
projects. Romania’s interest in attracting Singaporean investment will also be
promoted. President Iohannis is expected to underline Romania’s contribution to
global food safety and the potential of the Romanian Black Sea and Danube ports
in connecting to Central Europe.

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