PROTESTS In Romania, local administration
staff in rural areas were on a token strike on Wednesday, with demands
primarily related to salaries. According to trade unions, almost 11,000
employees in over 800 town halls in the country signed for the protest. Unionists threaten with an all-out strike
starting on February 5 unless their demands are met. On the other hand, trade
unions in the healthcare sector announced they would carry on protests, as the
government’s current offer to raise salaries by 13.9% this year is not what
they had expected. Solidaritatea Sanitară Union Federation notified the
government of their plans to go on an all-out strike. According to the
federation, under the law the government has 10 days to negotiate with the unions
and avoid a labour dispute.
DEFICIT Romania ended the year 2023 with a
budget deficit of 5.68% of the GDP, as against the 4.4% originally forecast
when the state budget for last year was drawn up. The deficit is however below
the 6.3% estimated by the European Commission in its forecast. According to
data supplied by the Finance Ministry, the difference between revenues and
expenditure was almost EUR 18 bln.
REPORT With 46 points out of 100, Romania
remains one of the EU countries with the poorest results in the implementation
of anti-corruption measures, according to Transparency International’s annual
Corruption Perceptions Index. The organisation’s recommendations for Romania
include updating the legislation in the field of public integrity, improving
organisational and decision-making transparency, standardising and clarifying
administrative procedures.
EU
Romanian President Klaus Iohannisis in Brussels to take part in a
ceremony organised by the European Commission in memory of Jacques Delors (1925
– 2023), a former European Commission president between 1985 and 1995, and to
attend an extraordinary meeting of the European Council on Thursday. The
Council meeting will focus on an agreement on the main elements of the proposed
revision of the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework. The most important
decisions are the support for Ukraine, including military support under the
European Peace Facility, in keeping with the country’s needs. Klaus Iohannis
will firmly plead for Ukraine to remain a top priority on the EU agenda.
VISIT The Turkish foreign minister, Hakan
Fidan, was on a visit to Bucharest, for a meeting with his Romanian counterpart
Luminiţa Odobescu. The Turkish official also had talks with Prime Minister
Marcel Ciolacu and the Senate Speaker, Nicolae Ciucă. According to the Turkish
media, Hakan Fidan is meeting with his counterparts in Albania, Bulgaria and
Romania ‘to discuss bilateral relations, as well as current regional and global
developments’. Romania and Turkey signed a Strategic Partnership in 2011,
followed by a joint action plan, signed in 2013 by the two countries’ foreign
ministers. (AMP)