Radio România Internațional

Tag: budget expenses

  • August 14, 2023 UPDATE

    August 14, 2023 UPDATE

    Government – The Romanian government is working on finalizing two laws aimed at reducing the budget deficit. According to a draft law made public recently, the owners of luxury cars would have to pay a tax. Those who work in the IT field, now exempt from taxation, will have to pay the tax, if their salary exceeds 10,000 lei (about 2,000 Euros) per month. Those working in constructions and agriculture will have to pay health insurance contributions, from now on. Finally, state employees who have a monthly gross salary of over 10,000 lei will no longer receive holiday vouchers. SMEs with incomes up to 300,000 lei will pay a tax of 1%, and those that exceed this income will pay a tax of 3%. Regarding the emergency ordinance that will reduce the state apparatus, the government is analyzing the possibility of abolishing 200,000 unfilled positions, merging some public institutions and reducing the number of state secretaries, the number of management positions, the number of members in the boards of administrators and of members of local authorities offices. Some of the measures mentioned in the press are already publicly contested by state employees and the business environment.




    Mini-holiday – This is the busiest period on the Romanian Black Sea coast resorts this summer as many Romanians are on a mini-holiday occasioned by the Christian celebration of the Assumption of Mary also called the Dormition of the Mother of God in the Eastern Church. Over 120 thousand tourists are estimated to be spending this mini-holiday in Romanias seaside resorts. From the resort of Mamaia to Vama Veche, musical events, theatre performances and open-air recitals are attracting tourists as well as the demonstrative military drills due on August 15th which also marks the Navy Day in Romania. After a break of four years, people will be able to witness from the shores of the cities of Constanta and Mangalia a series of military exercises involving the participation of Romanias naval forces followed by a parade of its warships. The Romanian seamen will participate in a series of games and contests, which will be followed by fireworks at night. Numerous events are already underway on the Romanian Black Sea coast, and are likely to continue for the entire week. Standing out among them is the Festival of the ancient cities of Dobrogea at Tropaeum Traiani in Adamclisi, southern Romania.




    Conviction – The former Social Democratic finance minister, Darius Vâlcov, who was definitively convicted by the Romanian justice system and fled to Italy, was brought to the country on Monday afternoon, under escort, by an airline flight. He is to serve a 6-year sentence in a penitentiary. The extradition took place after the Court of Cassation in Rome issued a final sentence in this regard. Vâlcov is the first famous fugitive that the Romanian authorities manage to bring from Italy. Several Romanians convicted by the countrys courts, mostly in corruption cases, found refuge there to escape prison.




    Exercise – About 250 servicemen from France and Luxembourg and 65 pieces of military equipment from the NATO Battle Group stationed in Romania are involved as of Monday until August 18th in a military drill entitled DEPLOYEX, which is taking place in the shooting range at Babadag, south-eastern Romania, the Romanian Defense Ministry has announced. The exercise is meant to test the rapid deployment of troops and military gear and contributes to improving the level of interoperability of the forces making up the NATO Battle Group, being a sequel of the training programs earlier staged in Cincu, central Romania. The NATO battle group contributes to increasing Romanias military cooperation with the rotating participant countries, France, The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg and implicitly to strengthening the security of the Euro-Atlantic space on the Eastern Flank, a Defense Ministry communiqué writes. Cooperation with the strategic partners and the existence on the national territory of relevant war structures contribute to raising the of defense and deterrence capabilities in the context of the war in Ukraine and the crisis in the Black Sea region, the ministry also shows.




    Ice cream – Romania is the ninth producer of ice cream in the European Union, with a production of 35 million liters in 2022, according to data published on Monday by Eurostat. Germany ranks first, with a production of 620 million liters, followed by France and Italy. Besides being the largest producer of ice cream in 2022, Germany produced, on average, the cheapest ice cream in the EU, at a price of 1.5 Euros per liter. At the opposite pole, the most expensive ice cream was made in Austria, with an average price of 7 Euros per liter. The member countries produced a quantity of 3.2 billion liters of ice cream last year, increasing by 5% compared to 2021.

  • April 14, 2023

    April 14, 2023

    Ukraine – Romania will continue to support Ukraine as long as it is necessary to protect its sovereignty and territorial integrity, said the Romanian Defense Minister Angel Tîlvăr, on Thursday, in Bucharest, after the meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart, Oleksii Reznikov. The Ukrainian defense minister was on his first official visit to Romania, where he participated in the first conference on security in the Black Sea organized within the International Crimea Platform. During the meeting, the Romanian minister condemned in the toughest terms the war of aggression illegally and unjustifiably launched by Russia against Ukraine, which killed many civilians and destroyed critical infrastructure in many regions of Ukraine. The agenda of the meeting included talks on aspects related to the intensification of bilateral cooperation, also in the context of the EU and NATO, the Romanian side reiterating the importance of continuing the political and military dialogue and its implementation by prioritizing the implementation of the Comprehensive Assistance Package within the Alliance.



    Expenses — All Romanian ministries have presented plans to reduce expenses to balance the budget, but many do not want to give up the allocated funds. According to Radio Romania’s correspondent, they justified every penny they received from the budget, while others came with small reductions, so that, all in all, the sum of the proposed spending reductions is far from the target of 20 billion lei (approx. 4 billion Euros), which should be saved until the end of the year. The Labor Ministry proposes a 20% reduction in fuel expenses and a reduction in non-essential internal and external trips. The Tourism Ministry is also considering the tourism marketing chapter. However, there are also ministries that will not substantially reduce expenses, such as the Ministry of European Investments and Projects, where the employees are paid mostly from European money, while the Ministry of Culture proposed savings of only 2 million lei. All proposals will be analyzed next week in the government meeting. Also next week, the Finance Ministry is expected to come up with its own analysis regarding the reduction of expenses and the increase in budget receipts.



    Good Friday – Easter is celebrated on Sunday, but until then, Orthodox Christians (majority in Romania) and the Greek Catholics mark Good Friday today. This is a day when they remember the death of Jesus Christ on the cross and His placement in the tomb. Good Friday is the day when Jesus Christ was crucified between two thieves, being accused of blasphemy and opposing the Roman authority. According to the Gospel texts, at the moment when Jesus died on the cross, the earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke. After being taken down from the cross, Jesus was placed in the tomb provided by Joseph of Arimathea, a wealthy man of the time. The burial of Jesus is symbolized today by the placement of the Holy Epitaph in the middle of the churches, which is then carried around the church. This procession takes place during the Good Friday service, which is actually a symbolic funeral service for our Lord Jesus.



    Washington – A member of the US Air National Guard, suspected of being the author of the recent leaks of classified information of the Pentagon, was arrested on Thursday in Massachusetts, in the northeast of the United States. His name is Jack Teixeira and he is 21 years old. According to American media, he runs “Thug Shaker Central”, an online group where about 20-30 people express their passion for guns and video games. Originally posted on the groups web page – “Thug Shaker Central”, the secret documents that have been leaked since last weekend also on the Twitter and Telegram social networks give an image of the information gathering activities carried out by the US on a global level. Information was leaked about the Russian-Ukrainian war and the Western military aid offered to Kyiv. Dated from February and March, these documents show the shortcomings of both the Russian and Ukrainian armies. (LS)