Radio România Internațional

Tag: decentralization

  • The Week in Review: April 9-15

    The Week in Review: April 9-15

    The private pensions scandal -
    measures and penalties


    The Financial Supervisory
    Authority in Romania on Thursday levelled penalties against NN, the country’s
    biggest private pensions fund for spreading information meant to destabilise
    the pensions system. On Wednesday, NN sent an email to all its clients warning
    about possible measures to nationalise private pensions funds. The leader of
    the Social Democratic Party and speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Liviu
    Dragnea said Parliament would soon take steps to sack the entire management of
    the Financial Supervisory Authority. The Finance Ministry has categorically
    denied plans to nationalise the private pensions funds.



    The Serbian police detain former
    Romanian MP Sebastian Ghita in Belgrade


    The former Romanian MP and
    businessman Sebastian Ghita, who was on an international most wanted fugitives
    list, was tracked and detained by the Serbian police on Thursday night in
    Belgrade four months after his disappearance. The Romanian authorities are now taking
    the necessary action to obtain his extradition. When asked for identification
    by the police, he presented false EU ID. Sebastian Ghita disappeared on the 21st
    of December 2016 and was first named on the country’s most wanted fugitives
    list for breaking the conditions of his bail. On the 10th of
    January, a Supreme Court panel issued a European arrest warrant for Ghita, who
    was then also named on an international most wanted fugitives list through
    Interpol. Ghita is facing trial in two corruption cases and is under criminal
    investigation in two others.



    The unitary pay law is yet to
    be submitted to Parliament


    The submission of the
    much-awaited unitary pay law for public sector employees to Parliament for
    debate and approval has been postponed. The leader of the ruling Social
    Democratic Party and Chamber of Deputies speaker Liviu Dragnea said the bill
    will also remain available for public input this week. The bill provides for an
    increase in monthly incomes by more than 50% over the following five years. The
    planned increases are estimated at more than 7 billion euros in total. Prime
    minister Sorin Grindeanu says the talks with trade unions and the institutions
    targeted by the bill will continue in Parliament to speed up the passing of the
    law. The law, which is supposed to come into force on the 1st of
    July, covers all public institutions with the exception of the National Bank of
    Romania and the Financial Supervisory Authority. The army and police staff are
    the first to benefit from the pay rises. The other categories of public sector
    employees will see their salaries grow as of January next year. The president
    will have the biggest salary in the public system, accounting for 12 minimum
    wages per month. The salaries of the highest dignitaries will drop, while those
    of parliamentarians, judges and prosecutors will go up.



    Vaccination bill is made public


    The Romanian healthcare ministry
    on Tuesday published its new vaccination bill. This provides for the creation of
    county vaccination commissions able to step in if parents refuse the compulsory
    immunisation scheme. Healthcare minister Florian Bodog says a chapter
    containing penalties will also be introduced into the bill after public and
    parliamentary debate. He says his ministry will assume responsibility for the
    treatment of the possible side effects of vaccination. According to the
    ministry, 21 persons have died in Romania from measles. Since last September,
    around 4,000 cases have been reported, according to the National Centre for the
    Communicable Disease Surveillance and Control. To contain the spread of
    measles, medical authorities continue a campaign to vaccinate children aged
    between 9 months and 9 years.



    Government adopts country’s
    decentralisation strategy


    The government adopted the
    country’s decentralisation strategy on Wednesday. Deputy Prime Minister Sevil
    Shhaideh says all ministries will carry out impact studies in the next three
    months and that the sectoral laws regulating the decentralisation process will
    be adopted within the next 7 months at the latest. The areas covered by the
    process are agriculture, culture, tourism, the environment, healthcare,
    education and extracurricular activities, youth and sport. The general goal of
    the strategy is the transfer of new responsibilities, with the exception of
    those relating to inspection and control, to local authorities, namely mayors
    and local and county councils. Many of these responsibilities are currently
    held by the ministries’ decentralised directorates.



    Crowding at border check
    points in Romania



    Traffic is busy at Romania’s border crossing
    points following the implementation, on the 7th of April, of a new
    European regulation tightening border control ahead of the Easter holidays.
    Waiting time at the border varies from one to six hours. The busiest
    checkpoints are in the west of the country. The authorities are trying to
    strike a balance between citizen security and traffic flow and recommend the
    use of all border checkpoints. To support Romanian citizens travelling abroad
    during the Easter holidays, the foreign ministry has made available a travel
    guide containing useful recommendations, information about the most frequented
    tourist destinations at this time of the year, as well as information that can
    help Romanian citizens avoid possible unpleasant situations that may appear
    during their stay abroad.

  • April 12, 2017 UPDATE

    April 12, 2017 UPDATE

    DECENTRALIZATION — The Romanian Government on Wednesday adopted the strategy for decentralization. Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu said local authorities would be distributed additional tasks and objectives. The domains included in the decentralization process are: agriculture, culture, tourism, the environment, healthcare, education and extra-curricular activities, youth and sports. The general objective assumed in the strategy is the transfer of new competences, except for those of inspection and control, to the local authorities – town halls, local and county councils. At present a great part of these competences are being exerted by the ministries’ decentralized directorates.



    STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP — On Wednesday the Foreign Ministry in Bucharest played host to the interim meeting of the Romania-US Strategic Partnership, attended by representatives of the US Embassy in Bucharest and other public institutions. The meeting occasioned a review of bilateral relations and the identification of new projects for bilateral cooperation. The participants reiterated their commitment towards the principles underlying the Strategic Partnership, and hailed the marking of 20 years since the Bilateral Partnership was adopted. Representatives talked about bilateral cooperation in defense and security, regional issues, cyber security, energy security, trade and investment, law enforcement, scientific and cultural exchanges, and the U.S. Visa Waiver Program. The meeting was held ahead of the annual Romania-US Strategic Partnership Meeting scheduled to take place in Bucharest in the fall, 2017.



    US-RUSSIA RELATIONS — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday said US-Russia relations had worsened since Donald Trump took office at the White House. The Russian official made the statement after the Foreign Ministers of the two countries met in Moscow. Russia wants to know the United States’ real intentions in terms of international policy in order to avoid a new US air raid in Syria and to work together against terrorism, Russian Foreign Minister Serghei Lavrov said. In turn, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said he wanted an open, straightforward and honest exchange of views in order to clarify common objectives and interests, as well as differences in the two countries’ approach to the main global topics. Rex Tillerson’s visit to Moscow follows an escalation of tensions between the two countries. Russia has condemned the latest US air strike on a Syrian government air base, in retaliation to the chemical attack which killed 89 people.



    DORTMUND ATTACK — The German Police have arrested an Islamic terrorist in connection with Tuesday’s bomb attack on the bus carrying the Borrusia Dortmund football club, the German Federal Prosecutor’s Office has announced. The investigation is focusing on two suspects, the authorities also said. According to the press, the letter found on the site of the blast points to the German military involvement against the terrorist organization the Islamic State and it also refers to the attack on the Berlin Christmas market in December. We recall that the bus of the Borrusia Dortmund football team was hit, Tuesday, by three explosive devices at about 7.15 p.m. local time, ahead of the Champions League quarter final they were due to play on home ground against AS Monaco. The defender Marc Bartra was injured in the explosion as well as the police officer at the front of the motorcade. Former Romanian footballer Marcel Raducanu, who played for Borussia in the 80s and is running a youth football facility in Dortmund, expressed his shock at the news. “These things have nothing to do with football. I don’t understand why anyone would want to harm a football team”, Raducanu told the Romanian sports news agency, DigiSport.



    INFLATION — In Romania, the annual inflation rate stagnated in March 2017 at 0,2%. This is the 3rd consecutive month when positive values are reported, after 19 months of negative values of the inflation rate, show data published by the National Statistics Institute quoted by the daily Ziarul Financiar. In February, the annual inflation rate was 0.2% after it had stood at 0.05% in January. At the end of 2016 the annual inflation rate was minus 0.5%, that being the 2nd consecutive year when the annual inflation rate reported negative values.



    EGMO — The Romanian girl’s math team won three silver medals and one bronze at the 6th edition of the European Girls’ Mathematical Olympiad (EGMO) hosted by Zurich, Switzerland, between April 6 – 12. The medals were obtained by the students of several prestigious IT high schools in Bucharest and Slatina (in the south). The European Girls’ Mathematical Olympiad is an international competition similar in structure to the International Mathematical Olympiad. According to regulations, a team is made up of 4 girls. More than 160 girls from 43 countries have participated in this year’s edition. (Translated by V. Palcu)