May 31, 2023

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 31.05.2023, 13:55

Strike.
President Klaus Iohannis invited the leaders of the ruling coalition for talks
today on finding a solution to the teachers’ strike. Yesterday, he met a
delegation of education trade unions and told them he was willing to broker a
political agreement signed by all ruling parties and containing the salary
scheme and clear application deadlines. The offer made by the government to pay
teachers a bonus of 4,000 lei was rejected, but trade union leaders say the
president’s proposal could defuse the conflict. Meanwhile, the general strike
in the under-graduate education system entered its tenth day. Until a solution
is found, the education ministry has extended the period for registration to
the baccalaureate exam until 9th June.

Compensation. The government is today adopting
an emergency order on the payment of compensations to farmers affected by last
spring’s drought. The state aid scheme will apply to farmers who grew corn,
sun-flower, soy beans and peas and will come in the form of a grant given to
farmers through the partial compensation of their expenses from planting until
harvesting.

Cereals.
EU agriculture ministers meeting in the AGRIFISH council have not managed to
unblock 100 million euros worth of aid for farmers affected by Ukraine’s export
of cheap cereals. Romania is one of the five countries that may benefit from
the aid and it stands to receive around 30 million euros. The European
commissioner for agriculture Ianusz Wojciechowski gave assurances that the aid
will be unblocked and the situation monitored. He said he was not in favour of
using the EU budget to buy Ukrainian cereals and later supply them to the world
food programme because the cost would be three times that of the cereals
themselves. He believes the money would be better used, in the long term, to
improve the infrastructure, for example that of Romania, and said he would have
talks in this regard with the European commissioner for transport and
infrastructure Adina Vălean.

Moldova. The Republic of Moldova will host
tomorrow the European Political Community Summit attended by 50 heads of state
and government. The European Commission is represented by its president Ursula
von der Leyen and the EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who are due to
meet Moldovan officials today. The most important subjects on the agenda of the
summit are security, stability and cooperation in Europe. Yesterday, the EU
Council decided to double the macro-financial aid for the Republic of Moldova
from 150 to 295 million euros.

NATO.
NATO has deployed an additional contingent of around 700 soldiers after 30
members of the KFOR international peace force were wounded in recent clashes. The
number of KFOR troops in Kosovo thus stands at 4,500. The deployment is a
precaution measure to ensure that KFOR has the needed capabilities to maintain
security, said the Alliance. NATO deputy secretary general Mircea Geoana said
such attacks are totally unacceptable and emphasised that violence must stop
immediately. The European Union called on both Serbia and the Republic of
Kosovo, a state Romania is yet to recognise, to take immediate measures to reduce
tensions. 11 Italian and 19 Hungarian soldiers from the international peace
forces were wounded during clashes with Serb protesters demanding the removal
of ethnic Albanian mayors.

Tennis.
The only Romanian tennis player still in competition at Roland Garros, Irina
Begu, is today facing Italy’s Sara Errani in the second round. On Tuesday, Sorana
Cirstea was eliminated in the first round by Italy’s Jasmine Paolini. Also on
Tuesday, the Canadian player of Romanian origin Bianca Andreescu defeated Victoria
Azarenka of Belarus in three sets. (CM)