Radio România Internațional

Tag: law

  • December 11, 2019

    December 11, 2019

    Law — The Liberal government in Bucharest passed, on Tuesday evening, three draft laws for which they are to assume responsibility, said Wednesday the head of the PMs office, Ionel Danca. He said the three bills are related to the modification of the justice laws, the abrogation of an ordinance regarding passenger transport within counties, the budget caps and the budgetary and fiscal strategy. The head of the PMs office said the government will forward today to Parliament the letter regarding the aforementioned bills, for which it will take responsibility, with Parliament being expected to decide on a timetable.



    Rating — Standard and Poor’s (S&P) has revised downwards Romania’s outlook from stable to negative, due to the deficit increase, affirming their ‘BBB-/A-3’ ratings for the long and short term debt in hard currency and the local currency. The large spending deviations by the previous Social Democratic government have forced Romania’s current leadership to revise up its fiscal targets for 2019 and 2020, against the backdrop of a slowing economy, S&P shows. According to the S&P report, the planned wage and pension increases will contribute to a widening of Romania’s already substantial current account deficit through 2020. Although the agency expects significant fiscal consolidation to commence next year, the rigid budget structure and volatile policy environment pose risks to that assumption. Also S&P warns that it might lower its ratings on Romania within the next 24 months if fiscal and external imbalances continue to deteriorate and persist for longer than the agency currently anticipates.



    Swine fever — Due to swine fever and the increase in import prices, the price of pork meat has doubled in 2019 and it might triple in early 2020, says the president of the Romanian Meat Association, Radu Timis. He has however given assurances that for the winter holidays Romanians will find pork meat in shops. Radu Timis believes that next year half of the companies processing pork in Europe will disappear. In turn, the National Sanitary, Veterinary and Food Safety Authority has given assurances that it will draft a new strategy for fighting and controlling African swine fever, that will have to be assumed by all institutions involved and also by farmers and the line industry.



    Tokyo — Romania’s national women’s handball team was defeated on Wednesday 37-20 by Japan in their last match in the main Group II of the World Championship hosted by Japan. On Tuesday the Romanian handballers were defeated by Sweden as well 34-22. Romania ended the championship on 12th place. In the final tournament the Romanian team was defeated 4 times at a difference of at least 9 points, but also obtained a victory against the team of Kazakhstan. The Romanians qualified to the pre-Olympic tournament after obtaining the 4th position in the European Championship, but their performance in Kumamoto, Japan, was disappointing, just like their entire performance in 2019.



    Inflation — In Romania, the annual inflation rate rose to 3.8% in November 2019 from 3.4% in October, in the context of price hikes for food and non-food products and service, shows data published on Wednesday by the National Institute of Statistics. The National Bank of Romania lowered to 3.8% the inflation rate forecast for the end of 2019 and estimates an inflation rate of 3.1% for the end of 2020. In turn, the IMF revised upwards its estimates for consumption prices in Romania this year up to an annual average growth of 4.2% as against 3.3% estimated in spring. (translation by L. Simion)

  • December 6, 2019 UPDATE

    December 6, 2019 UPDATE

    Government — The Romanian PM Ludovic Orban announced at the beginning of Friday’s government meeting that the government would take responsibility for several draft laws among which the laws on budget caps and on the modification of the justice laws. The Liberal PM pointed out that the budget cap law is necessary to complete the state budget and social security law. The modification of the justice laws is meant to suspend temporarily the deadlines for the early retirement of magistrates, the adoption of panels of 3 judges, etc. Ludovic Orban announced the government’s measure to assume responsibility for these draft laws would be adopted in a future government meeting, to be able to start the proceedings in Parliament.



    December 1989 revolution — Manifestations started in Timisoara in western Romania to mark 30 years since the December 1989 anticommunist revolution with 2 book launches: the book “Candlelight against time” by Titus Suciu and Vasile Bogdan and a scientific newsletter called “Memorial ‘89” published by the Writes’ Union. Marches will take places to retrace the route of the revolution marches, there will be remembrance services and laying of flower wreathes at the heroes’ monuments. Festive gatherings, symposiums, exhibitions, concerts and book launches will also be held as well as events devoted to the young generation, to keep the memory of those who died for freedom alive. December 17 will be a day of mourning and on December 20 manifestations will culminate with festivities and concerts dedicated to the day when Timisoara became the first city of Romania free of Communism.



    Brussels — The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe is deeply concerned with the abrogation by the Romanian Parliament of the compensatory appeal law and with the fact that the authorities have not provided ways to compensate for the existing situation, so as to observe the requirements of the European Convention on Human Rights. The justice minister Catalin Predoiu has been in Strasbourg these days where he gave explanations about the Romanian authorities’ decision. In an official communiqué, the Committee of Ministers reminds of the ‘old structural problems’ of Romania related to prison overcrowding and inhuman and degrading detention conditions. The communiqué also shows that important progress has been made especially in reducing overcrowding. Strasbourg officials also announced that they took note of the explanations provided by the Romanian justice minister and hailed the Bucharest government’s pledge to draft a comprehensive action plan.




    Handball – Romania’s national women’s handball team on Friday won the match against Hungary 28 to 27 after a dramatic match, which brought them qualification to the main groups of the World Championship hosted by Japan. Romania had previously defeated Senegal and Kazakhstan and was defeated twice by Spain and Montenegro respectively. Thus Romania still has a chance to go to the 2020 Olympic Games also hosted by Japan.



    Warsaw — The German chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday said in a speech delivered during her first visit to the site of the former Nazi extermination camp in Auschwitz, located on the territory of Poland, that Germany is responsible alone for the existence of that camp. Even if the atrocities perpetrated in the extermination camps leaves one speechless, silence is not an answer, Mrs. Merkel said, adding that there will be no tolerance for anti-Semitism in Germany and Europe. Angela Merkel announced that 60 million Euros would be granted to the Auschwitz Birkenau Foundation to maintain the compound where almost 1.1 million people were killed between 1940 and 1945. The Polish PM also warned that the history of the Auschwitz extermination camp should not be forgotten, the memory of the atrocities committed there being a duty towards the victims.



    Strike — In France, the leaderships of the central trade union federations decided, in a Friday meeting, to carry on with the strike until the government gives up entirely the idea of replacing the current pension system with one based on points accumulated alongside one’s career. Further protests have already been announced for Saturday in Paris. Strikers announced new marches and large scale manifestations all across France for December 10. The strike has affected most subway, bus and tram lines. The reform of the pension system, one of the important measures proposed by president Emmanuel Macron, is aimed at unifying the 42 current retirement plans (private, for public servants, special, complementary, etc) in one single universal system based on points. (translation by L. Simion)

  • December 4, 2019

    December 4, 2019

    London — During today’s meeting in London with the leaders of the other NATO states, the Romanian President Klaus Iohannis will speak about Romania’s assessment of the security developments at regional and global level and will reiterate the importance of the Black Sea for the Alliance, the eastern flank and Romania. In another development, Klaus Iohannis will highlight the fact that Romania is determined to allot 2% of the GDP for defense just like Bulgaria, Greece, Great Britain and Poland. According to Radio Romania’s correspondent to London, a central issue of the summit in London is the fair sharing of responsibilities in the context in which only 9 of the 29 member states have allotted at least 2% of the GDP for defense. Other topics on the summit agenda are related to the consolidation of the NATO posture of defense and deterrence, the modernization of the Alliance, and the consolidation of cooperation with the EU. On Tuesday evening Klaus Iohannis participated in the reception hosted by Queen Elisabeth II at the Buckingham Palace.



    Law – The Romanian Chamber of Deputies, a decision making body, on Wednesday adopted the bill for the abrogation of the compensatory appeal law with 272 votes for and 5 abstentions. The law was quite controversial because it allowed for the liberation of thousands of detainees ahead of due date. Some of them, who had been convicted for serious crimes, retuned to criminal behavior. The justice minister Catalin Predoiu explained recently that he was supporting the abrogation of the law, given that its wrong content endangered Romania’s citizens. He pointed out that the justice ministry representatives drafted a document including transitory measures to be applied in penitentiaries in the future. The bad conditions existing in penitentiaries generated lots of complaints at the European Court of Human Rights. The authorities mainly want to improve the quality of detention places.



    PSD – The Social Democratic Party’s executive committee is meeting today for the first time after the election of an interim leadership. We recall that Viorica Dancila resigned from the position of leader after her failure in the recent presidential election won by Klaus Iohannis, supported by the National Liberal Party. This was the second electoral defeat of the Social Democrats after that in the EP elections of May 26. The congress of the PSD will be held in February.



    Handball — Romania’s national women’s handball team were defeated for the 2nd time in Group C of the World Championship hosted by Japan 26-27 by Montenegro. In the previous matches the Romanian handballers lost to Spain and won against Senegal and Kazakhstan. To qualify to the main groups, Romania needs to defeat Hungary in the first leg. In the same group, Spain defeated Kazakhstan and will go further in the competition.



    Statistics — In Romania, the costs employers had to pay for the labor force were higher this autumn by more than 13% as compared to last autumn. According to data made public on Wednesday by the National Institute of Statistics the biggest increases of labor force costs were in the fields of education, constructions, professional, scientific and technical activities, hotels and restaurants, entertainment, culture and recreation. The aforementioned data also show that in the 3rd quarter of 2019 the costs employers had to pay for the labor force went up also against the previous quarter by over 2%. (translation by L. Simion)

  • The New Pension Law Promulgated

    The New Pension Law Promulgated

    A new pension law, along with the unitary salary system in the public sector, has always been a major bet for the leftist coalition formed by the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, who claim that their main goal is to do away with the inequities existing in the system. Pensions will be increased in stages, because the new law provides for an increase in the pension point as of September 1st, this year, until 2022.



    The document also reads that all salary rights for which contributions have been paid are to be capitalized on, such as bonuses, the 13th salary, overtime, prizes and other incentives. Under the new law, the women who have paid their contributions to the pension fund for 15 years and have given birth to three children, will have their retiring age reduced by 6 years. The survivorship pension has been maintained, and the surviving spouse will get 25% of the pension of the deceased. The standard retiring age is 65 for men and 63 for women. The minimum contribution period is 15 years, and the complete stage is 35 years.



    The former labour minister Olguta Vasilescu, the initiator of the bill, has stated that the delays encountered in adopting the law, which had to be endorsed by the the Constitutional Court, will not affect the recalculation of pensions. Lia Olguta Vasilescu:



    “I hope there will be no delays. The pressure is, indeed huge, also on the National Pensions House and this will entail lots of reorganization for them. Its not easy to organize everything in just one and a half year, instead of two, including a tender for software equipment, and to recalculate more than 5 million pensions. It all depends on how well they will manage to organize themselves and how the Ministry of Labour and Social Justice will design this new architecture of the Pensions House.”



    The right-wing opposition have voiced concern over the source of the money that is to be used to increase pensions, saying they do not believe in the optimistic economic forecasts presented by the Government. Irrespective, however, of the government that will lead the country, now the law forces it to ensure the necessary financial resources to pay the pensions, says the leader of the National Liberal Party, Ludovic Orban:



    “What we want is for this growth to be operated annualy, as it was the case with the old pension law, which we supported, and also on the basis of clear and realistic economic data. This means that any increase must be in line with the increase in inflation and also with the economic growth, which is reflected in the average gross salary, which therefore means that pensions should raise in keeping with the increase in the average gross salary.”



    The Labour Minister Marius Budai has given assurances that there will be a surplus in the pension budget by the end of the year.


  • March 11, UPDATE

    March 11, UPDATE

    BUDGET The President of Romania Klaus Iohannis Monday signed into law the 2019 social security budget bill. As regards the state budget bill, he asked MPs to reanalyse it thoroughly. The head of state once again criticised the Government led by the Social Democrats. The two-chamber Parliament in Bucharest will re-discuss the 2019 budget bill this week at the request of president Iohannis. The government majority formed by the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats say they won’t make any changes to the bill because its current provisions ensure the necessary resources in the important sectors of the economy. The opposition say, however, that the budget cannot come into force in its current version, which is one of stagnation and under-development. Once the bill returns to the president, the latter has to sign it into law. He sent the bill back to Parliament after the Constitutional Court dismissed his objections regarding the way the bill was drawn up. The government say Iohannis’ move is a political gesture ahead of the presidential elections later this year.




    GOVERNMENT The agenda of Tuesdays Cabinet meeting includes several draft resolutions, including one that concerns a financing contract with the European Investment Bank for the rehabilitation of the healthcare sector and another one concerning the organisation and functioning of the National Authority for Child Protection and Adoption. A bill ratifying the agreement signed by Romania and Hungary in October 2018 on the mutual protection of classified information is also on the agenda. Viorica Dăncilăs Cabinet will also discuss a memorandum on the negotiation of a 177-million euro loan agreement between Romania and the Council of Europe Development Bank for a project aimed at upgrading Romanias judicial infrastructure.




    JUDICIARY The independence of the Romanian judiciary must not be affected, and the fight against corruption must carry on, said the first vice-president of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, on Monday. He added he did not notice any progress since the latest Cooperation and Verification Mechanism report on Romania, and that he would like EC experts and the Government of Romania to discuss the issues that need to be settled. The European official was granted the title of Doctor Honoris Causa by the National School of Political and Administrative Studies. In his address on this occasion, Frans Timmermans spoke about the rule of law, which he believes is one of the decisive topics for the future of Europe.




    COMMEMORATION The European Day of Remembrance for the victims of terrorism is commemorated every year on March 11, under a European Parliament resolution. The original proposal was September 11, the day of the largest-scale terror attacks in the world (USA, 2001), but the 4 attacks perpetrated in Madrid, in the morning of March 11, 2004, which left behind 192 dead, including 16 Romanians, and nearly 2,000 wounded from 17 countries, prompted the change of date. Fifteen years ago, in Madrid, 4 commuter trains were blown up by members of a Jihadi cell inspired by the Al Qaida terrorist network. Three attackers were caught and sentenced to thousands of years behind bars. This was the most severe terrorist attack in Spain, and it made the country pull out its troops from Iraq.




    VOTERS The total number of eligible voters in Romania included in the Electoral Registry on February 28, 2019 was 18,937,258, the Permanent Electoral Authority announced on Monday. At the previous public announcement on the topic, made late last year, the Electoral Registry counted 18,937,058 Romanian voters. The variation comes as a result of changes reported by mayors as regards the number of voters in their localities, and of data imports from the Directorate for Personal Records and Database Management. Of the total number of Romanian voters in the Electoral Registry, 18,266,936 have their declared residence in Romania, and 670,322 abroad.




    BOEING Boeing stock opened 11% down on Monday, after China, Indonesia and Ethiopia requested airlines to ground the Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, after a second deadly crash in 5 months. If the same level is reported on closing time, this will be the most severe fall for Boeing shares in nearly 2 decades, ending an upward trend that tripled the share value in little over 3 years, to a record-high 446 US dollars last week. A Boeing 737 MAX 8 operated by Ethiopian Airlines, heading for Nairobi, went down within minutes after take-off in Addis Ababa, on Sunday, and all the 157 passengers died. The same plane model, operated by Lion Air, had crashed off the Indonesian coast in October, killing all the 189 people on board. Both planes were new and crashed just minutes into the flight.



    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • February 22, 2019 UPDATE

    February 22, 2019 UPDATE

    BUDGET The Constitutional Court of Romania has announced that on March 6th it will discuss the notification filed by President Klaus Iohannis against the 2019 state budget law. On Friday, the head of state notified the Constitutional Court over the state budget bill submitted for his promulgation. He described the bill as unrealistic and over-optimistic, and dismissed it as a national disgrace. There are unconstitutional elements in this law, the President said, such as failure to comply with commitments taken within the EU and violation of fundamental rights. Iohannis lashed out at the Social Democratic Party, the senior partner in the ruling coalition in Romania, which he said is unable to govern the country and only rules to the benefit of its leader, Liviu Dragnea. Klaus Iohannis also said political parties are getting too much money, public education is under-funded, and Romania has been in turmoil, particularly since an ordinance was passed in late 2018 modifying the justice laws. According to the President, the entire ruling term of the Social Democrats has been an assault on the rule of law in Romania. In response, the Senate Speaker, Calin Popescu Tariceanu (ALDE, also in the ruling coalition) said the Presidents sending the budget bill to the Constitutional Court is unwarranted and ill-timed. He added the President is “harassing the Cabinet and trying to prevent its work.




    JUDICIARY In several cities in Romania, magistrates protested on Friday against the changes to the justice laws introduced by a government emergency decree, and called for independence of the judiciary. They also announced they would suspend their work for several days, and said only urgent cases would be tried. The changes operated by the left-of-centre Government concern, among other things, the appointment of senior prosecutors and the powers of the special division investigating offences committed by magistrates. The emergency decree has been criticised both in Brussels, by the European Commission, and in Romania, by magistrate associations, by the prosecutor division of the Higher Council of Magistrates, and by the right-wing Opposition.




    TRADE The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is in a difficult situation at the moment, and swift action is needed for the entity not to fall apart, the EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström said on Friday in Bucharest. In turn, the Romanian Minister for the Business Environment, Ştefan-Radu Oprea, said that promoting free trade under the WTO aegis remains a priority for the EU, and member states have voiced their willingness to start negotiations on e-commerce. He added that, with respect to trade relations between the EU and the USA, stakeholders are trying to maintain a positive bilateral agenda and to adopt as quickly as possible the negotiating directives on conformity assessment and the liberalisation of trade in industrial products. EU trade ministers convened on Friday in Bucharest to discuss the modernisation of the WTO and the trade relations between the European bloc and the US.




    CONGRESS Cluj Napoca (in north-western Romania) is hosting the congress of the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, the main political party representing the 1.5-million strong Hungarian community in Romania. Attending the event are over 900 delegates, who will elect the new party president. The incumbent leader, Hunor Kelemen, is the only candidate, and is running for a 3rd term in office. Before the congress, Hunor Kelemen told a press conference that in his opinion the main task ahead is for the party to define a general framework for the political decisions to be made in the future. The delegates will also discuss the new economic platform of the organisation and the list of candidates for the European Parliament elections. Another topic on the agenda is the collaboration between the Union, which supports the ruling coalition in Romania, and the other Romanian parties. Represented in Parliament without interruptions since 1990, the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians has been a member of many coalition governments in Romania.



    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • The new pension law, endorsed

    The new pension law, endorsed

    Romanian MPs on Wednesday passed the new pension law with 193 votes in favor, one against and 14 abstentions. Benefiting from social security pensions are the people who contributed for at least 15 years to the system. People who contributed for at least 10 years can benefit from pension only if they complete the payment of contributions to the National Pensions House for another 5 years. As a novelty in the law, the persons with serious disabilities were included, alongside the visually-impaired, in the category of people who can benefit from pension if they contributed to the system for at least one third of the total period of contribution.



    The new law allows for the invalidity pension to be cumulated with other revenues. Another novelty in the new law is the possibility for women with at least 3 children, who have completed the minimum contribution period, to retire 6 years earlier. The law maintains the provision according to which the surviving spouse may opt for receiving 50% of the pension of the deceased spouse, and introduces a new provision according to which the surviving spouse can keep his or her pension and also receive 25% of the pension of the deceased.



    The law also stipulates that the MA and doctoral studies are considered non-contributory periods assimilated to the contribution period, on condition that the respective person obtains a graduation diploma. The initiator of the law, the former labor minister, Olguta Vasilescu, says that the pension point, following a multi-stage increase, will reach 1,775 lei that is 385 Euros by 2020 and has given assurances that no pension will be diminished following recalculation. Also, the pension point is expected to rise at almost 407 Euros by 2021 and as of 2022 a reference point will be introduced which will depend on the inflation rate and the gross average salary.



    Olguta Vasilescu: “We have eliminated the social security contributions from all pensions and we have also eliminated taxation of pensions below 2 thousand lei. For the pensions above 2 thousand lei, we lowered the tax from 16% to 10%. Therefore, we started fixing inequities even before this law was passed.”



    The incumbent labor minister Marius Budai says that the new law will do away with inequities among people who had the same profession and contributed the same amount of money but retired in different years. In exchange, the leader of the opposition Liberals, Raluca Turcan, claims that the law was intentionally made to include unconstitutional provisions, so as to prevent it from coming into effect.



    Raluca Turcan: “By requiring persons with disabilities to have a minimum contribution period to the system, you have introduced huge disparities despite the decision of the Constitutional Court. To put it plainly, if one of you becomes a person with disabilities, you need to have contributed at least 15 years to the system to get a pension.”



    The opposition announced they would challenge the new pension law in the Constitutional Court. At present, in Romania there are more than 5 million pensioners which means almost a quarter of Romania’s total population.

  • New Transplant Law

    New Transplant Law

    Thousands of Romanians are waiting on transplant lists for a second chance to life, but the number of donors keeps dwindling from one year to the next. Only 55 organ donors were reported brain dead in 2018, out of a total 160 potential donors, according to data from the National Transplant Agency. Unfortunately, many of their families opposed organ donation, while the others had other health problems that prevented the operation. Figures show that a total of 102 kidney transplants, 46 liver, 3 lung and 5 heart transplants have been performed.



    Authorities are trying to solve this problem, with a new transplant law finalised and scheduled for public debate next month. The Health Minister, Sorina Pintea, presented the main aspects of the new legislation:



    Sorina Pintea: “First of all, this law will ensure the transparency that is so necessary in this system. Secondly, it introduces new elements regarding the consent of those who wish to donate organs. I believe they will make the process more transparent, while at the same time speeding up organ donation and procurement, without which there would not be any transplants.



    As many as 41 healthcare institutions are accredited for organ procurement as part of Romanias National Transplant Programme, but only 11 of them have actually conducted such interventions. Health Minister Sorina Pintea says the programme is used inefficiently:



    Sorina Pintea: “All parties involved in transplant activities must work as a team, and this includes county coordinators, regional coordinators, the National Transplant Agency. There cannot be transplants without organ donation, and when an institution seeks to join international organisations, this is the first topic brought into discussion. Romania has a National Transplant System, and in my opinion it is quite a generous one. Unfortunately, it is used in an inefficient manner. I cannot understand why there are 48 patients declared brain dead in one county in a month, and not a single organ procured. This means lack of interest. This is not the responsibility of the health minister. Or maybe it is. Maybe the county in question will no longer be included in the National Transplant Programme.



    Romania is last in Europe in terms of the number of organ donors, and is one of the few countries in the EU that still lack legislation to regulate this matter.



    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • October 6, 2018 UPDATE

    October 6, 2018 UPDATE

    REFERENDUM – Nearly 19 million Romanian voters are invited this weekend to vote on a proposed redefinition of the concept of family in the Constitution. The initiators aim to define “family as an institution based on the marriage of a man and a woman, rather than the marriage of spouses, as it is at present. According to data released by the Central Electoral Bureau 5.72% of the total number of eligible voters cast their ballots on Saturday, many of them in urban communities. Polls will reopen in the country on Sunday morning. By 21:00 local time, when polls closed in Romania, some 46,000 Romanians had also voted abroad. The Romanians living abroad can vote in 378 polls hosted by diplomatic missions, consular offices, cultural institutes and other locations. The largest number of polls abroad are in Italy, Spain, the Republic of Moldova, the USA, UK, France and Germany. The voting process abroad will conclude on the US West Coast and in Canada on Monday morning, according to Romanian time. The vote in the diaspora started on Friday night in Auckland, New Zealand. On the whole, the vote abroad will take 58 hours. Parliament has passed a bill rephrasing the Constitutional definition of marriage, based on a citizen initiative signed by 3 million people. The referendum will be validated provided that a 30% turnout rate is met and 25% of the eligible voters cast valid votes.



    LAW – The Speaker of the Senate of Romania Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu said on Saturday that he wants a consensus of all parliamentary parties with respect to the Offshore Bill. In the next 2 weeks, when the bill is to be once again discussed, we will have enough time to find the best solutions, Tariceanu also said. The so-called Offshore Bill, which sets out the rules for natural gas extraction in the Black Sea, was discussed on Wednesday in the Chamber of Deputies, which decided to send the text back to the specialised committees. The bill was originally passed in the previous parliamentary session, but President Klaus Iohannis returned it to Parliament for a review.



    EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT – The European Parliament has approved a report proposing new rules for freezing and confiscating the proceeds of crimes. The new regulation will allow for quicker and more efficient implementation of confiscation and asset freeze orders, as well as tighter deadlines for authorities and standard certificates for all EU member states. Experts estimate that offenders keep 98% of the proceeds of criminal activities. The EP report estimates that criminal activities generate around 110 billion euros per year. A 2016 EUROPOL report shows that only 2.2% of the money generated by criminal activities has been frozen or confiscated. At present, regulations on cross-border asset confiscation within the EU contain major loopholes that criminals and terrorists take advantage of.




    SOPRANO – World-famous Spanish soprano Montserrat Caballé died on Saturday at the age of 85, in a hospital in Barcelona where she had been admitted a month ago, the BBC reports. With a career spanning 50 years, Montserrat Caballé performed on some of the worlds greatest stages, alongside such personalities as Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo. Together with Freddie Mercury she sang the hit Barcelona, which was the anthem of the 1992 Olympics hosted by the Spanish city.





    FINANCIAL – The Romanian Ministry for Finances has recently drawn 1.75 billion euros, through a Eurobond issue in international financial markets. The largest part of the bonds, amounting to 1.15 billion euros, has a 10-year maturity, and the remaining have 20-year maturity. According to Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici, the issue clearly reflects the positive international perception of the Romanian economys medium and long-term prospects. The strong demand and the quality of the investors confirm Romanias strengths, namely the sound macroeconomic foundation, coherent fiscal discipline and economic-financial stability. Teodorovici added that the Eurobond issue is designed to strengthen the State Treasurys foreign currency reserve and to minimise long term borrowing costs.



    HANDBALL – The Romanian side AHC Dobrogea Sud Constanţa Saturday defeated at home the Czech side Talent Robstav MAT Plzen, 28-21, in the first leg of the second preliminary round of the EHF Cup in mens handball. The second leg will be played in Constanta as well, on Sunday. On Friday, Romanias womens handball champions, CSM Bucharest, defeated at home, 36-31, the Hungarian team FTC Rail Cargo, in Group D of the new Champions League season. It is for the 4th consecutive time that CSM takes part in the leading continental competition. The first time, in 2016, the Romanian handballers won the Champions League trophy, and in the following editions they came out 3rd in the Final Four


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • October 6, 2018 UPDATE

    October 6, 2018 UPDATE

    REFERENDUM – Nearly 19 million Romanian voters are invited this weekend to vote on a proposed redefinition of the concept of family in the Constitution. The initiators aim to define “family as an institution based on the marriage of a man and a woman, rather than the marriage of spouses, as it is at present. According to data released by the Central Electoral Bureau 5.72% of the total number of eligible voters cast their ballots on Saturday, many of them in urban communities. Polls will reopen in the country on Sunday morning. By 21:00 local time, when polls closed in Romania, some 46,000 Romanians had also voted abroad. The Romanians living abroad can vote in 378 polls hosted by diplomatic missions, consular offices, cultural institutes and other locations. The largest number of polls abroad are in Italy, Spain, the Republic of Moldova, the USA, UK, France and Germany. The voting process abroad will conclude on the US West Coast and in Canada on Monday morning, according to Romanian time. The vote in the diaspora started on Friday night in Auckland, New Zealand. On the whole, the vote abroad will take 58 hours. Parliament has passed a bill rephrasing the Constitutional definition of marriage, based on a citizen initiative signed by 3 million people. The referendum will be validated provided that a 30% turnout rate is met and 25% of the eligible voters cast valid votes.



    LAW – The Speaker of the Senate of Romania Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu said on Saturday that he wants a consensus of all parliamentary parties with respect to the Offshore Bill. In the next 2 weeks, when the bill is to be once again discussed, we will have enough time to find the best solutions, Tariceanu also said. The so-called Offshore Bill, which sets out the rules for natural gas extraction in the Black Sea, was discussed on Wednesday in the Chamber of Deputies, which decided to send the text back to the specialised committees. The bill was originally passed in the previous parliamentary session, but President Klaus Iohannis returned it to Parliament for a review.



    EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT – The European Parliament has approved a report proposing new rules for freezing and confiscating the proceeds of crimes. The new regulation will allow for quicker and more efficient implementation of confiscation and asset freeze orders, as well as tighter deadlines for authorities and standard certificates for all EU member states. Experts estimate that offenders keep 98% of the proceeds of criminal activities. The EP report estimates that criminal activities generate around 110 billion euros per year. A 2016 EUROPOL report shows that only 2.2% of the money generated by criminal activities has been frozen or confiscated. At present, regulations on cross-border asset confiscation within the EU contain major loopholes that criminals and terrorists take advantage of.




    SOPRANO – World-famous Spanish soprano Montserrat Caballé died on Saturday at the age of 85, in a hospital in Barcelona where she had been admitted a month ago, the BBC reports. With a career spanning 50 years, Montserrat Caballé performed on some of the worlds greatest stages, alongside such personalities as Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo. Together with Freddie Mercury she sang the hit Barcelona, which was the anthem of the 1992 Olympics hosted by the Spanish city.





    FINANCIAL – The Romanian Ministry for Finances has recently drawn 1.75 billion euros, through a Eurobond issue in international financial markets. The largest part of the bonds, amounting to 1.15 billion euros, has a 10-year maturity, and the remaining have 20-year maturity. According to Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici, the issue clearly reflects the positive international perception of the Romanian economys medium and long-term prospects. The strong demand and the quality of the investors confirm Romanias strengths, namely the sound macroeconomic foundation, coherent fiscal discipline and economic-financial stability. Teodorovici added that the Eurobond issue is designed to strengthen the State Treasurys foreign currency reserve and to minimise long term borrowing costs.



    HANDBALL – The Romanian side AHC Dobrogea Sud Constanţa Saturday defeated at home the Czech side Talent Robstav MAT Plzen, 28-21, in the first leg of the second preliminary round of the EHF Cup in mens handball. The second leg will be played in Constanta as well, on Sunday. On Friday, Romanias womens handball champions, CSM Bucharest, defeated at home, 36-31, the Hungarian team FTC Rail Cargo, in Group D of the new Champions League season. It is for the 4th consecutive time that CSM takes part in the leading continental competition. The first time, in 2016, the Romanian handballers won the Champions League trophy, and in the following editions they came out 3rd in the Final Four


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • The Schoolbook Law, pending promulgation

    The Schoolbook Law, pending promulgation

    The draft Schoolbook Law was endorsed by the Senate of Romania, which is the decision-making parliamentary body in this field, and the document will be sent to the President for promulgation.



    The bill stipulates, among other things, that further to an assessment there will be 3 versions of the basic textbooks, and that the Education Ministry will be directly responsible for the quality of schoolbooks. Under the bill, as of 2020 each schoolbook will come in 4 formats: paper-based, digital, interactive, and a format for the visually impaired. Here is Liviu Pop, a Social Democrat Senator and chairman of the Education Committee:



    Liviu Pop: “The new law does 3 things. First, it makes the Ministry of Education responsible in case schoolbooks do not reach students in due time. Secondly, it ensures a maximum of 3 textbook options for each subject, or, in case there are no participants in the schoolbook tenders, entrusts the Ministry with putting together a particular textbook. And thirdly, it introduces a new element, namely the schoolbooks for the visually impaired, which has never been done before in the Romanian education system.



    The Opposition Senators criticised the draft, which, they say, will not ensure the quality of schoolbooks and will open the door for Education Ministry abuse. From the National Liberal Party, Senator Mario Oprea believes this law eliminates any kind of competition, and that the Ministry will have a monopoly on schoolbooks:



    Mario Oprea: “We are against the essence of this initiative, which has nothing to do with any principle in use in European countries. What we expected from this bill was principles on which a modern education system could be built. As we can already predict, the centralised publication of schoolbooks will be non-transparent, bordering on the unlawful, and running against everything that the multiple education reforms in post-1989 Romania have been aimed at. The National Liberal Party cannot agree with this kind of education system for Romania.



    Meanwhile, many teachers warn that the law will push the public education system 30 years back, forcing children to study the textbooks published by one publishing house alone, that of the Education Ministry. In turn, one of the best known textbook authors, Prof. Octavian Mandrut, has this year refused to submit a schoolbook draft, although children have been studying geography using his books for the past 20 years.



    2017 data indicate that the Romanian schoolbook market reaches about 60 million euros, but only 6 million euros come from the public budget, with the balance covered by parents. Experts say the textbooks and the curricula are a burden to students, who work more than the normal adult working hours, and are overloaded with information. In turn, at the end of each school year parents hope that the next year will no longer be fraught with uncertainties regarding their childrens schoolbooks, and that families will no longer have to pay for these books.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • December 19, 2017 UPDATE

    December 19, 2017 UPDATE

    LEGISLATION – The Senate of Romania Tuesday endorsed a bill modifying the statute of magistrates, in the absence of Opposition MPs. At the time of the vote, the MPs of the National Liberal Party, the Save Romania Union and the Peoples Movement Party left the hall, leaving only the Social Democrats, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats and the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania to cast their votes. Several amendments, previously turned down both by the Chamber of Deputies and the special parliamentary commission that analysed the bill, were passed by the Senate, at the proposal of the Social Democratic Party. The most important of them has to do with the concept of judicial error, which entails magistrates liability in case of fault or negligence. Prosecutors or judges having committed a judicial error will therefore be held liable. The Opposition announced it would take the text endorsed by the Senate to the Constitutional Court. Also on Tuesday, Romanian MPs continued debates on other major bills in a package designed to change the judicial framework, namely the bill on judicial organisation and the bill regulating the Higher Council of Magistrates. Meanwhile, hundreds of magistrates gathered in front of courts of justice around Romania, to protest the changes that the ruling coalition intend to operate on the justice laws in what they see as a less than transparent process.




    COMMEMORATION – Commemorative events continue in Timisoara, western Romania, to mark 28 years since the 1989 anti-communist revolution and in memory of those who lost their lives. Events will continue until December 20, Victory Day, when Timisoara will play host to a rock concert. Started out as a grassroots movement against the local authorities abusive decisions, the revolution spread quickly across the country, and led to the demise of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu on December 22. Over 1,000 people were killed and nearly 3,400 were wounded over December 16-25. Romania was the only country from the Soviet bloc where the anti-communist revolution ended in violence with the dictatorial couple being executed. Prosecutors with the Military Prosecutors Office on Monday said a military diversion was orchestrated on the night of December 22, which led to a massive loss of lives and destruction.




    BUDGET – The Romanian Parliament is debating the draft budget for 2018. Tuesdays session looked at the addendums, after the body of the text and its articles were adopted on Monday, together with the funds allotted to the main credit release authorities: the Presidency, the Senate, the Chamber of Deputies, and the Governments General Secretariat. A final vote has been scheduled for Thursday. Romanias budget for next year is based on an economic growth rate of 5.5%, an exchange rate of 4.55 lei against the euro, an average monthly income of €565 and a budget deficit of 2.97% of the GDP. The priorities for 2018 are healthcare, education and infrastructure. The right-wing opposition has criticized the Government, saying the budget projection is risky and will most likely increase public debt.




    SURVEY – Over 85% of businesspeople in Romania are against the transfer of social security contributions from employers to employees, reads a recent survey commissioned by the Council of SMEs. 60% of respondents said they encountered serious difficulties in implementing and negotiating the move starting January 1, 2018. Ovidiu Nicolescu, the honorary president of the Council of SMEs, has warned that many net salaries will drop. The survey was conducted over December 12-18 on a sample of 328 businesspeople.




    RwB – 65 journalists were killed in 2017 worldwide, of whom 50 professionals, 7 bloggers and 8 freelancers, reads the Reporters without Borders annual report, made public on Tuesday. According to the report, 2017 was the least deadly in the last 14 years, which is mostly due to a better protection of reporters, and the fact that most journalists have already fled countries located in hot zones across the globe. Same as last year, Syria ranks first in terms of the largest number of journalists killed (12), followed by Mexico (11), Afghanistan (9), Iraq (8) and the Philippines (4).


    (translated by: Vlad Palcu, Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • Controversial Law on the Penitentiary System

    Controversial Law on the Penitentiary System

    In April 2017, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) took action against Romania, signaling the overcrowding of detention centers and prisons across Romania. The Court recommended additional measures be taken by Romanian authorities in terms of logistics and criminal law, giving Romania a six-month time span to come up with a coherent plan to remedy the situation. Moreover, the ECHR decided to suspend the processing of all notifications that pointed to the inadequate detention conditions in Romania.



    Six months later, on October 19, the law on compensatory appeal took effect, stipulating that for every 30 days of served time inmates will get six days written off their sentences. According to the Justice Minister, Tudorel Toader, following the enactment of the law, some 530 people were released, and another 3,300 have a right to make parole.



    Minister Toader explained that the latter might address parole commission in prisons or make an appeal in court, and the judge will decide whether or not they will be released on parole. Inmates whove served their full sentence and whove filed complaints at the ECHR might be compensated by the state in the amount of 5 to 8 € for every day served in improper detention conditions. Minister Toader says the measure exists in other European states, as these particular inmates can no longer be pardoned.



    Tudorel Toader: “Some prisoners have served the entirety of their sentences and are now home, but their court cases are still pending at the ECHR. They are not eligible for the six-day writeoff, because they have already been released, so we should now compensate them. Im not the one who sets the value. I can give you a few examples: under a similar decision, Hungary set the compensation at 5 €/ day for improper detention conditions, and Italy at 8 €/day. The Court decided the amount is equitable, so the value we will set will be within that range.



    On the other hand, the Justice Minister hopes not to see crime escalate after the introduction of the new law. Tudorel Toader has met with the directors of Probation Offices in order to agree on the details linked to the surveillance and social integration of inmates once they are released.

  • September 26, 2017 UPDATE

    September 26, 2017 UPDATE

    FUNDS – European Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Cretu has approved investment of almost 200 million euros in fast railway connections in Romania, according to a release of the European Commission Office in Bucharest. Some 198.2 million euros from the European Regional Development Fund will be invested in the modernisation of the rail connection between the localities Coslariu and Simeria, in central Romania, thus allowing for trains to circulate at speeds of 120 to 160 km per hour.




    UKRAINE — The Romanian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday in a release that it regrets the fact that, in spite of steps taken by the Romanian authorities, who signalled the Ukrainian side that the new education law restricts significantly the rights of the Romanian minority in this country, President Petro Poroshenko has promulgated this law. Earlier of Tuesday Ukraine’s Ambassador to Romania, Oleksandr Bankov said that none of the schools in the language of national minorities would be closed down or their teachers fired but pointed out that the new education law provides for tuition exclusively in the Ukrainian language starting with the 5th grade. Parliament in Romania has unanimously adopted a statement calling for an immediate solution from Kiev, while president Iohannis has cancelled a visit he planned to Kiev in protest against the aforementioned law. The Education Ministers of Romania and Ukraine will hold talks so that the Romanian minority in Ukraine should have access to education in their mother tongue. The Romanian minority in Ukraine numbers almost half a million people.




    PARLIAMENT — MPs with the National Liberal Party (PNL) and the Save Romanian Union (USR) in opposition, filed a simple motion against the Transport Minister, the Social Democrat Razvan Cuc. The motion’s signatories, entitled Romania’s Transport Infrastructure Serves the Interests of the Social Democratic Party signal the bad management, lack of proffessionalism and the political influence at the Transport Ministry. They also argue that the recent budget revision halved the ministry’s funds and that major infrastructure projects such as the Sibiu-Pitesti, Transylvania and Targu Mures- Iasi-Ungheni motorways have long exceeded their deadline for completion. The simple motion will be discusssed in the Chamber of Deputies next Tuesday with a final vote to be held on Wednesday.




    CORRUPTION – The Romanian Senate’s Legal Committee on Tuesday rejected the request of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate (DNA) to start the prosecution of the Minister for the Relation with Parliament, Viorel Ilie. It is the Senate, however, that will have a final say on the matter. Minister Viorel Ilie, representing the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, together with three employees of the institution, is accused of having “arranged” a contest for hiring public servants on contractual positions. Another two top members of the Government, the deputy Prime Minister Sevil Shhaideh, who is also the Minister of Regional Development, and the Minister Delegate for European Funds Rovana Plumb, both members of the Social Democratic Party are being prosecuted for corruption.




    ROMANIANS IN THE UK — Romanians living and working in the UK will preserve their rights and liberties, Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu today told Radio Romania. Minister Melescanu discussed this topic with the British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson during the latter’s visit to Bucharest on Monday. The two officials also discussed about the new registry system for people who want to travel to the UK, which Minister Melescanu believes should not jeopardize the rights of people living, working or studying in the United Kingdom. In turn, Boris Johnson told AGERPRES news agency that Romanians in the UK should not be concerned about their future after Brexit, as they are valuable members of British society. Boris Johnson went on to say that the UK wants to keep the nearly half a million Romanians living in this country, wants to make them feel safe and to assure them that their rights are being protected.




    TRADE UNIONS — One of the largest trade union confederations in Romania, Cartel Alfa, is this week staging a series of protests in several cities across the country. The trade union requests all social security taxes to no longer be passed onto employees and wants to start negotiations over signing collective employment agreements at all levels. Trade unionists say transferring social security contributions to the employees will reduce their net income, liquidate the unemployment fund and lower contributions to the pension fund. The first protests were staged on Monday in several cities. According to Cartel Alfa, a large protest will be staged in Bucharest, on October 4.




    LAW ENFORCEMENT — Three Romanian police officers are taking part in an international effort to strengthen and develop the intervention capacity of the local law enforcement authorities in Georgia and Cyprus. Two officers are participating in the EU mission to Georgia and another one is part of the UN mission to Cyprus. The Romanian Police is carrying out crime prevention and combating activities jointly with the local authorities, providing humanitarian aid and taking part in missions aimed at keeping public order. So far 37 Romanian police officers are involved in 10 international missions on four continents under the coordination of the EU, the UN and the OSCE. The first mission they ever took part in was the one in Kosovo in 1998.


    (Translated by Elena Enache)



  • Bucharest condemns limitation of rights for Romanian ethnics in Ukraine

    Bucharest condemns limitation of rights for Romanian ethnics in Ukraine

    A unanimous vote in the Parliament of Romania is a rare occurrence. One such example was this Wednesday, when all the MPs attending a joint meeting of the Senate and Chamber of Deputies, without exception, endorsed a declaration expressing their disagreement with a new bill on education in neighbouring Ukraine.



    The controversial draft law, which only needs the signature of President Petro Poroshenko to take effect, drastically restricts the access to education for many ethnic minorities in that country. Under the bill, all high school and university classes are to be taught in Ukrainian, and mother tongue tuition is only allowed in kindergartens and primary education.



    Romanian MPs say they are monitoring these developments “with concern and the utmost attention, and call for prompt measures taken in good faith, in the spirit of cooperation and in strict compliance with the European standards in the field of national minority protection and with the relevant bilateral and multilateral agreements to which Ukraine is a party.



    The Parliament of Romania also wants proper protection of the linguistic, cultural and linguistic identity of the nearly half a million Romanian ethnics in the neighbouring country, most of them living in the territories annexed by the former Soviet Union under a 1940 ultimatum and taken over by Ukraine as a successor state.



    From the parliamentary majority, the Social Democratic Senator Titus Corlatean, a former foreign minister, says the way in which Ukraines Education Law is being modified is a major step back in Kievs European and democratic endeavour.



    Deputy Attila Korodi, from the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, also believes Ukraine is backing away from the fundamental principles of democracy, the rule of law and human rights guarantees. In turn, Senator Ion Hadarca from the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Romania warns that the Romanian ethnics in Ukraine risk losing their cultural identity.



    In the Opposition, the former president of the National Liberal Party Alina Gorghiu calls on the Government of Romania to find solutions to work with Kiev on the matter, and suggests that Romania should cover the costs of textbooks and teacher salaries for the Romanian children in Ukraine.



    According to Deputy Constantin Codreanu, a member of the Peoples Movement Party, Bucharest should demand that Ukraine reciprocate Romanias protection of ethnic minority rights. Also in the Opposition, Save Romania Party member Matei Dobrovie says that, since the annexation of Crimea, Ukraines squabbles with its neighbours have given Russia further pretexts to strengthen its military presence at the Black Sea.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)