March 2, 2023 UPDATE

PROTESTS - Trade unionists in the education sector are staging a new series of protests, unhappy with low salaries. In Iași, some 300 people rallied in front of the Prefect's Office, calling on the government to find ways to increase the revenues of auxiliary teaching staff and pay overtime. Moreover, protesters want regulations to apply so as to award bonuses for special working conditions, considering workers in the education sector do not benefit from these salary rights. Protesters are determined to move to all-out strikes, one of the union leaders said. Protest actions are scheduled across the country in the coming period.

MOLDOVA -Bucharest authorities will unreservedly support Moldova's leadership to reach their EU accession goal. This message was conveyed by president Klaus Iohannis to Moldova's new PM, Dorin Recean, who made a visit to Romania. Recean also met with PM Nicolae Ciucă and with the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Marcel Ciolacu. The latter assured the Moldovan official of Romania's support as regards the supply of natural gas, through the import contract signed with Azerbaijan.

UKRAINE - The Ukrainian army keeps things under control on all battlefronts in the country, dpa news agency cited President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as saying. He said in a video message that people behind the frontline continue to suffer. "Deliberate terror", Zelenskyy said about the Russian artillery attacks on towns and villages in the south, where Moscow constantly tries to destroy everything that people have. According to the Ukrainian president, the country's military are trying to keep those people safe. We recall that February 24 marked a year since the start of the Russian military aggression against Ukraine, which has so far made tens of thousands of victims. Entire towns have been destroyed and around 8 million people have fled war and have taken refuge in numerous countries, including Romania.

ENERGY - We must invest in all low-carbon emission energy sources, in order to reach the decarbonisation objective assumed at European level and achieve energy independence, Romanian Energy Minister Virgil Popescu has said. He is attending, in Zagreb, Croatia, the works of the 4th ministerial meeting of the Partnership for Transatlantic Energy and Climate Cooperation (P-TECC). Popescu said the social and economic advantages of nuclear energy and of any other source of energy are worth considering. P-TECC is a multilateral initiative led by the US Department of Energy, that focuses on the rapid decarbonisation of Central and East European economies, helping strengthen energy security in the region, create business connections with US companies, and foster cooperation. The meeting focuses on fostering and enhancing solidarity among European countries amidst the current energy crisis, ensuring energy transition efforts move forward alongside energy security actions, and furthering coordination and cooperation on energy-related projects in Central and Eastern Europe.

CRASH - The head-on collision between two trains in Greece on Tuesday night, that killed over 40 people, was caused by a "tragic human error", Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said. The country's transport minister, Kostas Karamanlis, has resigned after the passenger train from Athens to Thessaloniki, carrying more than 350 people collided with a freight train near the city of Larissa, in the north. He said the railway system the government inherited in 2019, when he was appointed minister, was "not up to 21st century standards." Most victims are young people, the PM said. Many students were returning to Thessaloniki after a long weekend, with Monday being a bank holiday. The Romanian Foreign Ministry has announced that no assistance requests have been received so far. (EE & VP)