Radio România Internațional

Tag: Ciolacu

June 15, 2023

GOVERNMENT Romania’s Prime Minister
designate, Social-Democratic leader Marcel Ciolacu today comes before
Parliament in Bucharest with a list of the new cabinet to be sworn in and with
a fresh ruling plan. PSD and PNL enjoy the majority although the Democratic
Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, UDMR, has left the ruling coalition. The
new Prime Minister’s ruling programme includes five major objectives; solving
the prickly issue of the special pensions, the endorsement of the law on unitary
wages, a new price cap on products, the development of the public systems in
education and healthcare, raising the national output and the creation of better-paid
jobs. The opposition USR and AUR have voiced discontent at the new ruling
programme as well as at the new cabinet ministers and have pledged to cast a nay-vote.
The UDMR have announced they will provide the quorum needed but their MPs aren’t
going to participate in the voting. Nevertheless, the group has announced its intention
of having Parliament cooperation with the coalition parties on various
interesting projects. The Ciolacu government is expected to get endorsement
from the MPs belonging to the other national minorities. However, there are Liberals
and Social Democrats who will abstain from voting for the new Executive,
although they are running the risk of being excluded from their own parties.

POVERTY Over 34% of
the Romanians were facing the risk of poverty and social exclusion in 2022, the
highest rate in the EU, according to data released by Eurostat, the statistical
office of the European Union. Romania is followed in the ranking by Bulgaria,
Greece and Spain. The states with the lowest rates of people facing the risk of
poverty are the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Poland. At the EU level, the risk
of poverty and social exclusion was higher among women than men. We’ll have
more on the issue after the news.

DRILL Roughly 600 Romanian and allied
servicemen are taking part until Friday in the Dacia Strike 23 multinational
drill currently underway at the Smardan Training Ground close to Galati in
eastern Romania. The drill focuses on the interaction between the joint command
structures of the Multinational Division Southeast and the ground troops
deployed. Dacian Strike 23 is the second biggest war drill the NATO troops
have carried out in the past two weeks in the training ground of Smardan after ‘Saber
Guardian 23’, an event that brought together a record number of troops and pieces
of military equipment.

MAE The Foreign Ministry in Bucharest
has recommended the Romanians who travel to Pristina to encourage our football
side in their game against the local side, in the EURO 2024 preliminaries, to
enter Kosovo through Blaze, in North Macedonia. The only checkpoint between
Serbia and Kosovo recommended is Merdare, which is very likely to be overcrowded
due to additional security measures. The Romanian Foreign Ministry does not
recommend the check points in northern Kosovo because they could be blocked or
closed down due to the worsening security situation in the region. At the same
time, the Ministry recalls the situation in the area remains unpredictable and
recommends the Romanian football fans to refrain from chanting or posting
political slogans, which could trigger a response from the hosts. The Romanians
are also advised to avoid traveling at night as well as crowded or isolated places.

WEATHER The weather in Romania is
generally unstable with an overcast sky and thunderstorms in the mountains, the
southwest and center. Heavy downpours are expected in the aforementioned areas
as well as on isolated areas in the other parts of the territory. The highs of
the day range between 20-31 degrees with a noon reading in Bucharest, where the
weather is presently hot, of 30 degrees Celsius.

(bill)

15 June 2023
Rocadă guvernamentală la Bucureşti

Cu ună amănari di dauă stămâni di itia a grevăllei generale dănăsită ditu truvățământul preuniversitar, tru România s-agiumsi la ună premieră tru istoria politică dimocratică a văsiliillei – premierul liberal Nicolae Ciucă lli-aăsă loclu tru caplu a Executivlui a soţlui di coaliție, social-dimocratlu Marcel Ciolacu, tiñisindalui, aşe, akicăsearea pi cari formațiunile a lor u avea faptă tru brumaru 2021. Atumţea, tu hăvaia a unei crize politice la cari s’agiumsi di ieșearea di la guvernarea deadunu cu liberali a USR, dușmañilli declaraț PSD și PNL, tru aestă aradă amintătorlli a alidzerloru parlamentare, agiutaț di partenerlu-giunior UDMR, s’akicăsiră s’adară ună coaliție cari să-și llia borgea ti cumăndusearea-a văsiliillei. Condiția era, ama, ca la giumitatea a pirioadăllei până la yinitorlu scrutin legislativ ditu 2024, premierlu liberal s’alasă loclu tu aplu a Guvernului a unlui social-democrat. Atea ţi, tora, și s’feaţi!

Liderlu a PNL, Nicolae Ciucă, ș-deadi demisia ditu caplu a Guvernului, iara prezidentulu a văsiliillei, Klaus Iohannis, lu aleapsi, marţă, pi șeful PSD, Marcel Ciolacu, ti funcţia di premier, dupu un maraton di consultări pi cari li avu cu partidile parlamentari. După negocieri politiţi niacumtinati, andamasi şi muabeţ, prim-ministrul aleptu dipusi deapoa, la Parlamentu, programul di guvernare şi lista a miniştrilor pripuşi tru năulu Executiv.

Ma nu ari unu consensu cu UDMR, pi lista niintată di Marcel Ciolacu numata suntu ici reprezentanță a maghiarilor ditu România, că maş di la PSD și PNL. România va s’lipsească s’aibă ună creaştiri economică di pisti 3% până la bitisita-a anlui, iara inflaţia lipseaşt s’hibă di 8% – declară Marcel Ciolacu, cari părăstisi protili direcţii a programului di guvernare, un plan cu ţinţi mări obiective: “Ndridzearea tră daima, problema a pensiilor speţiali şi adoptarea a năului nomu mutrindalui salarizarea unitară, dănăsearea creaştirillei păhadzlli, znuearea a putearillei di ancupărari, dizvoltarea-a sistemilor publiţi di Educaţie şi Sănătate. Protlu argumentu tra s’lu căndăsească pi româñilli ţi fudziră tu xeani neise si s’toarn tru văsilie easti: crearea di locuri di lucru, ma multi şi ma ghini păltiti.”

Tu arada-a lui, tora ti harea di premier Nicolae Ciucă spusi că, deadunu cu social-democraţllii, liberalii au ca prioritate dizvultarea a văsiliillei: “Nă lomu borgea s’asiguripsimu stabilitatea şi s’triţemu pritu criză şi vidzumu că s’poati si s’facă şi creaştirea economică. Ditu aestă oară tru cari s-feaţi aestă rocadă la guvernare, easti borgea a noastră, a aţiloru ditu Partidul Naţional Liberal, a aţiloru ditu Partidul Social-Dimocrat, s’ambărţitămu obiective cari, cadealihea, s’dizvoltă aestă văsilie, aţea turlie tra s’crească amintatiţli a cetăţañilor, s’ñîcurămu aesti adgheafuri cari suntu anamisa di cetăţeañilli ditu România şi cetăţeañilli ditu Uniunea Europeană.”

După audierli di ñiercuri, ditu Parlament, a candidațlor pripuși ti ipotisili di miniștri, năulu Guvern poati s’llia neise nica di gioi votlu di băgaru tu ipotisi a Legislativlui.

Autoru: Stefan Stoica

Armânipsearea: Taşcu Lala

14 June 2023
June 13, 2023 UPDATE

TALKS
Romanian president, Klaus Iohannis on Tuesday designated PSD leader Marcel Ciolacu
as candidate for the position of Prime Minister. On Monday, the PNL leader
Nicolae Ciuca stepped down under the political agreement with the PSD on the
planned rotation of the cabinets and on Tuesday he was elected president of the
Senate. The Prime Minister designate says that he wants the future government
focus on economy and reforms. Romania needs these reforms as well as the
National Programme of Recovery and Resilience. Romania’s place is in the
European Union and NATO. And no matter how much some people would like Romania
to take another direction, the country’s way is sure and with political
stability it becomes a certainty Marcel Ciolacu went on to say. The opposition
USR has criticized the government rotation as this isn’t going to solve the problems
of the citizens.

FRIGATE The Romanian flagship, frigate
‘King Ferdinand’ is to sail back to the Romanian Port of Constanta, on the
Black Sea, after having participated in a six-week operation in the
Mediterranean, the Romanian Navy Chief of Staff has announced. The mission of
the Romanian servicemen consisted of enforcing the UN arms embargo imposed on
Libya and in combating the illegal trafficking in oil, drugs and people through
the close monitoring of maritime traffic and vessels in the area. The ‘King
Ferdinand’ has also carried out various joint activities with partner vessels
from Italy, Germany and Greece, participating in the IRINI Operation.

WEATHER Romanian hydrologists have extended,
until Wednesday, the Code yellow and Code orange alerts for flooding, valid for
rivers in 17 counties in the center and west of the country. The torrential
rain on Monday night affected several localities in the south and south-west of
Romania. The red code alert instituted by meteorologists for this region was
lifted this morning, and dozens of intervention teams were sent to evacuate
water from people’s households, after several streams of water burst their
banks. At the same time, hectares of agricultural land were flooded. The most
affected counties are Caraş-Severin, Vâlcea, Hunedoara and Mehedinţi. Heavy
rainfalls also caused flooding in Timiş and Alba counties on Monday.

(bill)

13 June 2023
Une première sur la scène politique roumaine

Le long de plus de trois décennies de démocratie post-communiste roumaine, les politiciens autochtones ont expérimenté presque tout en matière de gouvernance : cabinets monocolores, de gauche ou de droite, dont certains minoritaires, mais soutenus par le Parlement, plus ou moins ouvertement, coalitions reposant sur des critères doctrinaires ou tout simplement sur des intérêts de conjoncture, grandes coalitions réunissant plusieurs partis. L’actuelle coalition, constituée par le PSD et le PNL à laquelle est venue s’ajouter aussi l’UDMR, est une telle alliance inattendue, puisqu’elle réunit la gauche à la droite. Ce n’est pourtant pas une première, puisqu’en 2012 l’Union social-libérale créée par les mêmes partis écrasait ses compétiteurs aux élections et arrivait à contrôler politiquement tant l’exécutif que le législatif.

Mais la première absolue dans la politique roumaine n’allait arriver que plus tard : une rotation entre le Parti national libéral et le Parti social démocrate au niveau de la direction du gouvernement. Aux termes de l’accord conclu entre les deux poids lourds de la politique roumaine en novembre 2021, après une année et demi durant laquelle le gouvernement de coalition est dirigé par le leader libéral Nicolae Ciuca, celui-ci doit démissionner en faveur de son partenaire, le leader social-démocrate Marcel Ciolacu. Cette démission était initialement prévue pour la fin mai, mais les décideurs politiques ont choisi d’ajourner cette rotation afin de solutionner la crise générée par la grève générale de l’enseignement préuniversitaire.

Lundi, après la suspension de la grève, Nicolae Ciuca a finalement dépose son mandat. Le prochain gouvernement devrait être investi jusqu’à jeudi, ou du moins c’est ce que les partis de la coalition gouvernementale se sont proposées. Nicolae Ciucă: « Les procédures pour la rotation ont démarré au sein de la coalition. Ce qui est important de souligner c’est que juste après un gouvernement par intérim prendra le relais, pour fonctionner jusqu’à l’investiture d’un nouveau gouvernement, espérons-le à la fin de la semaine. Nous nous sommes proposés d’investir le gouvernement avant jeudi, afin de nous occuper toujours des problèmes prioritaires figurant dans le programme de gouvernance et à l’agenda du gouvernement. » a déclaré Nicolae Ciuca.

Le professeur des Universités Andrei Taranu affirme que la rotation gouvernementale se produira malgré les voix des quelques sceptiques qui rappellent que de nombreux engagements et arrangements politiques ont échoué à travers le temps. Andrei Ţăranu: « Elle se produira le plus probablement, autrement toute la construction politique des derniers temps deviendra caduque. La Roumanie a été disons pionnière en Europe centrale et de l’est pour avoir imaginé cette construction, insolite en quelque sorte. » affirme le professeur Andrei Taranu. Selon lui, le modèle roumain de la rotation pourrait s’avérer un modèle à succès, surtout pour les Etats de la région et il serait dommage que la Roumanie l’abandonne à la mi-chemin. Depuis l’Opposition, l’Union Sauvez la Roumanie affirme sans équivoque que la rotation des premiers ministres n’est pas une solution à tous les problèmes des citoyens. D’ailleurs, la presse internationale note aussi que le cabinet Ciuca n’a pas réussi à mener à bien aucune des réformes importantes, figurant dans le plan de redressement par le biais duquel la Roumanie se voit accorder des fonds européens.

13 June 2023
May 26, 2023 UPDATE

STRIKE Teachers in Romania are carrying on the all-out strike they kicked off
three days ago as the talks between the authorities and trade unions have ended
in a deadlock. They took to the streets in several major cities around Romania,
like Sibiu, Craiova, Galati, Buzau and Botosani. Trade unions in Education are
asking for a 25% pay rise for all employees and the equivalent of 600 Euros for
beginners. The Executive has pledged to give only bonuses, an offer which has
been turned down by the trade unions, which threaten to continue their
protests.

CONTRACT The government in Romania on
Friday endorsed a new frame contract for social securities which is supposed to
come into effect on July 1st and has prevention as its main
component. It also offers bonuses to family physicians willing to treat
patients in rural areas and is for the first time regulating pay for
performance. Family physicians will also have at their disposal new instruments
for the preventive examination of patients in various age brackets. The legal
framework for increasing the access of the insured to outpatient services of
physical medicine and rehabilitation has also been created.

GOVERNMENT
The power sharing arrangement of the parties in the ruling coalition in
Bucharest has been postponed until the resolution of the teachers’ all-out
strike, the liberal Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă has announced. Ciuca was
supposed to resign his mandate on Friday, to be taken over by the Social
Democratic leader Marcel Ciolacu. In fact, Nicolae Ciucă made the announcement
alongside Marcel Ciolacu, and Kelemen Hunor, from the Democratic Union of
Ethnic Hungarians in Romania – UDMR, the third party in ruling coalition in Romania.
The Prime Minister Ciucă appealed to the reason of all teaching
staff, telling them that the Government cannot assume to unbalance the
State budget by granting them the salary increases requested, and that the
discussions with the unions will continue. In turn, the head of the PSD, Marcel
Ciolacu, said that the decision is correct, and that the teachers and employees
in the healthcare system are a priority. Predictability and responsibility are
needed, the leader of the UDMR, Kelemen Hunor, also said. The agreement between
the Liberal Party – PNL and PSD stipulated that each of them would hold the
position of prime minister for a year and a half. In the last few days, there
have been discussions between PSD and PNL regarding the distribution of ministries
in the future government. A retired general, Nicolae Ciucă was sworn in as
prime minister in December 2021.

FAIR
Romania participates in the Madrid Book Fair under the slogan Creating
good chemistry with Romanian literature (Creando buena quimica con
las letras rumanas). Until June 11, Romania’s stand will display numerous
volumes signed by Romanian authors, including those translated, in recent
years, into Spanish, with the support of the Romanian Cultural Institute. The
public has a wide range of activities to choose from: literary activities, book
presentations, recitals, debates, round tables, scientific workshops for
children and autograph sessions. There will also be events promoting Romanian
culture, especially contemporary culture. The Madrid Fair has reached the 82nd edition, in 2023
marking nine decades of existence, and it is one of the most important literary
events of its kind in Europe.

(bill&LS)

26 May 2023
An all out strike is freezing Romania’s undergraduate education system

After the COVID-19
pandemic had moved the activity of teaching online and had significantly
impacted an entire generation of students, another event is shaking Romania’s
education system. Students are having a day off after teachers disgruntled with
the government’s pay and social policies have gone on an all out strike. Over
150 thousand teachers in Romania’s undergraduate system as well as 60-70
thousand non-teaching staffers have joined a strike they pledge to carry on
until a credible solution to their claims from the Executive. Against a rising inflation, which last year went
over 15% with a heavy impact on the employees’ standard of living, the most
difficult issue is that of the teachers’ low salaries. According to trade union
leaders wages in this line of work should be around 4,000 lei, the equivalent
of 800 Euros for a beginner teacher and around 7,000 lei, over 14 hundred
Euros, for a senior teacher. The new education laws promoted by the incumbent
field minister, Ligia Deca, have also triggered a fresh wave of discontent. As
regards the end of the school year, which is due in June, trade unionists say
that it is the government who must have the last say in this respect. During
the talks with the government representatives, the president of the Spiru Haret
Trade Union Confederation, Marius Nistor said the following.

Marius Nistor: I wished, this also being the desire of all the education employees, this
all-out strike had not taken place, you know. We didn’t wish for it, we were actually forced to have it. A lot of our claims have been ignored so far and the
end of this strike mainly depends on the answer we get from the Government and
of course on the desire of our colleagues.

In response, the
country’s Prime Minister, Nicolae Ciucă, says that:

Nicolae Ciuca: Education is our top priority together with the healthcare. We can find
solutions and we cannot allow that the students may not take their final exams
and complete their studies.

The strike is
also leading to political deadlocks. Under the protocols of the incumbent
ruling coalition, PSD leader Marcel Ciolacu is going to take over the Prime
Minister seat from the Liberal Nicolae Ciuca shortly. However, Ciolacu has
called for the suspension of the talks over the new cabinet until a solution is
found to the crisis in the country’s education system.

According to
various publications in Bucharest though, none of the political sides seems very
delighted to take over the leadership of the Executive at a time when trade
unionists in Romania’s medical system could also stop activity and the police
have also expressed their right to a strike. No matter the political colour of
the ruling parties, experts believe, they will have to shortly deal with acute
social disgruntlement, as Romania next year is in for a new series of
elections, for the European Parliament, as well as local, legislative and
presidential elections.

(bill)

22 May 2023
11.05.2023

Financements – Deux financements en d’une valeur de près de 60 millions euros de la part de la Commission européenne pour la construction d’un pont routier à Ungheni, à la frontière entre la Roumanie et la République de Moldova, la modernisation du port de Constanta, dans le sud-est ont été officiellement accordés aux bénéficiaires par la commissaire européenne Adina Valean, en présence du ministre des Transports, Sorin Grindeanu. Il s’agit de financements dans le cadre du programme Connecting Europe Facility, d’une valeur de quelque 16,5 millions d’euros pour le pont d’Ungheni et de 43,5 millions d’euros pour la modernisation de l’infrastructure ferroviaire du port de Constanta. Au sujet du pont d’Ungheni, Adina Valean a mentionné qu’il complétera l’autoroute A8 vers la République de Moldova. Elle a également dit que la Roumanie avait postulé et obtenu du financement pour pas moins de six ponts.

Strasbourg – La Roumanie a dépassé la date butoir jusqu’à laquelle elle pouvait modifier son Plan national de relance et de résilience et négocie à l’heure actuelle avec les représentants de la& Commission européenne en marge des mesures déjà décidées. C’est ce qu’a précisé à Strasbourg, l’eurodéputé social-démocrate Victor Negrescu. En raison de la modification des indicateurs économiques, les autorités de Bucarest souhaitent introduire dans le Plan national de relance et de résilience de nouvelles composantes, telles la réforme des retraites, la modification relatives à la nouvelle loi des salaires et la construction d’une ligne de métro vers l’Aéroport d’Otopeni, près de Bucarest. Au total, la Roumane bénéficie d’un financement de plus de 29 milliards d’euros de la par de la Commission européenne. L’argent est versé en tranches jusqu’à août 2026 en fonction de la réalisation de plusieurs objectifs.

Education – Le paquet de lois visant à réformer le système d’éducation nationale de Roumanie fait l’objet de débats au sein du Sénat après son adoption par la Chambre des Députés. Les deux projets visent des modifications essentielles dans l’enseignement pré-universitaire et académique pour que les diplômés puissent atteindre des standards internationaux de performance a affirmé la ministre de l’Education nationale Ligia Deca durant les débats au sein du Parlement. Les représentants des partis de la coalition gouvernementale ont affirmé que les résultats des nouvelles mesures seraient visibles dans les années à venir. L’USR, d’opposition a pourtant voté contre ces deux projets de loi affirmant qu’ils ne répondaient pas aux problèmes du système éducationnel roumain.

Eurovision – Le représentant de la Roumanie à l’Eurovision de la Chanson 2023 – Theodor Andrei – avec sa chanson « D.G.T. (Off and on) » se produit ce soir dans la seconde demi-finale de la compétition. Les 10 premières chansons de la Grande finale désignées mardi suite au vote des téléspéctateurs sont la Croatie, la République de Moldova, la Suisse, la Finlande, la République Tchèque, Israël, le Portugal, la Suède, la Serbie et la Norvège. La Moldavie est représentée par Pasha Parfeni, avec la chanson « le Soleil et la lune », en langue roumaine. L’édition 2023 de l’Eurovision de la chanson se déroule au Royaume Uni qui accueille le concours au nom de l’Ukraine, qui a remporté l’édition de l’année dernière. Gaudeamus – La foire du livre Gaudeamus Radio Roumanie se poursuit aujourd’hui à Oradea, dans le nord-ouest. Jusqu’au 14 mai, le salon propose des concours avec des prix alléchants, des ateliers pour enfants et des lancements de livre. Une cinquantaine de participants dont les plus prestigieuses maisons d’éditions et agences de diffusion des livres roumains et étrangers y participent. L’offre éditoriale est complétée par une sélection de jeux éducatifs et musique de qualité, ansi qu’un nouveau rayon appelé Bookoteca réunissant des livres d’occasion.

Gouvernement – La rocade gouvernementale se fera avant le 1er juin, a déclaré le président du Parti social démocrate, qui mène la coalition gouvernementale, Marcel Ciolacu, qui a assuré que la Roumanie bénéficiera toujours de stabilité politique. Le leader du PSD a également déclaré que des négociations étaient toujours menées à ce sujet au sein de la coalition gouvernementale, mais que la transition sera assez posée. « Nous avons conclu après des consultations avec le premier ministre Nicolae Ciuca qu’il fallait crayonner le futur gouvernement en fonction des personnes et non pas des postes et essayer d’installer les personnes les plus compétentes et le plus efficaces. Je ne suis pas l’adepte des gouvernements technocrates (…) mais je suis fermement convaincu que parmi les politiciens nous pouvons trouver des personnes capables de faire face à ces défis », a déclaré M Ciolacu. Celui-ci devrait assumer les fonctions de premier ministre au lieu du leader du Parti national libéral, Nicolae Ciucă, selon l’accord conclu entre le PSD, le PNL et l’UDMR en 2021.

Météo – Températures légèrement à la hausse en Roumanie, mais la météo est toujours assez capricieuse pour cette période de l’année presque sur tout le territoire et uniquement sur l’ouest et le nord-ouest les températures tournent autour des normales saisonnières. Le ciel est couvert et il pleut sur l’ouest et sur le sud-ouest et en montagne. Des précipitations mixtes – pluie -giboulée – sont possibles en haute montagne. Les maxima vont aujourd’hui de 12 à 19 degrés. 16 degrés actuellement à Bucarest.

Film – Le festival de film Cinefemina se déroule actuellement à Bucarest. Cet évènement promeut et soutien les femmes de l’industrie cinématographique en présentant des films réalisé et produits par des femmes talentueuses. Jusqu’au 14 mai, les spectateurs ont l’occasion de voir 11 long-métrages et 5 court-métrages, de différents genres, comédie, drame ou romances, et venus de multiples pays européens, l’Italie, la France, la Grèce, la Roumanie, l’Autriche, la Hollande, le Portugal, la Pologne, l’Allemagne, l’Espagne, la Suède et la Hongrie. En parallèle des projections, sont également organisées des rencontres avec des réalisatrices et des productrices mais aussi d’autres experts comme des membres d’ONG et des journalistes. A travers ces débats, le festival se propose de mettre en valeur des modèles féminins au sein d’une industrie traditionnellement dominée par des hommes.

11 May 2023
May 8, 2023

LONDON Thousands of street parties are
going to take place today in Britain to mark the coronation of King Charles
lll. The country’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was among those hosting a
coronation lunch with the guests including Ukrainian families, youth groups and
US first lady Jill Biden. Churches and local communities are going to stage events
devoted to this occasion in public gardens and parks. A special concert to be
held at Windsor Castle will bring together artists like Lionel Richie, Katy
Perry or the band Take That. Thousands of public buildings will see lasers and light
projections to celebrate the coronation tonight. King Charles and Queen Camilla
have conveyed a message of gratitude for the support shown by the Britons
during the coronation procedures.

ORDINANCE An emergency ordinance on curbing public spending is to be endorsed
by the government in Bucharest this week after being assessed by the ruling
coalition, Romania’s Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca has announced. Finance
Minister Adrian Câciu is expected to present today the coalition leaders with
the concrete measures on cutting budget expenses, which also include hiring
freeze in state institutions after May 15th. In another development,
the head of the Executive says that no increased taxes will be levied on private
sector employees. And the same public message was delivered by the leader of
the co-ruling PSD, Marcel Ciolacu who added that he doesn’t give up on the
measure of cutting special pensions. The law will be subjected to public
debates and be approved by the Executive later on.

CYBERSECURITY As of this week Bucharest will be hosting the headquarters of a
major EU agency, the European Centre for Cyber Security, which is to protect
the economy and population from cyber attacks, support research in this field
and help European enterprises to develop their cyber-security capabilities. The
aforementioned agency will be cooperating with a network of national centers in
the EU countries. Romania’s Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca and Roberto Viola, Director-General
of the European Commission’s Department for Communications Networks, will be
attending the inauguration event. In December 2020, EU representatives chose Romania
to host the aforementioned center among the other applicants like Belgium,
Germany, Spain, Luxembourg, Poland and Lithuania. Bucharest’s trump cards
included the high-speed Internet it uses, the centre’s exemption from various
taxes and duties and the fact that this city hadn’t hosted any European agency
until that time.

SUBSIDIES
Romania’s Agriculture
Minister Petre Daea says that the greengrocers who are still using toxic
substances will have their subsidies cut. The statement came upon an
investigation which proved that many farmers put on sale vegetables, which had
been sprinkled with toxic substances with a concentration up to 8 times higher than
the limit approved. The minister says the authorities will be monitoring the
farmers benefitting from support through national programmes for the greenhouse
cultivation of vegetables so that no more non-compliant vegetables may reach
the market. The police have conducted many searches in the counties of Buzau
and Ilfov, in southern Romania, where they found hundreds of containers with
chemical substances from Turkey whose concentrations proved to be higher than
those admitted by the EU legislation. The greengrocers used these substances to
ripen vegetables faster and sell them on the market for higher prices. According
to police sources, in some cases these toxic vegetables were sold as organic products.

(bill)

8 May 2023
March 30, 2023 UPDATE

INTERVIEW ‘Moscow does not give up the
idea of taking over power in the Republic of Moldova and resorts to various
actions in an attempt to instate a Russia-friendly government in Chisinau’, the
country’s president Maia Sandu said in an interview to the Voice of Bessarabia.
According to her, it is only the heroism of the Ukrainian army, which is
keeping the frontline far from the Moldavian-Ukrainian border, but the country
is facing the elements of a hybrid war. Sandu has given assurances that the
people serving Russia’s interests are going to be identified but in order to
achieve that, the country needs to strengthen the capabilities of its
Intelligence and Security Service SIS.

SUPPORT In Bucharest on Thursday Spain reiterated its full support for
Romania’s accession to Europe’s border-free area Schengen, through the voice of
its Interior Minister, Fernando Grande Marlaska Gomez. Romania has worked
extraordinarily hard to achieve this goal and for a long period of time, the
Spanish official has pointed out. Minister Gomez held talks with his Romanian
counterpart, Lucian Bode, with bilateral cooperation against human and drug
trafficking high on the agenda. According to Bode, Romania is fully ready to
join the Schengen zone, and the decision last year was totally unfair. We
recall that the only country, which opposed Romania’s entry into Schengen was
Austria, on migration-related grounds.

BILL The
leaders of the ruling National Liberal Party and Social Democratic Party in
Romania, Nicolae Ciucă and Marcel Ciolacu, have announced that they
decided to support the proposal made by the Ministry of Justice regarding the
establishment of a threshold of 9,000 lei (about 1,800 euros) up to which abuse
of office is decriminalized. The announcements of the two come after the Senate
approved a draft law that provides for a value threshold for abuse and neglect
in the service in the amount of 250,000 lei. The change caused criticism and a
street protest in Bucharest. The opposition Save Romania Union has warned that
the value threshold of 50,000 euros for damage to the public budget to be
considered a criminal offense was also provided for by the well-known Ordinance
13 of 2017, which the government at the time abandoned after massive street
protests.

OECD The
Secretary of State for Romania’s Accession to the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development, Luca Niculescu, was appointed to the Steering
Committee of the new OECD Regional Center in Istanbul. He welcomed the
initiative to establish the Center, aimed at encouraging inter-regional
cooperation, providing a platform for dialogue on public policies and
supporting the states in the region to face the main economic and social
challenges. According to a release by the Foreign Ministry in Bucharest, Luca
Niculescu expressed, at the same time, the availability of the Romanian
authorities to contribute with sectoral expertise to the activity of the OECD
Regional Center in Istanbul, recalling that Romania provides financial support
for the main regional programs of the organization.

(bill)

30 March 2023
Tensions running high over issue of abuse of office

The leaders of the Social Democratic Party – PSD and the National Liberal Party – PNL, the main parties in the governing coalition in Romania, announced on Wednesday evening that they decided to support the proposal of the Justice Ministry regarding the establishment of a threshold of 9,000 lei, the equivalent of 1,800 euros, from which abuse of office and negligence in office can be criminalized. The Social Democrat Marcel Ciolacu and the Liberal Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă made the announcements on Facebook almost simultaneously.

These announcements came after the wave of criticism that appeared in the press following an amendment to the Criminal Code voted by senators, according to which abuse and negligence in office became crimes only in the case of a damage of at least 250,000 lei, i.e. 50,000 euros. Sources inside the ruling coalition stated that the very members of the governing coalition (PSD-PNL-UDMR) had decided on this threshold in the Sunday evening meeting. The amendment voted on Wednesday caused consternation, due to its similarity to the famous emergency ordinance 13 of 2017, which had as threshold for incrimination the amount of only 200,000 lei. Probably the amount was index-linked, some said amusedly.

Emergency Ordinance 13 was practically the inaugural act of a program by which the then power, authoritatively controlled by the leader of the PSD at the time, Liviu Dragnea, allegedly tried to subordinate the judicial system. The adoption of the ordinance brought tens of thousands of people to the streets, forcing the government to withdraw it. Now, things can be fixed in the Chamber of Deputies, which is a decision-making body in the case of the law amending the Criminal Code, which is a milestone in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. The government representatives say that the existence of a value threshold was necessary for the criminal legislation to be put in agreement with some decisions of the Constitutional Court.

After the vote in the Senate, the PSD leader, Marcel Ciolacu, said that his party would vote in the Chamber of Deputies a version that respected the decisions of the Court as well as the recommendations of the Venice Commission and the opinions of legal experts. The Liberal deputy Raluca Turcan considered the threshold of 250,000 lei for abuse of office a mistake, which must be corrected in the Chamber of Deputies. She admits the need for a minimum limit on the value of the damage and that the solution is to set a modest ceiling. The people who protested on Wednesday evening in Bucharest denounced the senators vote, which, they say, encourages corruption and illegalities in Romania.

The vote of the PNL alongside the PSD on this controversial amendment to the Criminal Code took both the press and the analysts by surprise. In 2017, from the opposition, the Liberals permanently tried to counter, together with those from the Save Romania Union – USR, the attempts of Liviu Dragneas Social Democrats to sabotage the instruments necessary for the functioning of the judicial system. Neither the PSD nor the PNL assume the decision to raise the criminalization threshold for abuse of office so high. The question is: would they have wanted it that way? (LS)

30 March 2023
February 17, 2023 UPDATE

VISIT Marcel Ciolacu, president of the Chamber of Deputies in Bucharest
on Friday said after the talks he had in Rome with the Italian Interior Minister
Matteo Piantedosi that Romania had wanted an updated strategic partnership with
Italy since 1997. The Romanian official underlined that this diplomatic binder
is also meant to help the community of 1.2 million Romanians, for whom Italy
has become a second home. Ciolacu has extended thanks to the Italian official
whom he described as one of the strongest voices in support of Romania’s
Schengen accession. On Thursday, the Romanian official held talks with the
mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri, about the staging of a bilateral economic
forum in the Italian capital. Ciolacu met his Italian counterpart, Lorenzo
Fontana, in Rome also on Thursday.

CULTURE
The city of Timişoara, in western Romania, has officially become for one year,
the European Capital of Culture. Approximately 16,000 people are expected to
participate in the 130 events taking place this weekend, on the occasion of the
official opening of the program. The entire city will be animated by concerts,
exhibitions, street performances, theater plays, film screenings and workshops,
all under the slogan Shine your light – Light up your city!
More than 100 Romanian and foreign officials, including about 40 ambassadors,
the Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă and the European Commissioner Adina Vălean
have confirmed their participation in the opening gala at the Palace of Culture
in Timișoara. Moreover, Adina Vălean will hand the local authorities the
Melina Mercouri award, worth 1.5 million Euros, which is awarded to
cities that have fulfilled their commitments in the European Capitals of
Culture program.

HANDBALL Romania’s handball champions, Dinamo
Bucharest on Thursday conceded an away defeat to French side Paris Saint
Germain. The French secured a 33-26 win in the 12th leg of the
Champions League. With 11 points, Dinamo has qualified for the competition’s
next leg and is presently ranking fifth in a group dominated by PSG with 20
points. The Romanians will be also playing Danish side GOG on February 23rd
and SC Magdeburg of Germany on March 2nd. Only the first two sides
in every group will qualify for the quarter finals, while the sides ranking
between the third and sixth positions will go into play-offs.

EARTHQUAKE A moderate
earthquake, with a magnitude of 4.3 on the Richter scale, occurred on Friday in
Gorj county (southwest Romania), at a depth of 15 kilometers, according to the
data of the National Institute for Earth Physics. The intensity of the
earthquake was revised from 4.4 to 4.3 degrees, following the operator’s
calculations. On Tuesday, a 5.7 magnitude earthquake occurred in Gorj county,
the biggest ever produced in that area. The day before, the area was shaken by
a 5.2 magnitude earthquake. On March 4, 1977, an earthquake with a magnitude of
7.2, the worst to hit Romania, resulted in the death of 1,570 people, most of
them in Bucharest, and caused property damage estimated at over two billion
dollars at the time. The earthquake generated an economic and social crisis
that, according to historians, the communist dictatorship of the time could not
overcome until its collapse in 1989.

(bill&LS)

17 February 2023
February 17, 2023

Timişoara – The city of Timişoara, in western Romania, officially becomes, as of today, for one year, a European Capital of Culture. Approximately 16,000 people are expected to participate in the 130 events taking place this weekend, on the occasion of the official opening of the program. The entire city will be animated by concerts, exhibitions, street performances, theater plays, film screenings and workshops, all under the slogan “Shine your light — Light up your city!” More than 100 Romanian and foreign officials, including about 40 ambassadors, the Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă and the European Commissioner Adina Vălean have confirmed their participation in the opening gala at the Palace of Culture in Timișoara. Moreover, Adina Vălean will hand the local authorities the “Melina Mercouri” award, worth 1.5 million Euros, which is awarded to cities that have fulfilled their commitments in the “European Capitals of Culture” program.

Chişinău – The new government of the Republic of Moldova (with a majority Romanian-speaking population) was inaugurated and sworn in before the pro-Western president Maia Sandu. Prime Minister Dorin Recean warned that in the coming period the intensity of hybrid attacks by the Russian Federation was likely to increase and that, in the event of an aggression, the neutrality status of the Republic of Moldova did not provide any guarantees. Radio Romania’s correspondents in Chişinău note that the government led by Recean will have to face not only a security situation complicated by the war in neighboring Ukraine, but also the economic and energy crises. The Romanian Prime Minister, Nicolae Ciucă, congratulated Recean for the vote obtained and for assuming the responsibility of leading the Government of the Republic of Moldova, and gave assurances regarding the continuation of the dialogue and the identification of support solutions for the European path.

Rome – The Speaker of Romania’s Chamber of Deputies, Marcel Ciolacu, continues his visit to Italy today. He is to meet with the Interior Minister, Matteo Piantedosi, and then he will meet with representatives of the diocesan communities in the Lazio Region. On Thursday, the Romanian official talked with the mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri, about the organization of a bilateral economic forum in Rome. Marcel Ciolacu has said that Italy is Romanias second important commercial partner, and Rome is ‘home to over 200,000 Romanian citizens’. Also on Thursday, the president of the Chamber of Deputies met in Rome with his Italian counterpart, Lorenzo Fontana.

Conference – The Romanian Defense Minister, Angel Tîlvăr, and the Foreign Minister, Bogdan Aurescu, are participating, from Friday until Sunday, in the Munich Security Conference (MSC), a representative forum for discussions on the current dynamics of international security. Bogdan Aurescu participates, as the main speaker, in the round table Security in the Black Sea Region: From Cyberstorm and Brinkmanship to Border Confrontation?, organized by the think tanks New Strategy Center (NSC) and Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA). Minister Angel Tîlvăr participates in the conference sessions focused on regional security developments, the implications of Russias war of aggression against Ukraine, as well as regional stability and security. He will also attend the debates on the conference report (Munich Security Report), a document that highlights the profound changes in the security environment and the consequences of the unprovoked and unjustified war waged by Russia in Ukraine. Among the guests are prominent personalities from NATO, the EU, the UN and other international organizations, as well as important global decision-makers.

Earthquake – A moderate earthquake, with a magnitude of 4.3, occurred on Friday in Gorj county (southwest Romania), at a depth of 15 kilometers, according to the data of the National Institute for Earth Physics. The intensity of the earthquake was revised from 4.4 to 4.3 degrees, following the operators calculations. On Tuesday, a 5.7 magnitude earthquake occurred in Gorj county, the largest ever produced in that area. The day before, the area was shaken by a 5.2 magnitude earthquake. On March 4, 1977, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2, the worst to hit Romania, resulted in the death of 1,570 people, most of them in Bucharest, and caused property damage estimated at over two billion dollars at the time. The earthquake generated an economic and social crisis that, according to historians, the communist dictatorship of the time could not overcome until its collapse in 1989. (LS)

17 February 2023
February 1, 2023 UPDATE

SESSION The Senate and Chamber of
Deputies in Bucharest on Wednesday went on their first Parliamentary session
this year. Draft laws on complying with the terms assumed through the National
Plan of Recovery and Resilience are high on the agenda. Leaders of the main
ruling parties, the Social Democratic and the National Liberal Party, have also
announced among their legislative priorities, several projects on education and
the special pensions reform. The Liberals want to raise the ceiling for pension
taxation and the local and Parliamentary election of 2024 to merge. The
Social-Democrats have announced they are working on a new ruling programme and
the Social-Democratic president Marcel Ciolacu who is going to take over the position
of Prime Minister, has announced the idea of cutting labour taxes and
increasing the taxation level for the companies with huge profits. The
opposition USR and Force of the Right have tabled a simple motion against
Interior Minister Lucian Bode entitled Romania deserves better than thieves on
public jobs, amid forgery allegation concerning his PhD thesis. The Senate has
endorsed a declaration reiterating its commitment to strengthening legislative
efforts to commemorate the Holocaust victims and underlines the need for the
involvement of all state institutions and citizens so that human rights may be
observed.

PROTEST Roughly one thousand employees from Romania’s education
system took to the streets on Wednesday to protest the low salaries in their
line of work. According to the protesters, the nonteaching staff makes the only
category of state employees who hasn’t yet reached the pay level stipulated by
the 2022 law. Salaries for nonteaching employees are ranging between 366 and
468 euros and trade unions in the country’s education system have called on the
government to endorse a law allowing the nonteaching personnel to get proper
pay.

UKRAINE The Russian invasion forces are making small progress on
the front in eastern Ukraine – international news agencies report. Their main
target remains the city of Bakhmut, which they have been trying to seize for
months without success. Both Bakhmut and the neighboring villages of Kliškiivka
and Kurdiumivka, located south of the city, came under new Russian fire.
According to the Ukrainian military, though, the Russians allegedly got stuck
near the town of Avdiivka, the second focal point of their attacks in the
disputed Donetsk region. Troop movements are also registered in Lyman, a city
recaptured by the Ukrainians in October. In an unusually detailed intelligence
update, British Ministry of Defense experts, who are constantly monitoring the
situation on the front, note that Russian forces have advanced several hundred
meters across a river towards the town of Vuhledar, and recorded made small wins.
Specialists say that Moscow’s troops would like to attract the Ukrainian forces
defending Bakhmut to Vuhledar.

VISIT The President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, will be paying
a formal visit to Baku, Azerbaijan, on February 2-3, at the invitation of his
counterpart, Ilham Aliyev. The two presidents will open the Ministerial Meeting
of the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council.
The visit by the Romanian president comes in continuation of the very
good talks held with the Azerbaijani president, in Bucharest, in December 2022,
on the occasion of their participation in the signing ceremony of the Agreement
between the Governments of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania and
Hungary regarding the Strategic Partnership in the field of green energy
development and transport. In Baku, the state of implementation of regional
interconnection projects such as the submarine electricity transmission cable
will be assessed and the initiation of similar projects in the digital field
will be addressed. Azerbaijan is the first country in the South Caucasus region
with which Romania raised bilateral relations to the level of Strategic
Partnership in 2009.

(bill)

1 February 2023
December 23, 2022 UPDATE

TRAFFIC The Romanians working
abroad are coming back these days to spend Christmas at home. Traffic jams have
already been reported on two main roads in the country’s west starting at the
border checkpoints of Bors and Nadlac, the main entrance points into Romania
from Hungary. In spite of the authorities’ sustained efforts to speed up
checking procedures, long queues have been reported at the aforementioned
checkpoints.

MESSAGE The Romanian embassy in Mexico has conveyed a message to
the Foreign Ministry in that country to voice dissatisfaction over the fact
that several Romanians were banned access to that country. The message
underlines the need for such decision to be firmly grounded and applied under
the strict observance of the rights of the Romanian citizens. The diplomatic
intervention comes after the Romanian embassy received requests for consular assistance
from several Romanian nationals on December 19th and 20th
who were denied the right to enter the country. According to the Mexican
authorities the interdictions were based on some inaccuracies in the documents
produced by the Romanians.

LAW The
Romanian foreign ministry has taken note of Ukraine’s Parliament adoption on 13th
December of the law on national ethnic minorities in Ukraine aimed at
complementing the Ukrainian legislation on the protection of members of
national ethnic minorities. The Romanian foreign office regrets that this law
was passed without consulting the Venice Commission, whose opinion would have
contributed to ensuring a comprehensive and clear text from the point of view
of European legal standards in the field. The Romanian foreign ministry says
the law maintains a number of provisions that may have a negative impact, when
viewed in relation to the European standards. Among others, the law contains no
provision on the use of the mother tongue in courts, and maintains the lack of
clarity with respect to the concrete application of the provisions relating to
the use of the minorities’ mother tongue in the administration in the areas
traditionally inhabited by persons belonging to ethnic minorities. The Romanian
side has constantly invoked in its contacts with the Ukrainian side the promise
made by the Ukrainian president that ethnic Romanians in Ukraine would enjoy
the same treatment as that enjoyed by ethnic Ukrainians in Romania.

POLICE The Romanian interior ministry has announced special measures to
maintain public order around Christmas and New Year’s. More than 24,000 members
of the police, gendarmerie, border police and fire services as well as other
departments will be mobilised every day. The traffic police will use 290 radar
detectors and alcohol devices to detect alcohol consumption and the intake of
other substances banned when driving. As the authorities are expecting a new
wave of tourists in the mountain resorts in Prahova Valley, in south-central
Romania, special mountain gendarmerie troops are also on stand-by.

VISIT The Romanian Prime Minister, Nicolae Ciucă and
the speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Marcel Ciolacu on Friday attended
alongside South Korea’s Prime Minister Han Duck-soo a Romania-South Korea
business roundtable. This was the last day of the two Romanian officials’ trip
to South Korea. On Thursday, during talks with the management of the companies
Hanwha Aerospace and Hyundai Rotem, they talked about major projects in key
economic sectors like transports, the defence industry and communications and
IT. Also on Thursday, Ciucă and Ciolacu visited the port of Busan, which ranks
second in the world in terms of cargo handled. According to Radio Romania’s
correspondent, emphasis was placed during talks held with the president of the
Busan port authority Kang Joon-suk on the need for cooperation between Busan
and the Romanian port of Constanţa.

(bill)

23 December 2022
December 21, 2022

COMMEMORATION Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis has today laid wreaths of flowers
at a monument in memory of the victims of the Romanian anti-communist
revolution of 1989 in Bucharest. ‘Let’s
keep alive the memory of the heroes of the December 1989 revolution and carry
on the ideals they fought for!’ the president wrote in a Facebook message.
‘To the martyrs of the Romanian
Revolution and to all those who suffered during the communist dictatorship we
owe the liberty we enjoy today and we must thank them through our taking care
of Romania and for the consolidation of the democratic process’ – Prime
Minister Nicolae Ciuca says in a message. In another development, the Belgian
ambassador to Romania, Philippe Benoit, the ambassador of Britain Andrew Noble
and the director of the French Institute Julien Chiappone-Lucchesi on Tuesday
participated in the inauguration of a new monument in the memory of three
foreign journalists who lost their lives in the 1989 anti-communist revolution
in Romania, Danny Huwe of Belgium, Jean-Louis Calderon of France and the
British Ian Henry Parry. We recall that the anti-communist revolution started
in Timisoara, western Romania on December 16th 1989, and a couple of
days later expanded to Bucharest and to other major cities across the country.
One thousand people were killed and roughly three thousand wounded in the only
east-European country in which the change of regime ended up in bloodshed.

VISIT Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky is being received today in
Washington by his US counterpart Joe Biden and is expected to hold a speech
before Congress, the White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has
announced. The visit will underscore the United States’ steadfast commitment
to supporting Ukraine for as long as it takes, including through the provision
of economic, humanitarian and military assistance the White House official
added. According to experts, the US has already granted 50 billion dollars to
support Ukraine’s war efforts out of which 20 billion in military equipment and
assistance. Biden and Zelensky have constantly talked on the phone in the past
10 months but have never met face to face since the beginning of the Russian
invasion. This is also Zelensky’s first visit abroad since the beginning of the
conflict on February 24th.

TALKS Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca and the president of the Chamber
of Deputies in Bucharest, Marcel Ciolacu are paying a three-day visit to South
Korea. The two are heading a delegation of ministers and MPs who will be
holding talks with the local officials over energy, investment, education and
the defence industry. During the talks he had with the president of Korea’s
National Assembly Kim Jin-pyo, Prime Minister Ciuca has referred to ways of
strengthening Romanian-Korean cooperation. ‘We are determined to strengthen
Romanian-Korean cooperation, capitalize on the entire economic potential and
foster investment in the field of energy’ Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca writes
on the government’s Twitter page. During his visit, the head of the Romanian
government will be having talks with his South-Korean counterpart Han Duck-soo
and together with Ciolacu will be meeting representatives of the Romanian
community in South Korea. The Romanian officials on Thursday will be visiting
two companies and a day later the demilitarized zone separating the country
from the communist North.

MEDICINES Romania is presently facing a shortage of anti-inflammatory drugs used
in the treatment of respiratory infections mainly in children. The shortage is
the result of a growing consumption against the background of the rising number
of infections in the present cold season after two years in which the measures
imposed by the pandemic had limited the spread of these viruses. The country’s
health Minister Alexandru Rafila says that in order to improve the situation he
is considering a limited export of the aforementioned drugs.

(bill)

21 December 2022