Radio România Internațional

Tag: approval

  • The week in review, 27 October – 2 November 2019

    The week in review, 27 October – 2 November 2019

    Romanias nominee for EU commissioner, still uncertain


    There are “serious doubts that Romanias new nomination for European Commissioner has been made by Bucharest “in a legitimate manner, given that the Government failed to coordinate with President Klaus Iohannis, the European Commission spokesperson Mina Andreeva said. She added that this does not mean a rejection from the Commission, but that the issue must be clarified in Romania. Given the forthcoming challenges and opportunities, it is to everybodys best interest for Europe to move on without delay and, whoever the Romanian candidate may be, they must be acceptable for the President-elect of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and get the required support in the European Parliament, Mrs. Andreeva emphasized. The outgoing PM Viorica Dancila had nominated the former minister delegate for European Affairs Victor Negrescu for the post, but President Iohannis said that after being dismissed on October 10 in a no-confidence vote in Parliament, Dancila no longer has the legitimacy to nominate a new candidate. Previously, 2 other nominations made by the Social Democratic Party had fallen through: the former minister Rovana Plumb, rejected by the European Parliaments committee on legal affairs over integrity questions, and Dan Nica, for whom official procedures did not even get to start.



    Orban cabinet seeks Parliaments approval


    Thirteen of the 16 candidates for minister seats in PM designate Ludovic Orbans new Liberal government were green-lighted in the hearings held by the relevant parliamentary committees. The exceptions were Ion Stefan, the candidate for the Ministry for Public Works, Development and Administration, Violeta Alexandru, for the Labour Ministry, and Florin Citu, for the Public Finances Ministry. At the end of the interviews, the PM designate said the negative opinions had been political in nature, and appreciated the performance of all candidates. He added he would keep the same candidates for Mondays vote in Parliament. The specialized committees only have consultative power on the matter. In response, the Chamber of Deputies Speaker, Marcel Ciolacu (Social Democrat) said the practice so far has been for the candidates rejected by the committees to be replaced by the PM designate. Orban needs 233 votes to become PM, and to this end he has signed political agreements with Save Romania Union, the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians, the Peoples Movement Party, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats and MPs representing ethnic minorities.



    14 presidential candidates


    By no means spirited or in any way exciting, the campaign for the presidential election continues, with 14 candidates in the race. All parliamentary parties have representatives in the campaign: the incumbent President Klaus Iohannis backed by the National Liberal Party, the incumbent PM Viorica Dancila backed by the Social Democrats, Dan Barna (USR-PLUS), Theodor Paleologu (Peoples Movement Party), Mircea Diaconu backed by the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats and by Pro Romania, and Kelemen Hunor (Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians). The candidates Catalin Ivan, Ninel Peia, Sebastian-Constantin Popescu, John-Ion Banu, Ramona-Ioana Bruynseels and Viorel Catarama are supported by parties from outside Parliament. Bogdan Stanoevici and Alexandru Cumpanasu are independent candidates. The first round of the presidential election is scheduled for November 10, and the second for November 24. Under a Government resolution, the Romanians living abroad will be able to vote between November 8 and 10 for the first round of the election, and between November 22 and 24 for the second. The countries hosting the largest numbers of polling stations will be Spain (148), Italy (142), Germany (84), Britain (73), France (48), the USA (38) and the Republic of Moldova (36). The voters registered on a dedicated online platform may already vote by mail.




    Colectiv fire, commemorated


    On Wednesday in Bucharest religious ceremonies and a protest rally marked 4 years since Romanias largest civilian disaster since the fall of communism. On October 30, 2015, during a concert held in the Colectiv nightclub in Bucharest, fireworks candles ignited the insulating material covering the walls of the overcrowded hall. Sixty-four people died on the spot because of the smoke or burns, and around 200 others were injured. Two years after the fire, a survivor committed suicide, bringing the toll to 65. The trial against the nightclub owners is still lingering. The then Health Minister Nicolae Banicioiu has failed to appear before the prosecutors, who had subpoenaed him as a witness in a criminal investigation into the response of the authorities after the fire. Meanwhile, a civic group based in Iasi (north-east) filed a criminal complaint against the chiefs of the Department for Emergency Response, headed by state secretary Raed Arafat. They are accused of having concealed evidence, more specifically video recordings, after the media released previously unseen footage of the emergency unit intervention the night of the tragedy. “Now we know how chaotically they acted. We had always suspected the ‘rescuers of unprofessionalism and lack of empathy, but the footage confirms our suspicions, the militants said. In turn, Arafat says he has known nothing about the recording and that he will not resign, but will leave if asked by the Prime Minister.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • The new pension law, endorsed

    The new pension law, endorsed

    Romanian MPs on Wednesday passed the new pension law with 193 votes in favor, one against and 14 abstentions. Benefiting from social security pensions are the people who contributed for at least 15 years to the system. People who contributed for at least 10 years can benefit from pension only if they complete the payment of contributions to the National Pensions House for another 5 years. As a novelty in the law, the persons with serious disabilities were included, alongside the visually-impaired, in the category of people who can benefit from pension if they contributed to the system for at least one third of the total period of contribution.



    The new law allows for the invalidity pension to be cumulated with other revenues. Another novelty in the new law is the possibility for women with at least 3 children, who have completed the minimum contribution period, to retire 6 years earlier. The law maintains the provision according to which the surviving spouse may opt for receiving 50% of the pension of the deceased spouse, and introduces a new provision according to which the surviving spouse can keep his or her pension and also receive 25% of the pension of the deceased.



    The law also stipulates that the MA and doctoral studies are considered non-contributory periods assimilated to the contribution period, on condition that the respective person obtains a graduation diploma. The initiator of the law, the former labor minister, Olguta Vasilescu, says that the pension point, following a multi-stage increase, will reach 1,775 lei that is 385 Euros by 2020 and has given assurances that no pension will be diminished following recalculation. Also, the pension point is expected to rise at almost 407 Euros by 2021 and as of 2022 a reference point will be introduced which will depend on the inflation rate and the gross average salary.



    Olguta Vasilescu: “We have eliminated the social security contributions from all pensions and we have also eliminated taxation of pensions below 2 thousand lei. For the pensions above 2 thousand lei, we lowered the tax from 16% to 10%. Therefore, we started fixing inequities even before this law was passed.”



    The incumbent labor minister Marius Budai says that the new law will do away with inequities among people who had the same profession and contributed the same amount of money but retired in different years. In exchange, the leader of the opposition Liberals, Raluca Turcan, claims that the law was intentionally made to include unconstitutional provisions, so as to prevent it from coming into effect.



    Raluca Turcan: “By requiring persons with disabilities to have a minimum contribution period to the system, you have introduced huge disparities despite the decision of the Constitutional Court. To put it plainly, if one of you becomes a person with disabilities, you need to have contributed at least 15 years to the system to get a pension.”



    The opposition announced they would challenge the new pension law in the Constitutional Court. At present, in Romania there are more than 5 million pensioners which means almost a quarter of Romania’s total population.