March 13, 2023

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 13.03.2023, 13:55

Education. Almost a quarter of Romania’s middle school pupils who should
have graduated in 2021 never took the graduation exam. According to a survey
published by the National Centre for Policies and Evaluation in Education, the
main reasons for this situation are school drop-out, expulsions, migration and
an incomplete academic record. In addition, several thousand pupils finished 8th
grade but did not register for the national evaluation, while a few thousand
registered but did not show up for the test. The authorities are considering
measures to address the situation.

Romania-Lithuania. Romania’s foreign minister Bogdan
Aurescu is making an official visit to Lithuania today and tomorrow to discuss
with his counterpart Gabrielius Landsbergis and Parliament speaker Viktorija
Cmilyte-Nielsen about Romania’s accession to the Schengen area and the war in
Ukraine and its impact in the region. According to a statement from the
Romanian foreign ministry, talks will focus on priority subjects on the
bilateral, regional, European and security agenda, while also seeking new
opportunities to deepen the bilateral agenda to implement the decisions of the
trip by Lithuania’s president Gitanas Nauseda to Bucharest last May and that of
Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis to Vilnius last November. The two foreign
ministers will discuss the multidimensional support given by the two countries
to Ukraine and the future reconstruction of that country. Also, consultations
will dwell on the impact of the war on other states in the region, with an
emphasis on the security situation in the Republic of Moldova and joint
measures to counteract the destabilising actions promoted by Russia in that
country.

Defence. Romanian
defence minister Angel Tîlvăr is making official visits to Qatar and Jordan
this week. According to a statement from the defence ministry, he is due to
meet his counterparts and other army officials from these countries. Talks seek
to give an impetus to bilateral defence cooperation with the two partner
states, as well as within a NATO and EU framework. Relevant aspects relating to
the international security situation will also be discussed, as well as ways to
consolidate bilateral dialogue in areas such as military education and joint
training.

Moldova. The Moldovan authorities
said they disbanded a network coordinated from Moscow that sought to
destabilise the situation in the Republic of Moldova, an ex-Soviet state with a
majority Romanian-speaking population. The network was made up of groups of
5-10 persons who were supposed to create chaos at the protests that took place
in the capital Chişinău this weekend. The groups
were coordinated by someone from the Russian special services and were given
instructions to destabilise public order using persons with dual citizenship,
Russian and Moldovan, instructions that came from Moscow. The protests were
organised by the political party of controversial businessman Ilan Şor.

Schengen. Romania is neither a
source of migration, nor a transit country for migration, president Klaus
Iohannis again emphasised. He is travelling this week to Bulgaria to discuss
the Schengen accession with his counterpart in Sofia. We know how to protect
our borders, but this is a European problem and it’s clear that we would also
like to contribute to finding the best solutions, Iohannis also said. Bulgaria
is making efforts to secure its borders with Turkey in collaboration with the European
authorities and Turkey. (CM)