Radio România Internațional

Tag: meat

Lower prices for basic food stuffs

Romania is one of the European countries which has this
year put a cap on some basic food stuffs. An emergency ordinance came into
effect on August 1st to enforce a temporary measure of fighting
price hikes in some farm and food products. The ordinance, which is valid for
three months, is focusing on capping prices in several food products such as
bread, milk, meat, vegetables, fruit with a view to boosting the population’s
purchasing power.

The discount, which had been previously discussed with
processors, distributors and traders, was initially envisaged for 14 products.
According to data released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural
Development, a survey on prices in supermarkets shows that significant price
cuts are registered in several products such as, bread, edible oil, potatoes,
cheese, maize, flour and sugar

Agriculture minister Florin Barbu has recently said the ordinance on capping the
trade markup will be extended. Barbu added that funding is presently available
for projects both in the field of processing and the producers’ energy
independence.

Food and farm products
in Romania have a VAT of 9%. Producers aren’t going to lose because the VAT on
production expenses is higher, as there is going to be compensation the
minister went on to say.

The Ministry’s project
points out to the government’s summer decision, which had a positive impact,
explaining why an expansion is needed in the upcoming cold season, with higher household
expenses and consumption during the winter holidays.

According to Prime
Minister Ciolacu, the cap on food prices contributed to bringing inflation
under 9% last month. The new ordinance should be endorsed by the end of this
month when the former provisions are going to expire.

Seven food categories
should be added on the list of those with a provisionally capped trade markup.

With the expanded period
of three months by the end of January 2024, of the 14 capped prices, other food
products will be added such as pound cake, tomato sauce, some types of light
sour cream, margarine and yeast. According to the authorities, the decision to
add more subsidized products to the list has been made jointly with processors
and retailers. Failure to comply with the provisions of the aforementioned
ordinance is considered offence and punishable with fines between 100 thousand
to 2 million RON.

(bill)

23 October 2023
Cetățenii români pot sesiza problemele Wizz Air pe site-ul Centrului European al Consumatorilor

Cetăţenii români pot depune sesizări pe site-ul Centrului European al Consumatorilor România pentru rezolvarea problemelor cu compania aeriană Wizz Air, a anunţat joi Ministerul Economiei, Antreprenoriatului şi Turismului (MEAT). ‘Acest site este pus la dispoziţia consumatorilor români de Uniunea Europenă, pentru rezolvarea problemelor şi recuperarea prejudiciilor. Este important de reţinut că Protecţia Consumatorului – ANPC nu poate interveni şi nu poate aplica amenzi în acest caz, deoarece Wizz Air nu are reprezentanţă în România‘, se menţionează într-un comunicat postat pe pagina de Facebook a Ministerului Economiei (Facebook.com/Economie.gov.ro). Conform sursei citate, cetăţenii români pot sesiza Centrul European al Consumatorilor România atunci când întâmpină probleme cu un produs sau un serviciu achiziţionat dintr-un alt stat european, vor să ştie ce drepturi au în timpul unor călătorii în alt stat european şi vor să depună o plângere împotriva unei companii europene, în vederea soluţionării problemelor.

Ministrul Economiei, Ştefan-Radu Oprea, a discutat la finalul lunii trecute, în marja reuniunii informale a miniştrilor responsabili de competitivitate, cu Didier Reynders, comisarul european pentru Justiţie, cu atribuţii privind protecţia consumatorului, despre o serie de subiecte de interes pentru ţara noastră, printre care şi întârzierile sau anulările de zboruri ale companiei aeriene Wizz Air. Astfel, ministrul Ştefan-Radu Oprea şi-a manifestat îngrijorarea cu privire la problemele pe care compania aeriană Wizz Air le are în România, în ultima vreme multe dintre zborurile acesteia având întârzieri foarte mari sau fiind anulate în ultimul moment, ceea ce a dus la nemulţumiri şi plângeri din partea clienţilor.

3 August 2023
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 12^th 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 4^th 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)

11 December 2019
Vintage Recipes

The city of Fagaras played host recently to an event occasioned by the discovery of a 17th century cookbook sponsored by a Hungarian noblewoman who ruled Transylvania between 1663 and 1688. The festival called Medieval Cuisine is dedicated to cooking old fashioned dishes. The book is one of several published in the 18th and 19th centuries, allowing us to have a glimpse of what was served at feasts held by noble families.

One such book is structured in four sections, dedicated to the four seasons of the year. In this edition of the Cooking Show we present a menu for a party of ten, as presented in that book. We start with pork soup with egg yolk and sour cream. You need a kilogram of pork, a few onions and a few carrots, a few parsnips and a bunch of parsley, two eggs, sour cream, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Cube the meat, boil it with the chopped vegetables, then add salt to taste. Mix well the egg yolks with the sour cream, then gradually mix in the broth to avoid curdling. Add the resulting mixture to the soup, then use lemon juice or vinegar as a souring agent.

The main dish is beef cooked venison style. Take about twenty boneless beef steaks, half a liter of vinegar and one liter of water, three or four onions, about 30 peppercorns and about 15 allspice berries, 5 bay leaves, a few tablespoons of sour cream, and a few tablespoons of flour. Bring to a boil the water and vinegar, with the sliced onion, and the spices. After cooling, use the liquid to cover the beef.

Leave for three days, turning the meat over once or twice a day. On the third day, fry the steaks in lard, then cover with beef broth. Simmer for about two hours. In the meantime, in a separate, smaller saucepan make a sauce out of melted lard and flour, to which you then add a few tablespoons of broth and a tablespoon of sugar. Put in a bit of sour cream, then pour over the steaks. Use plain boiled peas and carrots as a side dish.

1 October 2017