Radio România Internațional

Tag: contracts

  • Signing of first contracts under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan

    Signing of first contracts under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan

    The first seven contracts financed under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan have been signed in Bucharest by local authorities and the Ministry of Development. They aim at rehabilitating and modernizing some schools and city halls and at increasing the thermal efficiency of some administrative buildings. Attending the event, the Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca said that another 1,430 projects, worth more than 2.4 billion Euros, are pending. He has given assurances that all local communities, regardless of the region or the political affiliation of the mayor, have equal chances to funding through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.



    Nicolae Ciucă: “The entire process of submitting projects and eligibility unfolded in a very transparent and modern manner, using a digital platform. Through this procedure, we ensure modern mechanisms through which to facilitate both the access of the local authorities and to prove to the Romanian citizens that they can trust the commitments we have made.”



    The prime minister also said that the government was working on the second application for funding that is to be sent to the European Commission, so that Romania can fully benefit from the amount of 10 billion Euros allocated for this year. Funding from Brussels will be used also for a large part of Moldavia’s highway (A7), which connects the south to the north of Romania, and which measures a total of almost 440 km, up to the border with Ukraine. The section from Ploiești to Paşcani, about 320 km, is financed through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.



    The National Road Company has signed the contract for the first section Ploiești – Buzău (60 km), worth almost 4 billion lei (about 800 million Euros), as well as for the construction of its middle sector, Mizil-Pietroasele (28 km). All the works must be finished by August 2026, in order to be disbursed through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, which is a short-term plan designed by the EU for relaunching the post-pandemic economies.



    The transport minister Sorin Grindeanu asked the Road Company to sign the contracts for all 13 lots by the end of the year, a very tight schedule which is extremely difficult to observe, given that the authorities have not yet launched the tenders, which can be contested, and therefore the whole process protracted. Moldavias motorway will take over most of the traffic on the current E85 national road which has only one lane in each direction and a slightly wider roadside verge, often used irregularly by drivers as another lane of traffic. In terms of accidents, E85 road is currently the most dangerous in the entire country. Moldavias motorway is the first in Romania to adapt as much as possible to the European environmental norms. Thus, it will have 24 spaces for charging electric cars, 65 lots of anti-snow forest curtains will be planted on a total length of over 63 km and on an area of 160 hectares, and the technological roads will be used as bike lanes. (LS)

  • Fines for energy suppliers

    Fines for energy suppliers

    Four Romanian natural gas suppliers (Engie, E.ON
    Energie, Restart Energy One and Premier Energy) have been fined for plans to
    increase tariffs while under fixed-price contracts. They are now bound to notify
    their clients who entered fixed-price contracts, that the price of natural gas
    supply will remain unchanged throughout the contractual period.


    The National Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE) found
    that these companies have breached their contractual obligations. The suppliers
    were fined for having drawn up standard contract offers that failed to specify either
    the contract period, or the terms and conditions for unilaterally cancelling
    contracts.


    The fines amount to some 545,000 euro, and the
    Authority promises to continue monitoring the conduct of all suppliers, and in
    case new breaches of relevant legislation are found, to address them
    accordingly.


    In response, two companies announced they would
    take the matter to court, and argue they had done nothing wrong and that
    international natural gas prices have skyrocketed. They warn that, in case the
    measures intended to mitigate the effects on end consumers are not based on
    fair and just economic principles, this will have swift and substantial
    repercussions on suppliers, and implicitly on their clients, not only in terms
    of prices, but also of the safety of supply ahead of the winter season.



    In this very difficult context, the respective
    companies argue, all stakeholders-authorities and private operators-need to work
    together to identify viable, fair and responsible solutions to overcome this
    crisis.



    With 95% of the bills accounted for by the natural
    gas procurement, storage, transport and distribution costs, suppliers only gain 5% of the invoiced amounts, the operators in question also explained. After
    the gas prices rose spectacularly, Romanian suppliers have raised tariffs
    several times, and these successive price rises and the small profit margin
    reflect in consumers’ bills. For
    example, this summer the average price was 0.12 leu / Kwh, while at present it
    reaches 0.6 leu / Kwh, i.e. 5 times more.


    The authorities are considering a ceiling on
    energy prices, but this can be done through a state-aid scheme that must be
    approved by the European Commission, the line minister Virgil Popescu said. He emphasised
    that, if suppliers are not bound to purchase electricity for the smallest price
    in the market and if they are not monitored, energy bills will increase
    significantly in a matter of months, and it is citizens who will stand to
    suffer. (tr. A.M. Popescu)

  • January 23, 2021

    January 23, 2021

    COVID-19 – A 73-year-old woman from Romania died on Friday, on the same day when she was vaccinated against Covid-19. The National Vaccination Committee pointed out that the person had multiple chronic diseases and that her death was not caused by the vaccine. The national vaccination campaign in Romania has entered its second stage, when the elderly and the people with chronic diseases are going to be vaccinated. Other categories included in the 2nd vaccination stage are: the employees of key sectors, seafarers, members of the diplomatic missions, athletes participating in international competitions as well as the homeless and the disabled. In the first stage, vaccination was for the healthcare personnel. The Prime Minister Florin Cîţu said Saturday that the authorities maintain the objective of having at least 1.2 million Romanians vaccinated with both doses by the end of March and 10.4 million by the end of September. The Prime Minister also stressed the importance of continuing to observe anti-coronavirus protection rules everywhere and at all times. Despite the recommendation of the Romania Health Ministry, restrictions generated by Covid-19 will be partially lifted in Bucharest as of Monday – the Municipal Committee for Emergency Situations announced. Theaters, cinemas, restaurants, bars, cafes and gambling halls will be able to operate, but at a capacity of maximum 30%. Official data made public on Saturday show that 2,719 new COVID-19 cases have been identified in Romania following 26.700 tests made. Another 94 people have died from COVID-19. So far, more than 709 thousand cases have been reported in Romania, and about 90% of the patients have recovered.



    Travel – All persons reaching the US by air will be required to present, upon boarding, a negative SARS-CoV-2 test or a document attesting that they have been infected but have recovered. The negative test should be made 72 hours (3 days), at the most, prior to reaching the USA – the Romanian Foreign Ministry announced. The measure, which will apply to all people over the age of 2, including to US citizens, permanent residents and citizens transiting the US, will take effect on January 26. In another move, people in risk areas, including Romania, who travel to the Netherlands by air or sea, should present, starting on Saturday, a rapid test for the new coronavirus, made no later than four hours before departure. France will also require, as of Sunday at midnight, a negative PCR Covid-19 test that needs to be taken with a maximum of 72 hours before the trip. Exempted from the rule are road transporters and cross-border workers.



    Brussels – The European Ombudsman, quoted by Reuters, has announced the launch of an investigation into the way in which the European Commission is managing the contracts for the purchase of the Covid-19 vaccines concluded with pharmaceutical companies on behalf of the EU member states. The EU has spent about 2.5 billion Euros for down payments to buy about 2.3 billion doses of vaccine from six companies that have Covid-19 vaccines approved or in the experimental phase. The prices, delivery deadlines and other important clauses in the contracts are kept secret, the European Commission claiming that confidentiality is essential to obtain the best possible contractual conditions. However, the Ombudsmans inquiry concerns the EC’s refusal to provide public access to those documents. EU states have complained about insufficient vaccine deliveries and uncertain timelines.



    Expo — The Commissioner of the Romanian Section for Expo 2020 Dubai, Ferdinand Nagy, paid a working visit to the United Arab Emirates between January 17-21. He met with Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, the chairman of the Expo Dubai 2020 Steering Committee. During the talks, the two stressed the importance of bilateral relations, in the context of the Strategic Economic Partnership concluded in 2018. The Romanian official also had a meeting with Reem Al Hashimy, Minister of State for International Cooperation, both expressing confidence that Romanias presence at Expo 2020 Dubai will attract both the interest of visitors and of the business environment. Romania will participate in the World Exhibition with a national pavilion entitled New Nature. Expo 2020 Dubai will have the theme Connecting Minds, Creating the Future and will take place between October 1, 2021 – March 31, 2022.



    Chisinau – The president of the Committee for International Relations of the Federation Council, the upper chamber of the Russian parliament, Konstantin Kosaciov, virulently criticized the recent decision of the Constitutional Court in Chisinau, which declared unconstitutional the law that gave the Russian language a special status in Moldova, an ex-Soviet state with a majority Romanian-speaking population. Konstantin Kosaciov considers similar the Moldovan Constitutional Court’s decision and Ukraines decision of 16 January, which introduced the Ukrainian language to the countrys service sector, calling the decisions attacks on the Russian language. The Russian senator makes a link between the two measures and Republic of Moldova’s and Ukraine’s aspirations for European integration. In his opinion Russophobia becomes a systemic element of European policy, encouraged by the European Union in Russias neighborhood. The Romanian Ambassador to Chisinau, Daniel Ioniţă, on the contrary, has appreciated as correct and normal the decision of the Constitutional Court, this being an additional proof that the Romanian language must be known by all the citizens living on the territory of the Romanian-speaking Republic of Moldova. (tr. L.Simion)

  • Economic Prospects

    Economic Prospects


    According
    to Romania’s Finance Minister Florin Cîţu, the country’s
    economy is going to look a little bit different after this period of
    crisis; a lot of companies are going to invest in technology while a
    new challenge for the government is to create fresh jobs in order to
    keep at home the over one million Romanians who came back home during
    the crisis.





    In
    an interview to a TV channel Cîţu said that new jobs could be
    created in the retail sector, which currently needs 10,000 people, as
    well as in the industry of hotels, restaurants and cafes. The
    minister estimates that a lot of companies are going to invest in
    technology and more employees will be needed in these sectors as
    well. The corona crisis has created a lot of problems for the
    Romanian employees.





    According
    to the Labour Ministry, over 400 contracts have been terminated in
    this period, particularly in the retail, car and bike repair
    businesses, as well as in the sectors of processing and construction.
    The number of contracts suspended comes close to 600 thousand. On the
    other hand, Cîţu announced that the government is also considering
    incentives for investors in order to enable them to use their
    resources for investment and increase their output capabilities.





    At
    the same time all the resources Romania has are going to be channeled
    towards investment, the Romanian minister has explained adding the
    purchasing power will increase as inflation and interest rates are
    going down.



    ‘As
    for the inflation, things improved from one month to the other. The
    inflation rate went down and is continuing this trend in the coming
    period. And the same goes for interest rates, which means the
    purchasing power of the Romanians will increase against the lowering
    prices and interest rates. We have elements indicating the purchasing
    power will definitely increase in the coming period’, the Finance
    Minister has explained.



    As
    for the law on the pension raise starting September 1st,
    this creates sustainability issues with the budget for the following
    2 years, Florin Cîţu says. Furthermore, international financial
    institutions and rating agencies have pointed out that the issue
    represents a major risk for the health of the economy.





    According
    to Cîţu, for this law and for others endorsed by Parliament there
    are no funds and measures must be taken to avoid destabilizing the
    economy. We recall that last week, the government in Bucharest
    announced a partnership with the banks to help jump-starting the
    economy, as according to Florin Cîţu, the banks have both the
    expertise and the necessary channels to transfer money towards the
    economy’s best performing sectors.





    (translated
    by bill)