Radio România Internațional

Tag: consumer

  • August 4, 2022 UPDATE

    August 4, 2022 UPDATE


    INTEREST The 3-month ROBOR index, based on which the cost of consumer loans in lei with variable interest is calculated in Romania, rose on Thursday from 8.05% to 8.11% per annum, the highest level in the last 12 years. In early 2022, the index was 3% per year. Rates on mortgage loans and “First house” loans have increased by 50% since the beginning of the year and almost doubled as compared to a few years ago. IRCC, the reference index for consumer loans, is 2.65% p.a., up from 1.86% three months ago. In the last three months, more than 10,000 beneficiaries of the “First house” programme have requested to switch from ROBOR to IRCC for calculating loan interests.



    AIR FORCES As of August 4, the Canadian Royal Air Force is conducting an air policing mission in Romania. According to the defence ministry, a unit of 180 troops and 6 CF-188 Hornet aircraft, will operate under NATO command in the next 4 months, jointly with Romanian Air Force units, while another 2 aircraft will take part in drills organised jointly with NATO allies. This is the 6th rotation of Canadian troops at Romanias Mihail Kogălniceanu air base since 2017. Canadian forces were also deployed in Câmpia Turzii in central Romania in 2014. The presence of the CF-188 Hornet aircraft in Romania is part of the action plan for ensuring NATO operational capability in the eastern flank, and proves the Alliances unity and determination in response to recent security challenges, the Romanian defence ministry said.



    COVID-19 Three military hospitals in Romania have reopened wards for treating COVID patients. In Sibiu (centre), patients have five beds available, with another five available in Cluj Napoca (north-west). The Emergency Military Clinical Hospital in Timisoara (west) also reopened the Modular Medical Isolation and Treatment System, where patients have already been admitted. More than 4,000 people infected with coronavirus are currently hospitalised in Romania, and the number of those in Intensive Care is around 300. On Thursday, more than 8,600 new infections with SARS-COV-2 were announced in 24 hours. The authorities also reported 27 deaths.



    TAIWAN The Chinese army Thursday fired missiles towards the Taiwan Strait, shortly after the start of military drills around the island, France Presse and Reuters reported. China initiated large-scale live-fire drills around Taiwan in response to the visit of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosis visit to Taipei. Pelosi is the highest-ranking US official to visit Taiwan in the last 25 years. She assured Taipei of the USs commitment to supporting the democracy of the self-governed island claimed by Beijing. Taiwan has condemned the Chinese drills.



    UNTOLD Cluj-Napoca, in north-western Romania, is hosting until August 7 the UNTOLD electronica festival, currently at its 7th edition. For the opening night on Thursday, the organisers have brought to Romania, for the first time ever, a unique show by the German DJ and producer duo Claptone and 100 dancers and animators. The crowd will be welcomed by fantastic characters, international acrobats, animators, cheerleaders, dancers from Romania, France, the Netherlands, the UK, Germany and Ukraine, with parades, fireworks and laser shows. UNTOLD takes place in several locations, with the main stage placed in the Cluj Arena. The line-up includes the worlds best DJs, and the organisers expect nearly 400,000 people to attend. UNTOLD is one of the largest music festivals in the world. (AMP)

  • January 10, 2021 UPDATE

    January 10, 2021 UPDATE

    COVID-19 Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the total number of coronavirus infections in Romania has passed 671,000 and the total death toll has reached over 16,600, after over 3,000 new cases and 62 deaths were reported on Sunday. 1,065 people are currently in intensive care. The largest number of cases, 825, was reported in the capital Bucharest. Since the start of the vaccination programme in Romania on December 27, more than 100,000 people have received the anti-COVID-19 vaccine. Mild and common side effects have been reported in 350 cases, mostly headaches, muscle pain, fever, asthenia or rashes. The next stage in the vaccination campaign, addressing the elderly and chronic patients, is scheduled to start at the end of next week. The Government is to pass an emergency order granting bonuses to the personnel involved in the anti-COVID National Vaccination Programme, the health minister Vlad Voiculescu announced. Family physicians, who are regarded as a vital element in the immunisation campaign, will also be paid.



    FILM colectiv / “Collective, the Romanian documentary by Alexander Nanau covering a journalist investigation into the corruption in Romanian healthcare, won the award for best foreign-language film of the US National Society of Film Critics. The documentary colectiv is Romanias nomination for the 2021 Oscars in the “best international feature film, previously known as best foreign film. This is the first time that Romania submits a documentary in the competition for the Academy Awards.



    BANKS As of Monday, all banks in Romania are to submit to the National Tax Agency (ANAF) all data on the accounts held by private individuals and business, under an emergency order which transposes a European directive. The new legislation is designed to help the authorities fight against money laundering and terrorism financing. An electronic tax registry will become operational, containing banking and payment accounts identified by International Bank Account Number. The Agency will thus be able to monitor money circuits in Romania and to identify money laundering attempts.



    SCHOOLS Romanian students resume online classes on Monday, for the last 3 weeks of the first half of the academic year. A one-week vacation follows, and the second semester, beginning on February 8, might bring Romanias 3 million primary, secondary and high school students back into schools. This is one of the options considered by the authorities, depending on the latest COVID-19 developments. Another option is for only pre-schoolers and primary school students to resume face-to-face classes, while in a third scenario 8th and 12th graders might also get back to school.



    EMPLOYEES 1.25 million people were working in public institutions in Romania in November 2020, over 64% of them in the central public administration. According to the Finance Ministry, nearly 600,000 of these jobs are entirely funded from the state budget. The largest number of jobs is reported in public education (almost 300,000), followed by the Interior Ministry (125,000). Local public administration units had 450,000 employees in November, more than half of them in jobs fully financed from the state budget.



    COMPLAINTS Almost half of the complaints filed in 2020 to the European Consumer Centre in Romania concerned the transport sector. People were unhappy with the services received from air, road, railway and naval transport companies, as well as from car rental companies. Other complaints concerned clothing and footwear, restaurants and hotels, as well as entertainment and cultural activities, the National Consumer Protection Authority says.



    WEATHER A code yellow alert for heavy snowfalls is in place until Monday afternoon in the south and south-west of the country and the capital Bucharest. A layer of 10-20 cm of snow is expected in these areas. Snowfalls, glaze and temperatures of up to 2 degrees Celsius are forecast in Bucharest for the next 4 days. (tr. A.M. Popescu)

  • January 7, 2020 UPDATE

    January 7, 2020 UPDATE

    Bavaria — On Tuesday the Romanian President Klaus Iohannis paid a working visit to the State of Bavaria where he attended a meeting of the local government. The Romanian head of state met with the prime minister of Bavaria, Markus Söder, who is the president of the Christian Social Union (CSU). The two discussed bilateral relations as well as European issues such as the EU future multiannual budget, Brexit and the migration policy. Klaus Iohannis has promised that Romania will get involved alongside the other member states to make the EU stronger and more united. He has also announced that there will be a meeting of the Romania-Bavaria joint committee, which is critical both for the political and economic relations. The PM of Bavaria Markus Söder underlined that from a geographical point of view Romania is very important to Europe. On Tuesday President Iohannis participated in the annual meeting of the parliamentary group of the CSU in the Bundestag, and met with the speaker of the Bavarian Parliament, Ilse Aigner.



    Brussels — The Romanian PM Ludovic Orban on Tuesday met with the president of the European Council Charles Michel on his first day of his working visit to Brussels. PM Orban said that Romanian would back the promotion of the EU strategic agenda, which focuses, besides protecting the citizens and their liberties, on building a green Europe, fair and neutral from the point of view of the climate impact, on promoting the European interests and values in the world. As to the challenges facing the EU, Ludovic Orban said they should be solved in a balanced manner, while taking into account the citizens’ interests. Also on Tuesday the Romanian PM and the EU chief negotiator for Brexit Michel Barnier highlighted the importance of the Brexit deal, especially for the protection of the citizens’ rights. Mr. Orban said that the future partnership with Great Britain needs to be ambitious and balanced and should take into account aspects beyond the commercial and economic framework. On Wednesday Ludovic Orban will talk with the president of the EP David Sassoli and will participate in the meeting of the European People’s Party in the EP. On Thursday, the Romanian PM is to meet with the president of the EC Ursula von der Leyen and with the NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.



    Baghdad — The 14 Romanian military on mission in Iraq will be temporarily relocated to another coalition base. The measure follows the decision made by the ambassadors of NATO’s North Atlantic Council during Monday’s meeting to temporarily suspend the mission of training the Iraqi troops against the backdrop of escalating tensions in the Middle East. NATO subsequently announced that it also temporarily withdrew part of its personnel from Iraq. The Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said he was closely monitoring the situation in Iraq and that the crisis in the region could be solved by diplomatic means and the return to calm. He added that the Strategic Partnership with the US is solid and unfolding well, and that the antimissile defense shield in Deveselu, a part of the NATO defense system, is functioning optimally. The Romanian president underlined that the situation in Iraq also concerns Romania because there are many Romanian citizens who live and work in the Middle East.



    Damascus – The Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday met with his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad on the occasion of a surprise visit to Damascus, the first visit he pays to the Syrian capital since the beginning of the conflict in 2011. According to the Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov, Vladimir Putin referred to the ‘immense’ progress made by Syria and the peaceful atmosphere on the streets of Damascus. Reuters news agency recalls that president Putin had previously visited Syria in 2017 when he visited the Hmeimim air base, the largest Russian base in that country. In turn, the Syrian president expressed gratitude for Russia’s help in the fight against terrorism and for the restoration of peace. The conflict started in Syria through the repression of the pro-democracy manifestations turned into a complex civil and military war which involved Jihadist groups and foreign powers. The conflict has left behind more than 380 thousand dead and millions of people displaced and stranded.



    Madrid — The Spanish Socialist Pedro Sanchez was reconfirmed as prime minister after narrowly winning Parliament’s confidence vote. This ends a period of 8 months of political deadlock. Sanchez will be able to form a new government coalition together with the radical left Podemos that will be supported by several small regional and national parties. In their highly criticized program, the Socialists and Podemos promised to make a left turn in the sense of increasing the minimum wage, introducing taxes for the richest and for companies, and partially abrogating the controversial labor market reform, adopted by the Conservatives.



    Consumer protection — The European Commission has hailed the enforcement of the new EU consumer protection rules. The EU Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders considers the rules a strong warning to traders who should play by the rules, not bend them. The new rules will ensure greater transparency of online marketplaces: it will become clearer whether products are sold by trader or a private individual, and fake reviews will be forbidden. Moreover sellers will not be able to advertise fake price reductions and price comparison sites will need to inform consumers about the ranking criteria. The new rules will also enforce consumer rights: by ensuring compensation for victims of unfair commercial practices and imposing penalties in case of “mass harm situations” affecting consumers across the EU. Member states have 2 years to transpose the rules into their national legislation. (news udpate by L. Simion)