Radio România Internațional

Tag: conversion

  • Radio Romania International Sports Club

    Radio Romania International Sports Club


    The World Rugby Cup, to be held this coming autumn in France, is one of 2023s headline-hitting events. The audience is bound to be global, given that rugby is popular on almost all continents, perhaps less so in Asia. Rugby has for long gained ground in Europe, America, Australia and Oceania. Hailing from Africa are the Springboks. The South-African team is the current World Cup holders.



    The World Cup begins on September 8, when the Stade de France in Paris plays host to the match pitting France against New Zealand. The fixture counts towards Group A, also including Italy, Uruguay and Namibia. On September 9 in Bordeaux, Romania plays its debut game against the Republic of Ireland. Also in Bordeaux, on September 17, Romanian takes on defending title holders South Africa. Then the game against Scotland follows, on September 30 in Lille. Romania s last fixture as part of the World Cup is the confrontation against Tonga on October 8th, also in Lille.



    In its training stage ahead of the World Cup, on Saturday in Bucharest, Romania played the team of the United States. The Romanians were trounced, 17-31. The Romanian team scored three tries, of which only one was successfully converted. The US rugby players scored five times, while three of the tries were successfully converted. Ahead of its departure to France, Romania has two more games to play, against Georgia, in Tbilisi on Saturday and against Italy in San Benedetto del Tronto in a week. Romanias friendly games will decide the final, 33-strong pool of regulars representing Romania at the World Cup in France.








  • Conversion of Swiss franc loans, ruled as unconstitutional

    Conversion of Swiss franc loans, ruled as unconstitutional

    The law allowing borrowers to switch from Swiss francs to lei at the exchange rate valid on the date the loan contract was signed is unconstitutional, the Romanian Constitutional Court ruled on Tuesday. The Court President, Valer Dorneanu, said the most important aspect taken into account was a severe violation of the principle of bicameralism.



    Valer Doneanu: “The fact that the Chamber of Deputies, the lower chamber in Parliament, is the decision-making body in this case, does not mean that it may endorse a bill in any form they like. On the contrary, Deputies are bound to take into account the text endorsed by the higher chamber, namely the Senate. Furthermore, the Court found that the solution chosen by the Chamber of Deputies, that is, the conversion of Swiss francs to lei at the exchange rate valid at the time when the loan contracts were signed, is wrong and comes against all European directives.



    The Constitutional Court had postponed its decision twice already, in order to look more deeply into the matter. In October 2016, the Chamber of Deputies decided in a bill that loans taken out in Swiss francs should be swapped for national currency loans at the exchange rate valid when the contract was signed. The law was quickly brought before the Constitutional Court by the Government, and Dacian Ciolos, the Prime Minister in office at the time, explained that the Government had done that not because it opposed it, but rather for clarifications.



    According to central bank data, in January 2015 there were over 65,000 borrowers in Swiss francs in Romania, and by June nearly half of them had requested a conversion or rescheduling of their loans, as currency fluctuations had doubled their repayment amounts. At present, the Swiss franc accounts for roughly 4.2 lei, as compared to 2-2.5 lei in 2007-2008, when most of the Swiss franc loans were taken out. Swiss franc lending was encouraged at the time by the much better interest rates than the ones charged on loans in Euros or USD.