Radio România Internațional

Tag: healthcare

April 2, 2018

HEALTHCARE – In Romania, a new framework contract for public healthcare services took effect on April 1. Aimed at improving the access to healthcare services and medicines, and at reducing red-tape and making the operations in the sector more transparent, the document stipulates that as of July 1 members of the public health insurance system will be able to purchase subsidised medicines from any participating chemists in the country, instead of only those units which have a contract signed with the same insurance agency as the prescribing physician.

DIPLOMACY – A cooperation programme in the field of professional training was signed by the Romanian and Algerian education ministries, during an official visit made by the Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Meleşcanu to Algeria. The Romanian official pointed out that broadening cooperation with non-EU member countries is a major element in Romanias plan to improve bilateral relations with its traditional partners, Algeria included. According to Minister Meleşcanu, Romania and Algeria have reached an important stage of strengthening their relations, and this reflects in the firm political will to encourage dialogue and cooperation, particularly in the economic sector, in education, security and home affairs. Teodor Meleşcanu also reaffirmed Romanias interest in a close cooperation in fighting and preventing radicalisation.

EASTER – For Orthodox Christians in Romania and around the world, Holy Week begins today, with special services performed every night of the week in churches to commemorate the last days in the life of Jesus Christ before being crucified. The most important masses are the ones on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. By means of fasting and confessions, believers prepare for Easter, the greatest feast in Orthodox Christianity. Catholic Christians celebrated the first day of Easter yesterday.

ACCIDENT – The Romanian Embassy in Hungary is closely monitoring the situation of the 8 Romanian citizens injured in an accident on the runway of the Budapest International Airport, and is prepared to provide consular assistance if so requested. Two buses taking the passengers of an aircraft that had arrived from Bucharest crashed on Sunday. Hungarian police are investigating the exact circumstances of the accident.

MOLDOVA – An opinion poll is currently run in the Republic of Moldova, concerning a prospective union with Romania. The poll is scheduled to end on April 14 and will involve 500 operators who will go door to door to collect the answers. Electronic voting is also an option. On March 27 events were organized to mark 100 years since Bessarabia joined the Kingdom of Romania. In Bucharest, Parliament convened in a special session to honour the authors of that historic decision. Previously, in Chisinau, tens of thousands of citizens took part in a rally, asking for the Republic of Moldova to be reunited with Romania. A province with a Romanian-speaking majority that had been part of the Tsarist Empire, Bessarabia joined the Kingdom of Romania on March 27, 1918. The Soviet Union reannexed the province under an ultimatum in 1940, and some of its territory now constitutes the Republic of Moldova.

HANDBALL – CSM Bucureşti won Romanias Cup in womens handball for the 3rd consecutive year. The Bucharest-based club defeated HCM Râmnicu Vâlcea 29-22. CSM Bucureşti, coached by the Swede Per Johansson, played its 4th consecutive Romanian Cup final, which they already won in 2016 and 2017.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

2 April 2018
March 20, 2018

PARLIAMENT – The laws on the judiciary have been endorsed by the Chamber of Deputies today, and are to be submitted to the Senate for a final vote. Previously, a special parliamentary committee passed the bill on the magistrate profession and the one regulating the organisation of the Higher Council of Magistracy. On Monday, the same committee passed the 3rd law in this package, the one concerning the organisation of courts. The bills were brought in line with the decisions of the Constitutional Court, after the Opposition and the High Court of Cassation and Justice challenged the changes adopted by Parliament. These changes include by-passing the President of Romania in the procedure for appointing the chiefs of the Supreme Court, and transferring this role to the Higher Council of Magistracy. The National Liberal Party and Save Romania Union, in Opposition, announced that the new amendments give them reasons to bring the new justice laws before the Constitutional Court again. In fact, Save Romania MPs have today resorted to an unusual protest in the Chamber of Deputies, where they lined up wearing T-shirts that read “#NoCriminals. Some of the changes originally operated on the justice laws have generated large-scale protests among civil society and magistrates.

DEFENCE – The Supreme Defence Council is convening in Bucharest today, in a meeting chaired by President Klaus Iohannis. The agenda of the meeting includes a review of the work of public institutions in the national security sector in 2017, as well as the main objectives for this year. The Council members are to analyse the work of the Cyber-Security Operations Council and the National Cyber-Security Response Centre. The latter focuses on developing the technical capabilities needed in order to improve the cyber security climate in Romania. Last years activity of the Supreme Defence Council will also be analysed, along with other topics relevant to the national security.

PROTESTS – In Bucharest, the SANITAS trade union federation has today picketed the headquarters of the Ministry for Public Finances. Unionists demand, among other things, the implementation of pay raises for all healthcare and social assistance personnel as of March 1, the scrapping of the ceiling on bonuses and the offsetting of the income decrease caused by the implementation of a new pay scheme on January 1. Also today, representatives of the National Federation of Trade Unions in Industry have picketed the Economy Ministry, against the backdrop of discontent with the law regulating the national defence industry. The union president, Ioan Neagu, said that at the beginning of the year the Government was supposed to issue a resolution to regulate the number of employees that this industrial sector may absorb per year.

FRANCOPHONIE – Like other countries in the world, Romania is celebrating International Francophonie Day, marked every year on March 20. Last night the Romanian Embassy in Paris and the Romanian Cultural Institute organised a show at the Louis Jouvet Theatre in Paris, to mark 25 years since Romania joined the Francophonie Organisation. In this context, Ambassador Luca Niculescu mentioned that in December 2018 – July 2019, Bucharest and Paris will organise the Romania-France season, a large-scale joint project focusing on contemporary culture and creativity, as well as areas like education, economy, sports and tourism.

FRANCE – Frances ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy was detained on Tuesday in a case involving the allegedly illegal funding of his campaign for the 2007 presidential election, which he won at that time, Le Figaro and Le Monde report, quoting judicial sources. Sarkozy may be held in custody for 48 hours at most, and it is for the judges to order his arrest pending trial. Ever since April 2013 Sarkozy has been targeted by an investigation following allegations of Libyas former strongman Muammar Kadhafi financing his presidential election campaign. So far, Sarkozy has denied all accusations.

BREXIT – The European affairs ministers of the EU member states, including the Romanian Minister Victor Negrescu, are discussing in Brussels today the post-Brexit relations between the Union and the UK. On this occasion, the European Commissions chief negotiator Michel Barnier will present general principles for the transition period, i.e. March 2019 to December 2020. On Monday, Barnier and Londons negotiator, David Davis, announced having reached an agreement on these guidelines, which concern, among other things, the rights of the around 4.5 million European citizens living in the UK and the 1.2 million Britons in the EU. At the end of this week the text will be discussed by the EU leaders during a meeting of the European Council.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

20 March 2018
March 12, 2018 UPDATE

HEALTHCARE – The Romanian Healthcare Minister, Sorina Pintea, said on Monday there are no reasons for a strike, given that incomes in the public healthcare sector did not drop. The statement comes after trade unions in the sector announced a protest going as far as to an all-out strike. Healthcare employees are unhappy with the new pay scheme and ask for a 25% increase in basic salaries concurrently with the scrapping of the 30% ceiling on bonuses. In other news, Healthcare Minister Sorina Pintea announced that within 2 weeks Romania would receive 10,000 doses of immunoglobulin, with further doses expected from Italy and the USA. Bucharest has recently asked for aid from EU and NATO countries to solve the immunoglobulin crisis triggered by last years withdrawal from the Romanian market of the producers that had covered over 80% of the demand. Romania needs 956 kilos of immunoglobulin per year.

PENITENTIARY – The number of prisoners in Romanian penitentiaries is around 22,900, while the system employs some 12,800 special civil servants, the Justice Minister Tudorel Toader told a press conference on Monday. He added that the number of prisoners is decreasing, and so is the number of repeat offenders. However, Bucharest should not wait for the issue of penitentiary overcrowding to get solved through a natural decrease in the number of people sentenced to prison. According to Tudorel Toader, Romania will build 2 new, modern penitentiaries with a capacity of 1,000 prisoners each, and an initial and continuing training centre for penitentiary staff will be set up in Bucharest.

DIPLOMACY – The 3-party meeting organised in Bucharest on Monday and bringing together the foreign ministers of Romania, Bulgaria and Greece, was an opportunity to reaffirm commitment to strengthening the European project, the Romanian FM Teodor Melescanu said. According to the Romanian official, talks have focused on relevant topics, such as the Western Balkans, the Eastern Neighbourhood, the Black Sea region, the Danube region and the Middle East. In turn, the Bulgarian Foreign Minister, Ekaterina Zakharieva, has expressed hopes for Romanias and Bulgarias Schengen accession, a goal supported by Greece, according to its Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias. On the other hand, Minister Teodor Melescanu has announced a 4-party meeting in the forthcoming period, with government officials from Bulgaria, Romania, Greece and Serbia taking part. Also this year, a joint Romanian-Bulgarian government meeting will be held, to discuss primarily the interconnection options for the 2 countries.

DEFENCE – The defence ministers of the Bucharest 9 member countries convened in the Romanian capital city on Monday. For 3 days, officials from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia, as well as NATO representatives and US State Department officials will be talking about boosting NATOs defence and deterrence posture, particularly on the eastern flank. Other topics include the adjustment of NATOs command structure, the risks and threats coming from the Alliances eastern neighbourhood as well as means to strengthen resilience on the Baltic Sea – Black Sea axis. Romania offered to host a new NATO command centre, but a decision will be made at the Alliances summit due in July in Brussels.

EXERCISE – Nearly 900 Romanian and foreign troops are taking part between March 12 and 23, in DACIAN LANCER 18, a multinational military exercise held in Brasov County, central Romania. The exercise is designed to help assess the Multinational Division Southeast Headquarters in Bucharest. An element of the NATO Force Command structure, the headquarters in Bucharest is a high-readiness command activated in December 2015, and is staffed by military personnel from Romania and 15 other NATO member countries.

MOLDOVA – The 2 largest cities in the Republic of Moldova, the capital Chisinau and the northern city of Balti, will be having early local elections on May 20, under a resolution made by the Central Electoral Commission on Monday. This is seen as a test for this autumns parliamentary election. The mayors of Chisinau and Balti resigned in February. The pro-Russian populist mayor of Balti, Renato Usatyi, has been in Russia for more than a year, and is currently prosecuted in a case involving the murder of a businessman. In Chisinau, the Liberal, pro-Western mayor Dorin Chirtoaca is in turn subject to corruption accusations in a criminal investigation, and was suspended from office in the summer of 2017.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

12 March 2018
March 12, 2018

HEALTHCARE – The Sanitas Federation has announced it will stage a protest in the Romanian healthcare system, which will culminate with an all out strike. Trade union representatives are discontent about a new payment scheme in the system and call for a 25% increase in the base salary for the medical staff and the elimination of the 30% ceiling for bonuses. Last month, health minister Sorina Pintea, said the medical staff will benefit from pay rises ranging from 70 to 170%. Subsequently, as of March, a senior consultant earns a net monthly salary of some 2,000 Euros.

TRILATERAL MEETING – Bucharest is today the venue for the Romania-Bulgaria-Greece trilateral meeting at the level of foreign ministers. The declared objectives of the meeting, are, at political level, dialogue on regional developments, and at economic level, cooperation in the domain of transport and energy infrastructure as well as general aspects of economic development. The trilateral meeting also has a regional stability component: fighting illegal migration, drug trafficking and organised crime. In 2010, the three countries adopted a joint declaration on the West Balkans. Also as part of the Trilateral, there is an understanding between the governments of the three countries in the field of internal affairs, meant to contain cross border crime and to have responses to urgent calls in case of calamities and natural disasters.

DEFENCE – The defence ministers of the “Bucharest 9 Initiative member states are today meeting in Bucharest. For three days, the meeting will be attended by officials from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia, NATO officials and representatives of the US Department of Defence. The agenda of talks covers such issues as ways to consolidate NATOs deterrence and defence posture, laying emphasis on the eastern flank, with a view to getting a political decision at the NATO Summit due in summer. Other issues to be approached will be the adaptation process of the NATO Command Structure, risks and threats from the eastern neighbourhood of the Alliance, as well as ways to strengthen resilience on the Baltic Sea-Black Sea axis. Romania offered to host a NATO military command at the level of Army corps, to function alongside the other two already existing commands, at brigade level, in Craiova (in the south-west) and at division level in Bucharest. A decision will be made by the allies at the NATO summit due in Brussels in July.

SOVEREIGN FUND – The economy and budget committees of the Romanian Senate are starting debates as of this week, on setting up the Sovereign Development and Investment Fund. This is an instrument by which the government intends to fund strategic development projects in key domains such as infrastructure, agriculture, healthcare, without producing an impact on the countrys budget deficit. Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici has said he completed talks with Eurostat experts in this respect, and the draft law will be debated by the two chambers of the Romanian Parliament in the current legislative session. The Romanian State, through the Economy Ministry, will have the status of sole shareholder as long as the Fund is functioning. The fund will have as estimated value of over 10 billion Euros.

REP. OF MOLDOVA – The Central Electoral Commission is today making public the date for holding early local elections in two major cities in the Republic of Moldova (a former Soviet state with a predominantly Romanians speaking population)- the capital city, Chishinau and Balti (in the north). Some political parties have already announced the name of their candidate or made public their stand on the ballot in the capital city. This election is regarded as the last test in preparation for the autumn electoral campaign for the parliamentary elections. The positions of mayor of the cities of Chishinau and Balti have been vacant since February, when the mayors of the two cities stepped down. The pro-Russian populist mayor of Balti, Renato Usatîi, left Moldova for Russia more than a year ago. He is being investigated in a file in which he is accused of having ordered the assassination of a businessman. In Chishinau, the pro-western Liberal mayor Dorin Chirtoaca is being investigated in a corruption file, which he says it is being fabricated. He was suspended from the position of mayor in the summer of 2017.

TENNIS – No.1 world woman tennis player, Romanian Simona Halep, has today qualified to the eighth finals of the Indian Wells, after defeating US player Caroline Dolehide (no. 165 WTA), 1-6, 7-6, 6-2. Following this victory, Halep is sure to remain on the first position of world tennis for a week. In the next stage, Simona will face the Chinese player Qiang Wang (no. 55 WTA). The two women tennis players have never met so far. (Translated by D. Vijeu)

12 March 2018
November 4, 2017 UPDATE

UNIONS – The “Solidaritatea Sanitara union federation announces its opposition to the Governments plan to transfer the payment of social security contributions from employers to employees, and says it will join the all-out strike planned by the countrys main union confederations. Previously, trade union federations Frăţia, Cartel Alfa and the National Union Bloc had voiced fears that this transfer would entail a drop in salaries and the loss of jobs. In turn, employer associations say that should this measure be implemented, they will have to lay off employees, while the National Liberal Party in opposition announced it would notify the Constitutional Court unless the Government gave up these plans. President Klaus Iohannis described the Governments initiative as fiscal confusion through which average gross salaries would only go up by a rough 70 eurocents. In response, PM Mihai Tudose and his Social Democratic Party chief, Liviu Dragnea, say they do not understand the opposition to the measures announced for next year, given that in fact both employers and employees would stand to gain. The Cabinet postponed to Monday the meeting in which the new provisions were to be discussed, on grounds that some of the bills on the agenda had not received all the required approvals.

BY-ELECTIONS – The town of Deva, in western Romania, as well as 16 villages in 12 counties hold by-elections on Sunday. 16 localities elect their mayors, and a village will elect its local council. In Deva, the mayor position has been vacant since the former mayor, Mircia Muntean, re-elected to office last summer, was sentenced to six months in prison for abuse of office and DUI.

HEALTHCARE – The Romanian healthcare and tourism ministries will work together to come up with medical tourism packages. The announcement was made by the Healthcare Minister Florian Bodog at a medical tourism conference in Bucharest. The healthcare services in the highest demand from foreign patients in Romania are dental treatments, spa treatments, and plastic surgery, Bodog explained. He added that the Government is working to adopt the public-private partnership bill, which will allow foreign partners to invest in Romania, including in the healthcare sector. The Romanian official added that he had already received offers from foreign investors interested in setting up hospitals and cardiovascular surgery and recovery centres.

CAMPAIGN – MEP Cătălin Ivan has announced he intends to start a signature campaign to ban bearer shares in Romania. Such shares, which are not registered, may be transferred from one holder to another without tax and accounting records. Ivan argues that this enables civil servants to own stock in companies that are awarded public procurement or service contracts, without any means of combating corruption. According to official data there are around 400 companies in Romania having issued bearer shares, and most of them have been awarded government contracts worth hundreds of millions of euros. Bearer shares have already been banned in countries like the UK, Belgium, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Malta and Cyprus.

PUIGDEMONT – Belgian authorities announced having received the international arrest warrant issued by Spain against the ousted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont and 4 members of his secessionist cabinet. The source added that prosecutors would study the documents before submitting them to a judge. The five Catalan ministers arrived in Brussels this week, after Spain issued an arrest warrant for sedition. Puigdemont insists that he is not in Belgium to escape justice, and that he is facing a potential 30-year prison sentence for keeping his promise to his voters. A Spanish court approved the arrest after the five failed to appear in court on Thursday to respond to accusations regarding the Catalan independence declaration. Before the arrest warrants were issued, the European Commission said the trial of the Catalan separatists was for the judiciary to settle.

HANDBALL – The Romanian womens handball team CSM Bucharest beat the Danish side Nykobing at home, 39-26, in the 4th round of Champions League Group A, making up for the surprising defeat they had sustained two weeks ago, in Denmark, 22-25. In the first 2 games in Group A, the Romanians defeated Krim Ljubljana of Slovenia and Vistal Gdynia of Poland, and are now qualified into the main group stage. Romanias target in the current competition season is to reach the Champions League Final Four.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

4 November 2017
November 4, 2017

UNIONS – The “Solidaritatea Sanitara union federation announces its opposition to the Governments plan to transfer the payment of social security contributions from employers to employees, and says it will join the all-out strike planned by the countrys main union confederations. Previously, trade union federations Frăţia, Cartel Alfa and National Union Bloc had voiced fears that this transfer would entail a drop in salaries and the loss of jobs. In turn, employer associations say that should this measure be implemented, they will have to lay off employees, while the National Liberal Party in opposition announced it would notify the Constitutional Court unless the Government gave up these plans. President Klaus Iohannis described the Governments initiative as fiscal confusion through which average gross salaries would only go up by a rough 70 eurocents. In response, PM Mihai Tudose and his Social Democratic Party chief, Liviu Dragnea, say they do not understand the opposition to the measures announced for next year, given that in fact both employers and employees would stand to gain. The Cabinet postponed to Monday the meeting in which the new provisions were to be discussed, on grounds that some of the bills on the agenda had not received all the required approvals.

BY-ELECTIONS – The town of Deva, in western Romania, as well as 16 villages in 12 counties are preparing for Sundays by-elections. 16 localities will elect their mayors tomorrow, and a village will elect its local council. In Deva, the mayor position has been vacant since the former mayor, Mircia Muntean, re-elected to office last summer, was sentenced to six months in prison for abuse of office and DUI.

HEALTHCARE – The Romanian healthcare and tourism ministries will work together to come up with medical tourism packages. The announcement was made by the Healthcare Minister Florian Bodog at a medical tourism conference in Bucharest. The healthcare services in the highest demand from foreign patients in Romania are dental treatments, spa treatments, and plastic surgery, Bodog explained. He added that the Government is working to adopt the public-private partnership bill, which will allow foreign partners to invest in Romania, including in the healthcare sector. The Romanian official added that he had already received offers from foreign investors interested in setting up hospitals and cardiovascular surgery and recovery centres.

CAMPAIGN – MEP Cătălin Ivan has announced he intends to start a signature campaign to ban bearer shares in Romania. Such shares, which are not registered, may be transferred from one holder to another without tax and accounting records. Ivan argues that this enables civil servants to own stock in companies that are awarded public procurement or service contracts, without any means of combating corruption. According to official data there are around 400 companies in Romania having issued bearer shares, and most of their have been awarded government contracts worth hundreds of millions of euros. Bearer shares have already been banned in countries like the UK, Belgium, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Malta and Cyprus.

PUIGDEMONT – Belgian authorities announced having received the international arrest warrant issued by Spain against the ousted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont and 4 members of his secessionist cabinet. The source added that prosecutors would study the documents before submitting them to a judge. The five Catalan ministers arrived in Brussels this week, after Spain issued an arrest warrant for sedition. Puigdemont insists that he is not in Belgium to escape justice, and that he is facing a potential 30-year prison sentence for keeping his promise to his voters. A Spanish court approved the arrest after the five failed to appear in court on Thursday to respond to accusations regarding the Catalan independence declaration. Before the arrest warrants were issued, the European Commission said the trial of the Catalan separatists was for the judiciary to settle.

HANDBALL – The Romanian womens handball team CSM Bucharest is playing this afternoon at home against the Danish side Nykobing, in the 4th round of Champions League Group A. Two weeks ago, CSM lost surprisingly in Denmark, 22-25. In the first 2 games in Group A, the Romanians defeated Krim Ljubljana of Slovenia and Vistal Gdynia of Poland. The top 2 teams in each of the 4 groups will qualify into the main group stage. Romanias target in the current competition season is to reach the Champions League Final Four. Also today, in mens handball, Romanias champions Dinamo Bucharest play away from home against Ademar Leon of Spain. Dinamo ranks last in Group C, and is left with next to no chances to move on in the competition.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

4 November 2017
Measures benefitting teaching and healthcare staff

After its EU accession in 2007, Romanias healthcare staff, like many other categories, were given the green light to leave the country, thanks to the right to free movement in the EU. Be they physicians or nurses, they all chose to go to Western Europes richer countries such as France, Germany and Great Britain, where their professional status was recognized and respected.

Expenses with the medical system per capita vary a lot among EU member states, so it was only natural for healthcare staff to choose those countries that channel more money to the system. Thus, between 2009 and 2015, Romania lost half of its physicians. More than 4,000 Romanian doctors are working in France and almost the same number in Germany. Adding to them are over 3,000 working in Great Britain, about 600 working in Belgium and as many as 800 working in Italy and Spain.

Romanias teaching staff is another professional category with low salaries, which makes teaching an unattractive job for many young people, including those who have a calling for this profession and are very proficient. Romanias education system in general has been faced with an acute personnel shortage, as the teachers and prospective teachers are leaving the country or are reconverting, choosing to work in the private sector where they get better paid. In recent years, the political parties that have been successively in power have tried, and failed, to fix the problem: they promised pay rises and professional and logistic facilities.

This week the Romanian Senate has passed an amendment to a law under which doctors and teachers will be allowed, even after turning 35, to file applications for having a house built by the National Housing Agency subordinated to the Ministry for Regional Development, Public Administration and European Funds. The Liberal Senator Marcel Vela explains:

Marcel Vela: “The Romanian state is investing huge amounts of money in the education and training of young medical students, and if Parliament does not help them to find a job in their sector more easily, these resident doctors are tempted to go abroad to find professional fulfilment.

Ecaterina Andronescu, a former education minister, currently a Social Democrat Senator, has also pleaded the cause of the teaching staff:

Ecaterina Andronescu: “I dare ask you to agree with our proposal to extend the amendment to the law under discussion, by also including the teaching staff alongside resident and specialist physicians. Teachers are a very important category in all communities.

The amendment has been passed with unanimity of votes and forwarded to the Chamber of Deputies, which is the decision-making body on this matter.

(translated by: Lacramioara Simion)

18 October 2017
October 11, 2017

ANTI-CORRUPTION – Romanian Vice-premier Sevil Shhaideh, minister of Regional Development, is again being heard by the anti-corruption prosecutors, in a corruption file in which she is prosecuted alongside the minister delegate for European Funds, Rovana Plumb. The names of the two ministers are among those most frequently mentioned by the media, relative to a prospective government reshuffle, likely to be operated on Tuesday, by PM Mihai Tudose. The Premier held talks on this issue with both President Klaus Iohannis and the Social-Democrat leader, Liviu Dragnea. The leadership of the Social Democratic Party will gather on Thursday to decide what ministers will be replaced.

MOTION – The Chamber of Deputies in the Romanian Parliament has today rejected a simple motion on the situation of the Romanian healthcare system, filed by MPs in the right-wing Opposition made up of the National Liberal Party, the Save Romania Union and the Peoples Movement Party. The document was debated on Tuesday in a plenary session of Parliament, with the signatories calling for the resignation of the line minister, Florian Bodog, and for finding solutions to the problems in the healthcare system. They evoked the vaccine crisis, the unfinished construction works on hospitals and the low level of salaries in healthcare. In response, minister Bodog has said that problems left pending for years cannot be solved in a short time-span, but he added that significant steps have already been taken to solve the situation.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS – The Romanian foreign minister, Teodor Melescanu, is today in Budapest, alongside his counterparts from Bulgaria, Slovenia and Estonia, to attend, as guests, a meeting of the foreign ministers of the Vishegrad Group countries and of the Western Balkan states. Yesterday, at an international conference in Timisoara, western Romania, Melescanu reiterated Romanias readiness to further support countries in the Western Balkans in their effort to join the EU and NATO, on condition they meet political accession criteria. During a recent meeting with his Hungarian counterpart, Peter Szijjarto, held in Cluj, north-western Romania, the Romanian foreign minister said Bucharest is interested in boosting cooperation with the Vishegrad Group member states: Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia.

PROTEST – The trade unionists of the “Ambulanta National Trade Union Federation are today picketing the Labour, Health and Finance Ministries in Bucharest. They call among others, for an end to be put to reducing the monthly incomes of healthcare personnel, and ambulance services employees, respectively, as of January 1 2018, following the introduction of new payment regulations. They also call on the line authorities to give up the idea of transferring the payment of social security contributions from employers to employees, a controversial measure envisaged by the Government. Last but not least, the representatives of ambulance service employees call on the authorities to allot money for purchasing new ambulance cars next year.

11 October 2017
September 2, 2017 UPDATE

DIPLOMACY – The Ambassador of Romania to the USA, George Maior, says the relations between Bucharest and Washington are currently at the highest level of implementation of the bilateral strategic partnership, in all its aspects, from defence, economy, diplomacy to culture. However, the Romanian Ambassador said Romania seeks strengthened cooperation with the US in terms of defence. In this context, on September 18 the Romanian Defence Minister Adrian Ţuţuianu will have a meeting with his American counterpart, James Mattis. Ambassador Maior also mentioned the visit made by the Romanian President Klaus Iohannis to the US in June, when he had a meeting with the US President Donald Trump.

PARLIAMENT – In Bucharest, the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate have convened for the second regular parliamentary session of the year. Romanian MPs are scheduled to handle overdue bills from previous sessions, and the new draft legislation tabled by the Government. Debates are to begin next week. Apart from the emergency orders concerning special pension benefits, child allowances and police salaries, Parliament is also to discuss a bill on mandatory vaccination. The most eagerly awaited debates concern the new Pension Bill, which is to reach the Parliament chambers by October 1, and the changes of the laws on the judiciary and the set-up of a Sovereign Investment Fund.

CORRUPTION – The former president of the National Healthcare Insurance Agency, Marian Burcea, has been placed under 30-day arrest in an investigation into illegal refunds for healthcare services. According to the Bucharest Court of Appeals, in the same case the judges have also decided to place other individuals under pre-trial arrest. Anti-corruption prosecutors suspect frauds involving the funds of the Bucharest City Healthcare Insurance Agency, consisting in the refund of fictitious healthcare expenditure. The refunds were allegedly granted based on hundreds of fake medical records and involved agency personnel protected by top officials of the National Healthcare Insurance Agency. Tens of searches conducted at the offices of companies and institutions as well as at the homes of several individuals in Bucharest seem to indicate losses of 3 million euros caused to the public budgets.

ENESCU FESTIVAL – The George Enescu International Festival, one of the most prestigious music events in Europe, opened on Saturday. For 3 weeks, 80 concerts and other events will bring together in Bucharest and 7 other major Romanian cities more than 3,000 of the best international artists. The honorary president this year is the famous conductor Zubin Mehta, and another conductor, Vladimir Jurowski is the artistic director. Radio Romania is the only media institution in the country to broadcast the concerts live, on its channels Radio Romania Music and Radio Romania Culture. The opening show, a performance of George Enescus opera “Oedipus by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, with conductor Vladimir Jurowski, included multimedia features. First organised in 1958, 3 years after the famed Romanian composer had died, the George Enescu Festival was discontinued in 1971 by the communist regime, and was resumed in 1989. It has been held every 2 years ever since.

POLICE – Fifty Romanian policemen have carried out operative support missions in France this year, according to the Romanian General Police Inspectorate. They have provided direct assistance to the French authorities in securing the areas with high seasonal tourist inflows and have facilitated data and intelligence exchanges. These activities have been requested by the French partners, as a result of the good cooperation and based on an administrative arrangement between the Romanian and French interior ministers, the Romanian Police Inspectorate also said.

HARVEY – The US President Donald Trump has requested Congress to earmark 7.85 billion US dollars for relief and reconstruction following hurricane Harvey, Reuters reports. Trump is to visit the disaster-hit areas today, for the second time. Harvey, one of the worst hurricanes to have hit the US in terms of the damages it has caused, forced one million Americans out of their homes. Tens of people died. Houston, the largest city in Texas and the fifth-largest in the US, is still paralysed by floods. In Beaumont, over 120,000 people are without drinking water.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

2 September 2017
Health Legislation and Rural Customs in the 19th Century

Officially, the Romanian health system started functioning in 1874, when the first modern healthcare law came into effect. There had been previous attempts to regulate health, many of them upon the initiative of physician Carol Davila. One of the regulations instituted upon his proposal was the creation of the position of sub-county physician. It was introduced in 1862, marking the birth of the rural health system. Health regulations had been around, as part of broader laws, since the 1830s, as part of the Organic Regulations, the first attempt to introduce constitutional law. The 1874 law in fact took over, codified and improved existing legislation. Historian Constantin Barbulescu told us about it:

Constantin Barbulescu: “On the one hand, the healthcare law regulated the activity of the healthcare system, but, in addition to regulating and defining the activity of every member of the system, it also introduced public hygiene regulations. For instance, it had chapters on the hygiene of cities, and even villages, food and water hygiene, etc. The latter were the hardest to enforce. Physicians kept complaining that the legislation, which was truly modern, up to European standards, was not being applied.

The poor enforcement of the law was not the only complaint from physicians in the Romanian Principalities in the 19th century. Once they went to the countryside, physicians noticed the same things that the intellectual elites were complaining about, which amounted to a health and hygiene disaster. In their reports, they mentioned a number of recurring issues: bodily and clothing hygiene, home hygiene, the diet of peasants, and alcoholism. Constantin Barbulescu, however, told us that historians nowadays doubt the accuracy and objectivity of these reports:

Constantin Barbulescu: “We, as historians, can only rely on the testimony of the physicians of the time. They were saying that health legislation was not being enforced, in describing the health behavior of people in cities and villages. The general picture of the latter decades of the 19th century, even up to WWI, as physicians described it, was disastrous, a hygiene disaster. If you read the reports of doctors and the medical literature of the time, you get the impression that no regulation was observed, and nothing was changing. However, today’s historians, having a different perspective, believe that this picture is blown out of proportion. In fact, things were improving, at least a bit. For instance, after 1860 the number of doctors went up considerably. They are the ones who write the reports, and many of them were trained abroad. The image provided by reports filed by a doctor who had been a country physician for 20 years is better compared to that provided by a young doctor recently returned from studying abroad.

In addition, young physicians were faced not only with the attitude that rural people had towards hygiene, but also by the way the healthcare system had been designed in that era, as well as a lack of qualified staff:

Constantin Barbulescu: “Peasants were not seeking out doctors, as they do nowadays, but the doctors were seeking out the peasants. According to the 1874 law, the main obligation of a sub-county physician was to perform two general inspections of his area of responsibility per month. They had to go around the villages in their county, and to check on the physical health of the villagers, to see if anyone was sick, or if a disease was circulating. The system could not function very well. There were mountain counties with over 40 villages, and there was no way that a doctor could get to each and every one every month. Also, mayors did not always tell the doctor who was ill in their village. It was much easier to say that everyone was healthy. Because of this formal aspect of field inspections, starting around 1890, the authorities came to believe that the rural healthcare system was a piece of fiction.

Therefore, the gap between expectations and reality was huge. Today, however, historians can look back at the steps forward taken at the time, which were very slow, and took decades. Romania’s health situation in the 1890s had significantly improved compared to the 1860s, but the steps towards modernization became obvious only in the first half of the 20th century.

(translated by: Calin Cotoiu)

2 September 2017
September 2, 2017

PARLIAMENT – In Bucharest, the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate have convened for the second regular parliamentary session of the year. Romanian MPs are scheduled to handle overdue bills from previous sessions, and the new draft legislation tabled by the Government. Debates are to begin next week. Apart from the emergency orders concerning special pension benefits, child allowances and police salaries, Parliament is also to discuss a bill on mandatory vaccination. The most eagerly awaited debates concern the new Pension Bill, which is to reach the Parliament chambers by October 1, and the changes of the laws on the judiciary and the set-up of a Sovereign Investment Fund.

CORRUPTION – The former president of the National Healthcare Insurance Agency, Marian Burcea, has been placed under 30-day arrest in an investigation into illegal refunds for healthcare services. According to the Bucharest Court of Appeals, in the same case the judges have also decided to place other individuals under pre-trial arrest. Anti-corruption prosecutors suspect frauds involving the funds of the Bucharest City Healthcare Insurance Agency, consisting in the refund of fictitious healthcare expenditure. The refunds were allegedly granted based on hundreds of fake medical records and involved agency personnel protected by top officials of the National Healthcare Insurance Agency. Tens of searches conducted at the offices of companies and institutions as well as at the homes of several individuals in Bucharest seem to indicate losses of 3 million euros caused to the public budgets.

ENESCU FESTIVAL – The George Enescu International Festival, one of the most prestigious music events in Europe, opens today. For 3 weeks, 80 concerts and other events will bring together in Bucharest and 7 other major Romanian cities more than 3,000 of the best international artists. The honorary president this year is the famous conductor Zubin Mehta, and another conductor, Vladimir Jurowski is the artistic director. Radio Romania is the only media institution in the country to broadcast the concerts live, on its channels Radio Romania Music and Radio Romania Culture. The opening show, a performance of George Enescus opera “Oedipus by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, with conductor Vladimir Jurowski, will include multimedia features. First organised in 1958, 3 years after the famed Romanian composer had died, the George Enescu Festival was discontinued in 1971 by the communist regime, and was resumed in 1989. It has been held every 2 years ever since.

HARVEY – The US President Donald Trump has requested Congress to earmark 7.85 billion US dollars for relief and reconstruction following hurricane Harvey, Reuters reports. Trump is to visit the disaster-hit areas today, for the second time. Harvey, one of the worst hurricanes to have hit the US in terms of the damages it has caused, forced one million Americans out of their homes. Tens of people died. Houston, the largest city in Texas and the fifth-largest in the US, is still paralysed by floods. In Beaumont, over 120,000 people are without drinking water.

FOOTBALL – Romanias national football team had some difficulties defeating Armenia. The Romanians only managed to score in extra time, although they missed a penalty shot and the guests had a player taken off the pitch. Ranked 4th in the group, 7 points behind the group leader Poland and 4 points behind Denmark and Montenegro, Romania will play its next match on Monday, in Podgorica, against Montenegro. In this qualifying campaign, Romania is for the first time coached by a foreign manager, the German Cristoph Daum, who has been the target of growing criticism lately, from supporters, experts and the media, because of the poor performance of the national squad.

BASKETBALL – The national basketball team of Romania plays today against Croatia, in Cluj-Napoca, in Group C of the European Basketball Championship, FIBA Eurobasket 2017. Romania was defeated on Friday by the Czech Republic, 83-68. Returning to continental basketball elite competitions after a 3-decade gap, Romania was only able to keep up with the Czech team in the first half of the game. In the other matches played on Friday in the same group, Croatia beat Hungary 67-58, and defending European champions Spain defeated Montenegro 99-60. The best 4 teams in each group will move on to the eighth-finals held in Turkey. The FIBA EUROBASKET 2017 final will be played in Istanbul, on September 17.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

2 September 2017
May 10, 2017

CITIZEN INITIATIVE — The Chamber of Deputies has voted in favour of a citizen initiative to revise the definition of the term ‘family’ in the Romanian Constitution. According to the initiative, family is based on the marriage between a man and a woman of their own consent, on equal rights between the two parties, as well as on the parents’ obligation to see to the upbringing, education and tuition of their children. The Senate is to debate and vote on this draft law. We’ll revert to this topic after the news.

STRIKE — Employees of the Environment Law Enforcement Agency are as of today on an all-out strike indefinitely. Employees are unhappy with pay disparities in their line of work, considering that salaries haven’t been increased since 2009. During the strike, environment officers will come to work but will not receive public notifications or carry out inspections. Previously employees with the Environment Law Enforcement Agency went on a two-hour strike on April 26, aimed at making their salary demands heard. Despite this, trade unions in the field say lawmakers have not shown any interest in solving the existing problems, adding that the protest will continue until the Government will give assurances that their demands have been taken under advisement.

ROMANIA-US RELATIONS — Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu talked to the US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson over the phone about the Strategic Partnership between the two countries, launched 20 years ago, and the goal of developing and boosting cooperation in all fields stipulated in the partnership. Minister Melescanu praised the excellent level of bilateral cooperation in the field of defence and security, underling the importance of having American and Allied forces present in Romania and in the region. Moreover, the Romanian official also highlighted the efforts of the two countries’ governments and business sectors to improve economic cooperation between Romania and the US.

KING’S DAY — Romania today celebrates the King’s Day, also coinciding with another two important moments in the country’s modern history. On May 10, 1866 King Carol of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was sworn in as ruler of Romania. Also on this day in 1877 King Carol would proclaim the country’s independence from the Ottoman Empire, only to be crowned king four years later. May 10 was the National Day of Romania until 1947, when the communist regime forced King Mihai I into abdicating and subsequent exile. King Mihai returned to Romania only after the anti-communist revolution of 1989. The King is now seriously ill and has withdrawn from public life. Mihai has entrusted Crown Princess Margareta, the first born of his five daughters, custody of the Royal Crown.

EBRD — Romanian economy might report a 4% growth this year as compared to the November estimate of 3,7%, reads a recent forecast of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). This is the highest growth level among European states where the Bank is conducting its operations. Next year the GDP growth will slow down to 3,5%, consumption will continue to boost growth in 2017 and 2018, sustained by the rise in the minimum wage and public sector salaries. Government spending will probably spike in 2017, running the risk of exceeding the budget deficit target of 3% of the GDP, the EBRD has warned. In turn, the IMF has upgraded its forecast on Romanian economic growth this year, from 3,8% to 4,2%. The Romanian Government has grounded its budget planning for 2017 on a 5,2% economic growth forecast.

HEALTHCARE — Romanian Health Minister Florian Bodog today attended a discussion panel in Malta alongside Health Ministers and heads of pharmaceutical companies across Europe, devoted to promoting quality, efficiency and sustainability for healthcare systems and ensuring the adequate conditions for research and innovation. According to a Health Ministry release, participants signed a joint declaration asserting the importance of guaranteeing patients’ access to new and innovative drugs and treatments. We recall that the Health Ministry is hoarding vaccines against the backdrop of a measles outbreak in Western Romania, which has so far killed 20 people and infected some 5,000 people.

MOLDOVA — Experts with the Venice Commission are on an official visit to the Republic of Moldova, after the Parliament of this country on Friday adopted two draft laws on amending the election law in Moldova. The two bills provide for the partial modification of the current party-list voting system, as well as for electing 51 of the 101 deputies by means of a single winner system. The Parliament leadership has given assurances that the two bills, harshly criticized by most political factions as well as civil society, will be adopted only after the Commission has given the go-ahead. Political pundits in Chisinau say the new system will allegedly favour large parties, such as the Socialists, the party of the pro-Russian President Igor Dodon, or the Democrats, the party of the controversial oligarch Vlad Pahotniuc in the pro-Western governing coalition.

FBI — US President Donald Trump has sacked FBI Director James Comey, as per the recommendation of Prosecutor General Jeff Sessions. Comey was appointed in 2013 by former president Barack Obama, and was leading an investigation into Russia’s alleged involvement in Trump’s election campaign for the 2016 presidential race. The White House has denied accusations that the sacking was a political decision. Democrat leaders have also called for appointing a special prosecutor to take over the investigation.

EUROVISION — A total of ten countries on Tuesday evening qualified to the final of the Eurovision Song Contest, this year hosted by Kiev, Ukraine. The countries that qualified from the first semi-final are the Republic of Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Cyprus, Greece, Poland, Portugal, Sweden and Australia. Romania will be competing in Thursday’s second final with the song “Yodel It!”, composed by Mihai Alexandru and performed by Ilinca and Alex Florea. 42 countries are taking part in this year’s edition. The final will take place on Saturday. Romania has taken part in the Eurovision Contest 19 times, starting with 1994, and our country’s best performance was third place.

MADRID TOURNAMENT — Three Romanian tennis players are today competing in the round of 16 of the WTA tennis tournament in Madrid, totalling 5,4 million dollars in prize money. Simona Halep, 8 WTA, is taking on Samantha Stosur of Australia, 26 WTA. Irina Begu, 36 WTA, is playing Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands, 19 WTA. Finally, Sorana Cirstea, 83 WTA, will go up against Misaki Doi of Japan, 53 WTA. On Tuesday, Marius Copil lost to Andy Murray of Great Britain, and will enter the ATP top 100 at the end of the competition. (Translated by V. Palcu)

10 May 2017
The Week in Review 31.10 – 06.11

The strike of the healthcare staff has been declared illegal

The
Bucharest Court on Thursday ruled that the strike of the healthcare staff held
early this week was illegal. The decision can still be appealed, but it is
binding. The magistrates thus agreed with the Health Ministry officials who
claimed, among other things, that the trade unionists’ action did not comply
with the legal conditions for starting a labor conflict. The healthcare staff
went on strike on October 31, asking for higher salaries and better working
conditions. On November 1st the protest was suspended, after the
parliamentary committees approved a pay rise for the healthcare staff and the
trade unionists received assurances that the amendments would be voted in the
plenum of Parliament next week. The labour minister, Dragoş Paslaru, has warned that these pay rises could
affect the country’s economy.

The government criticizes the pay rises and the
elimination of charges proposed by Parliament.

The
Romanian government believes that the pay rises and the elimination of more than
100 charges, as proposed by Parliament proposals, will have a negative impact
on next year’s state budget.

Dacian
Cioloş: As
is customary for Romania’s Parliament before elections, a number of measures
have been passed in recent months, which raise salaries for various categories
of public sector employees, without thorough previous calculations. The total
amount of money stands at around 9 billion lei, that is more than 1% of the
GDP.

The budget
impact of the populist laws voted before the elections amounts to 2 billion
euros, which will lead to either a deeper budget deficit or to a reduction of
the funds to be allotted for investments. Moreover, the imbalances between
several categories of state employees will increase. If the bills are passed in
the form wanted by Parliament, the Government will challenge the salary law at
the Constitutional Court. In the run up to the December 11 elections, on
Tuesday the MPs in the joint budget – finance and labour committees amended the
order on the salaries of state employees and introduced new categories of staff
in the education and healthcare systems that will benefit from pay rises or
bonuses, although salaries in these fields have already been increased in the
past year by an average 30%. These pay rises were announced shortly after the
MPs passed a draft law on the elimination of more than 100 non-fiscal taxes,
including the radio and TV license fees.

The government sets maximum levels for
mandatory motor-vehicle liability insurance policies.

Wednesday’s
decision by the Romanian Government to impose certain caps, for a period of 6
months, on the mandatory car liability insurance policies, has triggered
conflicting reactions depending on the interests of the sides involved. The
National Union of Insurance and Reinsurance Companies notified the European
Commission on the 6-month freeze on car liability insurance prices, claiming
that the measure infringes on the principles of free market and competition as
stipulated in the Romanian Constitution. On the other hand, road carriers have
hailed the measures passed by the government. Moreover,
they call on Parliament to issue a new insurance law in these 6 months, before
the expiry of the government’s ordinance on capping car liability insurance
policies. Transporters also ask for the future law to ensure total transparency
as regards the calculation of tariffs for all categories of vehicles held by
natural persons and legal entities. The insurance companies that will sell
insurance policies at prices exceeding the maximum value set by the government
risk big fines. New regulations in the insurance field were adopted by the
government after the protests organized by transporters. They have frequently
contested the very high prices they had to pay especially for trucks and the
fact that car liability insurances policies are growing by the year.

Criminal prosecution to expand in case related
to the 1989 anti-communist revolution.

Almost 27 years after the fall
of the Ceausescu regime, army prosecutors have expanded in rem the
criminal proceedings in the so-called Revolution case to investigate crimes
against humanity committed after the 22nd of December 1989.
Prosecutor Marian Lazăr
explains the reasons of this decision.

Marian Lazar: It transpires from documents that are part of the case that,
in order to hold on to power, through their actions and measures, the new
political and military leadership instated after the 22nd of December
1989 caused the death, gunshot injury, physical and psychological damage and
unlawful deprivation of freedom of a large number of persons, actions that fall
into the scope of crimes against humanity.

The actions in question point
to the existence of a plan aiming to create a state of confusion among the
armed forces and thus enable the new leaders to take over power and acquire
legitimacy. According to a document from the Military Prosecutor’s Office with
the High Court of Cassation and Justice, more than 1,200 people were killed in
the events of December 1989, of whom 800 died after 22nd of
December, when the regime collapsed. More than 5,000 people were wounded and
several thousand unlawfully deprived of freedom and subjected to bad treatment.
The reopening of the Revolution case, which earned Romania a series of
convictions at the European Court of Human Rights, comes a few months after
interim prosecutor general Bogdan Licu called for the reopening of the
inquiries. According to Licu, the ruling to close the case in October 2015 was
ungrounded and illegal, and the legal classification of the deeds was wrong.

5 November 2016
October 31, 2016

COLECTIV – A silent march in Bucharest and other rallies in several other Romanian cities commemorated one year since the fire that destroyed the Colectiv nightclub in Bucharest, killed 64 people and injured more than 100 others. President Klaus Iohannis and PM Dacian Ciolos paid tribute to the victims. Crown Princess Margareta, Custodian of the Romanian Crown, sent a message emphasising the importance of preserving the unity of feeling and conscience. In another message, the Ambassador of the US to Bucharest, Hans Klemm, encouraged Romanians in their fight against corruption and effort to build a safe, democratic and successful country. In turn, the Ambassador of France to Bucharest, Francois Saint-Paul, has expressed his compassion for the victims families and has said his country will continue to train Romanian healthcare professionals.

STRIKE – More than 80,000 healthcare staff in Romania are on all-out strike as of today, the leaders of the SANITAS Trade Union Federation have announced. Throughout the protest, one-third of the employees will continue to work and emergencies will not be affected, the unions say. The protesters are mainly unhappy with the imbalances in the salary system and say they will only go back to work if their demands are granted. This is the last stage of the action initiated by public healthcare employees in September. Sanitas represents the interests of over 100,000 members.

MISSILE DEFENCE – The Romanian Defence Minister, Mihnea Motoc, is taking part in London today in the Multinational Ballistic Defence conference. The conference is organised by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Missile Defence Agency of the US Department of Defence. As a special guest, Minister Motoc will present Romanias view on the ballistic defence issue, given that Romania hosts the Aegis Ashore American missile defence system in Deveselu (south). The Romanian official will receive, on behalf of the Romanian Defence Ministry, the ‘David R. Israel’ award for merits in the anti-missile field and in recognition of the efforts and active involvement of Romania in preparing the military base in Deveselu. On the sidelines of the conference, Mihnea Motoc will have a meeting with the head of the Missile Defence Agency, vice-admiral James D. Syring.

ELECTION – The President of the neighbouring Republic of Moldova will be decided in the November 13 election runoff, between the pro-Russian Socialist Igor Dodon and the candidate backed by pro-European parties, Maia Sandu. According to official figures, in the first round held on Sunday, Dodon came out the first of the 9 candidates, with 48% of the votes, followed by Sandu, with 38%. The turnout rate was the lowest in the history of parliamentary and presidential elections in the Republic of Moldova.

EARTHQUAKE – Many Romanians living in the Puglia province called the emergency number provided by the Romanian consular office in Rome, after the 6.5 Richter earthquake that hit the centre of Italy on Sunday. A mobile unit of the Romanian Embassy is trying to provide assistance to the nearly 140 Romanian citizens who live in the towns of Norcia and Preci, severely affected by the quake, which was the strongest since 1980. The Italian authorities announced there were no casualties, but scores of people were nonetheless injured, and most buildings were seriously damaged.

TENNIS – The Romanian Simona Halep concludes the year 2016 on the 4th position in the world ranking of professional tennis players, and is in the top 10 WTA for the third consecutive year. The top 3 places are held by German Angelique Kerber, the American Serena Williams and Radwanska Agnieszka of Poland. Three other Romanian players are in the Top 100. Irina Begu is ranked 29th, Monica Niculescu 39th and Sorana Carstea 81st. The last major competition of this year for Simona Halep was the WTA Final in Singapore. In January 2017 she will play in Shenzhen (January 1-7), where she won the 2015 final, and then in the first Grand Slam of the year, the Australian Open.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

31 October 2016
October 19, 2016 UPDATE

EUROPEAN COUNCIL – Romanias President, Klaus Iohannis, on Thursday and Friday, will attend the European Council meeting in Brussels. The agenda of the talks covers three major issues: migration management, the EUs trade policy and foreign relations. Upon leaving for Brussels, the Romanian President said that, in terms of migration, the participants will analyse the stage of implementing the mobility partnerships between the EU and third countries, non EU members, such as Mali, Nigeria and Senegal. Klaus Iohannis reiterated Romanias support for capitalising on these mobility partnerships, which produce direct benefits, for a better migration management. In another move, Klaus Iohannis underlined that Romania supports the EUs trade agreement with the US. He also expressed hope that Romania and Canada will reach an agreement as regards a visa waiver for Romanian citizens, adding that if a reasonable agreement is reached, Bucharest will withdraw its reservations relating to the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between Canada and the EU. Klaus Iohannis made clear that a reasonable agreement, means to Romania, the lifting of Canadian visas for Romanian citizens in 2017 and not 2018. The Romanian president also announced he will have bilateral talks, on the sidelines of the summit, with British Prime Minister, Theresa May, which will cover, among others, the situation of the Romanian nationals living in Great Britain.

CONFERENCE – Bucharest is playing host to the Strategic Military Partner Conference organised by the NATO Allied Command Transformation. Around 70 NATO member and partner states are participating, as well as other countries, such as Colombia and Nigeria, which are taking part in such consultations for the first time. Talks focus on the prospects of expanding NATO partnerships and an in-depth analysis of the concepts resulting from the NATO Summit held in Warsaw in July. The meeting in Bucharest lasts three days and contains four planning workshops dealing with the maritime, air and space, land and cyber domains.

MOURNING – Senior
Liberal member, Radu Campeanu, the first president of the National Liberal
Party after the fall of the communist regime in Romania, in December 1989,
passed away on Wednesday, at 94 years of age. He held the presidency of the
Liberal Party between 1990 and 1993. In the wake of WWII, Radu Campeanu took
part in the anti-communist protest movements held over February 24-28,
1945. Arrested in 1948, he spent many
years in the communist prisons, as a political detainee. After he was released
from prison, he emigrated to France. In 1990, Radu Campeanu returned to Romania,
where he reconstructed the National Liberal Party. He was senator of Bucharest
in the 1990-1992 period and the Liberal candidate for the presidential election
in Romania, in 1990, when he ranked second.

TOKEN STRIKE – Members of the Sanitas trade union federation in the healthcare sector were on a 2-hour token strike on Wednesday morning. During the strike, a third of normal duties were ensured, as well as all medical and surgical emergencies. Healthcare trade unions started their protests almost a month ago. They demand a unitary salary scheme for all medical staff, for the bonuses for special working conditions to be calculated based on current salaries and for holiday and meal vouchers. Sanitas representatives say they received no offer from the authorities and threaten to go on an all-out strike on the 31st of October. Sanitas has more than 100,000 members, including medical and sanitary staff, specialist staff, and auxiliary, technical and administrative staff.

TRIAL – The High Court of Cassation and Justice judges have rejected all requests and exceptions raised by Gabriel Oprea and ruled for the start of a trial on merits in a case in which Oprea, a former deputy prime minister and interior minister, is accused of spending operative funds from the budget of the Intelligence and Internal Protection Directorate. The courts ruling is not final. In May, Oprea was indicted by the National Anticorruption Directorate for abuse of office together with other senior officers from the Interior Ministry. Oprea is also under investigation in a separate case in which he is accused of manslaughter. A police officer died last year in a motorcycle accident while providing official escort to Oprea, who was serving as interior minister. However, Oprea is believed to have been on a personal trip at the time, which means he was not entitled to official police escort.

JUSTICE– Romanias technocratic prime minister Dacian Ciolos believes justice minister Raluca Pruna should stay in office following the passing of a simple no-confidence motion against her in the Chamber of Deputies on Tuesday. Ciolos says the motion is a rebuke of Pruna over some of her statements, without raising any essential objections about her activity. The motion was filed by the Social Democrats after minister Pruna admitted she lied before the European Court of Human Rights with respect to the funds allocated to prisons in Romania. Pruna took responsibility for her statements saying no one can take away her right to signal the problems facing the justice system, including under-funding.

MIGRANTS – 29 immigrants from Syria, including 17 minors aged between 2 and 17, were stopped on Wednesday morning by the Romanian border police in Timis as they were trying to cross from Serbia into Romania illegally. They did not carry identity papers but said they were Syrian nationals and that they crossed the Serbian border on foot planning to reach a country in western Europe. This is the largest group of Middle Eastern migrants to force the Romanian western border in Timis county this autumn. In the last two months, the authorities have thwarted many attempts to cross the border into Romania in the west, south-west and south.

TENNIS- World no. 50 Monica Niculescu of Romania on Wednesday qualified for the quarterfinals of the Luxembourg tennis tournament, with 225,000 dollars in prize money up for grabs, after defeating Italys Francesca Schiavone, no.99. This is the first victory grabbed by Niculescu against Schiavone, who had defeated the Romanian player four times before. The Italian player got the first victory in the eighth finals in Moscow, back in 2009. Then she defeated Niculescu in the third round of the Australian Open in 2011, in the eights finals in New Haven, in 2011, and in the first round of the Stuttgart tennis tournament, in 2012. (Translated by D. Vijeu)

19 October 2016