The local elections campaign has officially begun in Romania
The campaign for the local elections due on 5th of June officially began in Romania on the 6th of May. This will be the first election test for political parties this year. The campaign ends on the 4th of June, and mayors will be elected in one round of voting. Competing are mainstream parties such as the Social Democratic Party, the National Liberal Party, the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, the National Union for the Progress of Romania and the People’s Movement Party, as well as newly created parties, given that under a new law regulating political parties, starting in 2015, a party may be created with only 3 members. This is the third time in Romania’s post-communist history that a technocratic government is organising the elections, after Theodor Stolojan’s government in 1991-1992 and Mugur Isarescu’s government in 1999-2000. The voting will be held at more than 18,000 polling stations. The country’s interior minister Petre Toba says preparations for the elections are on schedule.
The healthcare sector again in the spotlight.
Prime minister Dacian Ciolos has asked the health minister Patriciu Achimas Cadariu to find a solution as soon as possible to grant authorisation to a lab able to test the disinfectants used in hospitals, the government’s spokesman Dan Suciu has announced. He said it was the responsibility of the ministry and, implicitly, that of the government, to ensure the decent functioning of the Romanian healthcare system. Controls have been carried out in hospitals following revelations in the media that the disinfectants provided by the main supplier of disinfectants for Romanian hospitals have a significantly lower concentration than that indicated on the label. Checks conducted in 300 hospitals have shown, however, that in 95% of the cases the disinfectants used by doctors and nurses are efficient. The health minister has given assurances that patients are safe. In a report drawn up in 2014 by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, Romania was in the top position in a ranking measuring the resistance to treatment of the bacteria found in hospitals.
Romania has a new minister of culture.
Finding a solution to the situation at the Bucharest Opera and protecting the national heritage are two of the priorities of the new minister of culture, Corina Suteu. She also said she would continue dialogue with the independent sector and civil society and focus on public cultural institutions and on improving the legislation. Attending Suteu’s swearing-in ceremony, president Klaus Iohannis told the new minister that she was taking over the ministry at a difficult time and amid high expectations. Corina Suteu replaces Vlad Alexandrescu, who stepped down at the prime minister’s request following criticism over his handling of the scandal at the Opera, where three directors were replaced within just one month. Corina Suteu previously worked as a secretary of state in the ministry of culture and as a director of the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York.
Decisions within the Social Democratic Party.
The revocation of Valeriu Zgonea as speaker of the Chamber of Deputies has been postponed and will be discussed at the next sitting. Zgonea says the move is illegal and accuses the Social Democrats of wanting the position for their own personal and group interests. Valeriu Zgonea was earlier excluded from the Social Democratic Party soon after he criticised the party’s leader, Liviu Dragnea. The latter refused to resign from the party despite receiving a 2-year suspended sentence for election fraud committed during the 2012 referendum on the impeachment of president Traian Basescu.
The debt discharge law comes into effect on 13th of May.
President Klaus Iohannis has signed the debt discharge law, after previously sending it back to Parliament to be re-discussed. People who have taken out mortgage loans below 250,000 euros and who can prove they can no longer afford to pay their rates may ask the bank to take over their homes and write off their debts. Tens of thousands of Romanians have collected overdue rates on their mortgages and many are facing foreclosure, as have people who have taken out personal loans using their homes as collateral. According to figures released by the National Bank, there are currently 300,000 families who have taken out a mortgage loan. The debt discharge law does not apply to persons who have bought their homes using the First Home government scheme. Several banks have already increased the amount of the required down-payment for mortgage loans.
European commissioner Corina Cretu travels to Romania.
On a visit to Romania, the European Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Cretu has warned that Bucharest must step up its absorption of European funds, given that not a single euro of the money allocated for 2014-2020 period has been spent. The commissioner is also concerned about the absorption of cohesion funds allocated to Romanian cities, whose absorption deadline has been extended by June. This is the first time in the history of the European Union that some of its budget will be managed by the cities themselves, said Corina Cretu. According to the deputy Prime Minister Vasile Dancu, the government is working on the simplification of procedures for the absorption of European funds, saying Romania’s absorption rate may skyrocket in the coming years.
