Radio România Internațional

Tag: parliament

January 29, 2024

PARLIAMENT This week sees the start of this
year’s first parliamentary session in Romania, marked by a special election
context in which Romanian citizens are expected to take part in 4 types of
elections-for the European Parliament, for the national parliament, as well as
presidential and local elections. The Senate’s agenda includes, among others,
emergency orders concerning the farmers and carriers who have been protesting
across the country. The Chamber of Deputies has a number of bills pending
endorsement, including legislation concerning drug trafficking and gambling. This
weekend the justice minister Alina Gorghiu said 3 bills have been submitted to
Parliament, which are aimed at curbing drug trafficking. They concern the
set-up of a national drug trafficking register and of regional rehab centres, while
the so-called 2 Mai Bill eliminates suspended sentences for drug trafficking
and increases penalties to up to 10 years in prison. Other bills pending
approval introduce 10-year driving bans for DUI, and healthcare and
psychological assistance for people found in possession of illegal drugs.

ECONOMY An International
Monetary Fund mission headed by Jan Kees Martijn arrives
in Bucharest today to review the latest economic and financial developments.
This is a regular consultation based on Romania’s relation with the IMF, and it
comes 4 months after the previous visit. The IMF expects a budget deficit of 6%
of GDP and an economic growth rate of 2.3% this year. IMF experts also
recommend a number of additional reforms, and in the previous assessment visit
they mentioned the scrapping of the remaining exemptions, privileges and
loopholes, a more efficient VAT implementation, a reformed property tax system,
and the use of fiscal policies in order to promote efficient energy and the
clean energy transition. Romania has no ongoing agreements with the IMF at
present.

BRANCUSI Some 100 works were included in the largest
exhibition in 50 years in Romania devoted to the sculptor Constantin Brâncuși.
Opened in late September in western Romania as part the Timişoara – European
Capital of Culture, the exhibition came to an end on Sunday night. Sculptures,
photographs, arhive documents and footage were on display in Timişoara’s National
Art Museum. To mark the end of the exhibition, the National Bank of Romania
launched a commemorative silver coin honouring the sculptor Constantin Brâncuşi.

PROTESTS The French farmers’ protests have
reached a new stage today, with major roadways into Paris and other large
cities to be blocked indefinitely as of today. The main trade union in the sector threatened
large-scale operations, including a complete obstruction of food supply flows
to the capital city’s supermarkets, so that the locals may feel the effects of
the protests. According to Radio Romania’s correspondent in Paris, the plan
includes the use of tractors to shut down motorways and slow down traffic. Similar
steps are also planned for France’s second-largest city, Lyon. Farmers protest the
inadequate payments for their produce, the red tape and the competition coming
from cheap imports. In a move to address the situation, PM Gabriel Attal admitted
that a first set of measures, announced on Friday, was insufficient and
promised new decisions to increase farmer revenues would be made this week.

MIDDLE EAST Iran denies involvement in
Sunday’s drone attack on a US military base in north-eastern Jordan, near the
Syrian and Iraqi borders, in which 3 US troops were killed. The Islamic
resistance in Iraq claimed responsibility for the attack, and the US president
Joe Biden said these are groups known to be supported by Iran. Biden warned
that the US would respond to the attack. These are the first US troops killed
in the Middle East since the start of the war in Gaza, prompting fears of an
extended conflict in the region. Meanwhile, Paris hosted a meeting of officials
from the US, Egypt, Qatar and Israel, aimed at brokering a new ceasefire in Gaza
and the release of the hostages taken by Hamas. Negotiations will continue this
week. Violence continues in Gaza, and locals say Israeli air raids and shelling
have increased in recent days in the region’s north and centre. According to
the Israeli Army, its troops are involved in heavy fighting in the south, in Khan
Younis, where they have taken out a number of terrorists. The humanitarian
crisis is worsening, and UN calls on nations to resume their donations. (AMP)

29 January 2024
January 8, 2024 UPDATE

LAWS Parliament
is due to convene for a new session in Bucharest on February 1. Until then, the
Romanian MPs are working on new bills, focusing, among other things,
on regulating gambling and curbing drug consumption. The new legislation
includes several measures such as the relocation of casinos and betting houses
outside towns and cities, limiting gambling commercials and banning gambling
ads near schools, parks or hospitals. According to the authors of the bills,
some of them introduced as early as in 2022, the amendments come in the context
of the latest expert warnings on the
younger generation’s alarmingly growing addiction to gambling and drug consumption
as well as their vulnerability to various advertising campaigns. Drug
trafficking is punished with up to 10-year prison sentences. Other draft laws ban
minors’ access to energy drinks and restrict commercials to vaping products and
accessories.

INVESTMENTS
According to data released by the National Institute for Statistics, in the
first nine months of 2023 Romania’s construction sector reported over RON 74
billion worth of investment, which accounts for 62.6% out of the total
investment in the country’s economy. In the same period, investments in
Romania’s national economy stood at roughly RON 118.5 billion, a 14.4% rise as
compared to the period between January and September 2022.

CYBER SECURITY A
new EU Cyber Security Regulation has taken effect in the EU, introducing a
minimal set of measures for public institutions in EU member countries to
protect themselves from online attacks. In Romania, just like in most EU
countries, the number of cyber-attacks from Russia has increased since the
start of the war in Ukraine. Under the Regulation, an EU Cyber Security Board
will also be set up, which will monitor the implementation of security
measures. Member state institutions are to initiate a security enhancement
process this year and to introduce protocols to manage information networks. Under
the Orange Business Internet Security Report, 31% of the attacks against
Romania targeted the energy sector, 22% transports and 19% the governmental and
public services sector. The attacks caused losses of billions of US dollars,
and the institutions targeted in the past 2 years include the National Cyber
Security Directorate, the Defence Ministry, the Border Police and the Passenger
Railway Corporation (CFR).

SCHOOLS Students
resumed classes on Monday in the third module of the academic year in
Romania. The next school holiday is to be decided by county inspectorates and
most likely will kick off on February 19th. In another development, against the
background of a new wave of respiratory infections, medical authorities are
urging parents not to send their children to school if they show any symptoms
of a respiratory disease.

TENNIS Romanian
tennis player Ana Bogdan on Monday qualified for the round of sixteen of the
WTA 500 tournament in Adelaide, Australia with over 900 thousand dollars in
prize money. The Romanian secured a 6-3, 6-4 win against Katie Boulter of
Britain. Also on Monday the all-Romanian pair Ana Bogdan/Monica Niculescu was
defeated by the US-Dutch pair Asia Muhammad/Demi Schuurs 7-6, 6-4 in the
doubles first round. (AMP, bill)

8 January 2024
January 8, 2024

LAWS Parliament is due to
convene for a new session in Bucharest on February 1. Until then, the Romanian
MPs are working on a couple of new legislative initiatives focusing, among
other things, on regulating gambling activities and curbing drug consumption.
The new amendments include several measures such as the relocation of casinos
and betting houses outside towns and cities, limiting gambling commercials and
banning these commercials near schools, parks or hospitals. According to the
initiators of the aforementioned bills, some of them introduced as early as
2022, the amendments come against the background of the latest expert warnings
on the younger generation’s alarmingly growing addiction to gambling and drug consumption
as well as their vulnerability to various advertising campaigns in the field.
Drug trafficking is punishable with up to 10-year jail sentences. Other draft
laws include the measure of banning the minors’ access to energy drinks and
limiting commercials to vape products and accessories.

TENNIS Romanian tennis
player Ana Bogdan on Monday qualified for the round of sixteen of the WTA 500
tournament in Adelaide, Australia with over 900 thousand dollars in prize
money. The Romanian secured a 6-3, 6-4 win against Katie Boulter of Britain.
Also on Monday the all-Romanian pair Ana Bogdan/Monica Niculescu was defeated
by the US-Dutch pair Asia Muhammad/Demi Schuurs 7-6, 6-4 in the doubles first
round.

INVESTMENT
According to data released by the National Institute for Statistics, in the first
nine months of 2023, Romania’s construction sector reported over 74 billion lei
worth of investment, which accounts for 62.6% out of the total investment in
the country’s economy. In the aforementioned period, investment in Romania’s
national economy stood at roughly 118.5 billion lei, a 14.4% rise as compared
to the period between January and September 2022.

SCHOOL Students have today
resumed classes in the third module of the school year here in Romania. The
next students’ holiday is to be decided by county inspectorates and most likely
will kick off on February 19th. In another development, against the
background of a new wave of respiratory infections, medical authorities are
urging parents not to send their children to school if they show any symptom of
a respiratory disease.

WEATHER The weather
gets cooler and cooler in almost all the Romanian regions and even snowfalls have
been reported in the mountains and some eastern regions. The snow layer is
expected to reach over 15-20 centimeters in the country’s north-eastern regions.
Mixed precipitations have been reported in the center, south and south-east and
the wind will intensify in Romania’s eastern and south-eastern regions. The
highs of the day are ranging between -7 and + 7 degrees Celsius.

(bill)

8 January 2024
Romania’s Parliament has endorsed the 2024 budget

The ruling Social-Liberal coalition in Romania has imposed its viewpoint and the budget it proposed has been endorsed by the Legislature. The move was preceded by three days of heated debates, often teetering on the brink of indecency. Responsible for the situation were again the representatives of the radical-nationalist and populist group the Alliance for the Union of Romanians, also known as AUR, and which has generally been described by the press and the other parties as belonging to the extremist wing.

The AUR eventually refused to cast their vote disgruntled with the rejection of their amendments to the daft budget. According to the initiator, the PSD-PNL Executive, the budget, which has been designed on a 3.4% economic growth and a 5% deficit, is investment oriented and based on a concrete plan of budget expenses and a measure package aimed at improving tax collection and effectively fighting tax evasion.

This budget is for Romanians, the Social-Democratic Prime Minister, Marcel Ciolacu said after endorsement.

Marcel Ciolacu: “This is not a budget for politicians, but a budget for development. We are covering investments, which are higher than consumption this year as well. And last but not least, taxes arent going to increase next year.”

The Prime Minister has rejected the allegation of an overrated budget and pledged over 80 thousand new jobs and 5% pay rises in the public sector. Furthermore, the Executive will accomplish all objectives assumed, including the digitization of the National Agency of Fiscal Administration, the Prime Minister pledges.

The opposition Save Romania Union (USR) has lashed out at the new budget, which they deemed as unrealistic and cast a nay vote. Here is USR president Catalin Drula

Cătălin Drulă: “Its the second year in a row when you come up with a budget based on overrated incomes and underrated expenses. A gap of at least 8 billion euros and a budget deficit of 130 billion lei – these are the budget coordinates you proposed to Parliament.

The Liberal MP Florin Roman retorted: “Thats another lie. They say there is no money for investment and we have over 7.1-7.2 % of the GDP for investment. We have the National Liberal Programme Anghel Saligny. The privately administered second pension pillar is growing and nobody is going to touch it.”

Several thousands amendments have been proposed to the new budget and a few have been endorsed. Some have been proposed by the power and others by the opposition and they will be funded through the redistribution of funds.

The social security budget proposed by the government has also got Parliament support. Among other things, it provides for pension raises as of January 1st according to the inflation rate of 13.8% and other pension raises to be applied in September, under the new pension law.

(bill)

21 December 2023
November 29, 2023

PENSIONS Romania’s former MPs may keep their special
pensions, and Parliament is only allowed to eliminate these benefits in the
future, the Constitutional Court ruled unanimously on Tuesday. On June 26,
Parliament voted in favour of scrapping special pensions for Senators and Deputies,
an obligation undertaken by Romania under its National Recovery and Resilience
Plan. Close to 850 former MPs benefited from special pensions in May this year.

INVESTIGATION The Senate of
Romania is to decide on Wednesday whether to approve the request of the
National Anti-Corruption Directorate to commence prosecution against the former
PM Florin Cîţu for complicity to abuse of office in an investigation
concerning the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines. Florin Cîţu said he would
request his fellow Liberal Party members to lift his parliamentary immunity. Previously,
president Klaus Iohannis forwarded to the Justice Ministry the prosecution
requests concerning 2 former health ministers from Save Romania Union, Vlad
Voiculescu and Ioana Mihăilă, and notified the General Prosecutor’s Office in
this respect. The 2 are probed into for abuse of office in relation to the
procurement of vaccines.

CORRUPTION The mayor of the city of Baia Mare (north-west),
Cătălin Cherecheş, who fled the country after being sentenced to 5
years in prison in a corruption case, was apprehended in Germany, the Romanian
Police announced. He was identified and taken into custody by the police in Bavaria based on the information provided by the Romanian
authorities. Sources close to the investigation say the former mayor was aided
by an aunt and was attempting to leave Germany when he was caught. Cherecheş
had left the country on Friday, using the ID of a family member, and the procedures
for returning him to the country are under way.

NATURAL GAS Europe
has taken major steps in terms of preparations for winter. Following the energy
crisis in the post-pandemic period and the start of the Russian invasion in
Ukraine, EU member states have replaced Russian natural gas with liquefied gas
from the US and natural gas from Norway, and have unprecedented stocks. Reuters
reports that in mid-November oil stocks were 12 million barrels above the season
average of the past 10 years. Natural gas stocks are also at record-high
levels, after consumption in the industrial sector dropped by around 13%. Average
prices, adjusted to inflation, were around EUR 48 per megawatt hour, down from
EUR 223 in August 2022, and analysts expect the downward trend will continue
next year. Bucharest says Romania will not have problems with the supply of
natural gas if temperatures remain normal this winter. The Romanian energy
minister Sebastin Burduja said all gas storage facilities are full and the
government has emergency supply plans in place if necessary.

NATO The Romanian
diplomacy chief Luminita Odobescu takes part in a 2-day meeting of NATO foreign
ministers, held in Brussels. The meeting takes place in a complicated security
context, with
an impact on multiple geographic areas of interest, including the continuing
Russian aggression against Ukraine, the military conflict between Israel and
Hamas and tensions in the Western Balkans. The meeting also has special
political importance in terms of the preparations for the 2024 Summit in
Washington. Luminita Odobescu will highlight the strategic importance of the
Black Sea for the Euro-Atlantic security and will plead for a more structured
approach to the region, in line with the decisions taken by NATO in Madrid and
Vilnius. The NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg hailed Germany’s boosting
its support for Ukraine by EUR 8 bln and the additional EUR 2 bln provided by
the Netherlands. He also mentioned the set-up of a training centre for Ukrainian
F-16 aircraft pilots. (AMP)

29 November 2023
November 21, 2023

VISIT The president of Romania Klaus Iohannis today starts an official visit to Senegal, the last stage of his African tour. The agenda includes, among other things, a visit to the Senegalese association for the protection of children with mental disabilities, based in Dakar, a visit to the UNESCO Heritage-listed island of Gorée on Wednesday, and official talks with Senegals president Macky Sall on Thursday. President Iohannis African tour also included visits to Kenya, Tanzania and Cabo Verde.

BUDGET The leaders of the Social Democratic Party and of the National Liberal Party in Romanias ruling coalition are holding talks today on the 2024 state budget law, which should be endorsed by December 10. According to government sources, the PM Marcel Ciolacu intends to adjust the method of earmarking ministry budgets, with appropriations granted based on programmes and projects. The participants will also discuss the replacement of the directors of agencies subordinated to the finance ministry, except for the Fiscal Administration Agency, and the reorganisation of these agencies in order to improve their operation. Also today, a meeting is scheduled between government officials, trade unions and employers associations. The head of the Romanian SME Association, Florin Jianu, says unions are expected to demand an increase of minimum wages as of January 1, 2024, but he says the business environment is unable to cope with a new increase after the one operated in October.

ISRAEL The Senate and Chamber of Deputies are holding a secret meeting today, focusing on recent developments and the situation in Israel. The joint meeting was suggested by the MP representing the Jewish community in Romania, Silviu Vexler. Journalists are denied access to the meeting, and audio and video recording or live posts are prohibited.

FAIR The Gaudeamus International Book Fair, organised by Radio Romania, begins in Bucharest on Wednesday. The event marks 95 years since the first broadcast of Radio Romania, 30 editions of the Gaudeamus Book Fair in Bucharest and over 140 national and local editions. Some 200 participants will organise more than 500 events as part of this years fair, which will come to an end on November 26. (AMP)

21 November 2023
Pensions and social assistance, reviewed in Parliament

A new pensions law will be discussed and voted on this week in the 2 chambers of Romanias Parliament. The document was recently passed by the government, after heated talks between the Liberals and the Social Democrats concerning the impact of the new legislation on the budget in the years to come.

The bill provides for two pension increases, one on January 1 and the other one on September 1, next year.

The law is stable and sustainable, based on respect for lifetime contributions and for work, and the new rules for calculating pension benefits will lead to cancelling current inequities, the labour minister Simona Bucura-Oprescu says:

Simona Bucura-Oprescu: “The new calculation method will lead to major changes. First of all, there will no longer be inequities between Romanians who have done the same work, but retired at different moments. Secondly, we reduce the inequities between men and women. And thirdly, an important injustice that will be tackled is the one concerning the social minimum allowance.”

The government would like the bill rushed through Parliament by November 20, and taking effect on January 1, 2024. The labour and social solidarity minister, Simona Bucura-Oprescu:

Simona Bucura-Oprescu: “We want it finalised by November 20, so as to meet the deadline agreed on with the committee renegotiating the National Recovery and Resilience Plan; the renegotiation concerns, among other things, the 9.4% GDP impact parameter, which would have led to freezing Romanians pension benefits until 2070.”

AUR party in opposition argues that the new legislation benefits people with big pensions. Marius Lulea, AUR senior vice-president:

Marius Lulea: “Romania needs fair pensions, it needs to raise the benefits for the underprivileged categories, but the reform they are aiming at is not a reform that addresses inequities, but rather one that makes poor Romanians even poorer and the rich, the ones who already have privileges, even richer”.

Another legislative package, on the reform of the social assistance system, adopted last week by the Cabinet, has also reached Parliament. The new law will no longer allow the operation of a social assistance centre before on-site inspections, and reduces the duration of provisional permits from one year to 3 months for centres with accommodation facilities and to 6 months for those without accommodation. The new legislation also introduces unannounced inspections, and in case violations are found, the permit will be suspended a lot more quickly.

According to the labour ministry, fines are also increased up to 5 times, to EUR 20,000, in case of abuse. The new provisions come after serious irregularities were uncovered this year following inspections in senior centres in Ilfov County, near Bucharest. Subsequently, centres operating illegally and exploitation and abuse cases instead of specialised care were also identified in other parts of the country. (AMP)

13 November 2023
October 29, 2023 UPDATE

PARLIAMENT The Chamber of Deputies will discuss on
Monday the simple motion tabled by Save Romania Union and the Force of the
Right, in opposition in Romania, against the finance minister Marcel Boloş. The
Opposition argues that the enforcement of the new fiscal measures for which the
Government has taken responsibility before Parliament, will lead to tax
increases. The USR MP Claudiu Năsui says the Liberal finance minister chose to
triple taxes instead of cutting special pensions and to levy taxes on turnover,
which he believes will have countless negative effects on companies and
ultimately on consumers. The Chamber will vote on the motion on Tuesday. Also
early this week, the Senate will vote on a government emergency order
regulating the gambling sector. The document, which introduces an additional
tax for companies in the sector, has been passed by specialist committees. The
Senate is also to discuss a bill tabled by the Social Democratic MP Alfred
Simonis and banning the sale of electronic cigarettes and similar tobacco
products to minors.

SCHENGEN The Romanian MEP Eugen Tomac, the leader of the People’s
Movement Party, announced plans to appeal the EU Tribunal ruling dismissing his
claims regarding Austria’s alleged abuse of power with respect to Romania’s
Schengen accession. He said he would take the matter to the Court of Justice of
the European Union, and voiced hopes that the judges would approach the issue in
a more complex and more detailed manner, in line with the EU treaties and the
Schengen agreements. Moreover, Tomac said, Bucharest can only overcome the situation
by means of this appeal, in which the Romanian government would be a privileged
applicant. Austria opposes the Schengen accession of Romania and Bulgaria,
arguing that the 2 countries are on the EU illegal migration route, an
allegation disputed by the Romanian authorities and European institutions.
Vienna also believes the Schengen area as it is at present is ineffective and
said it would oppose any enlargement project.

VISIT
The European Commission vice-president for Values and Transparency, Věra
Jourová, will be on an official visit to Romania on Monday, when she will have
meetings with president Klaus Iohannis, PM Marcel Ciolacu and other Cabinet
members. According to the European Commission, the EU official will discuss the
rule of law and reforms in the judiciary, Romania’s goals in the digital
decade, the digitisation projects included in the National Recovery and
Resilience Plan, as well as AI and fighting disinformation.

ISRAEL
The president of France, Emmanuel Macron, and the British
PM Rishi Sunak emphasised, in a phone discussion on Sunday, the need for urgent
humanitarian support in Gaza Strip, after Israel announced stepping up its
military response to the Hamas attack of October 7. In turn, the US security
adviser called on the troops entering Gaza to make a distinction between
civilians and the Hamas terrorists, who are legitimate targets. Israel
announced that in the coming days it would allow a significant increase in aid
for the civilians in Gaza. The Israeli defence ministry asked Palestinian
civilians to move towards the south, to an area designated as humanitarian, where
aid will be delivered under a joint mechanism created by the US, Egypt and the
UN. Two aid convoys with foodstuffs, water and medicines entered the Rafah
terminal on Saturday night and Sunday morning. The UN secretary general,
Antonio Guterres, voiced his surprise at the escalation of Israel’s military
attack on the Gaza Strip after the UN General Assembly issued a resolution
calling for immediate humanitarian ceasefire. Meanwhile, pro-Palestinian
rallies were organised on Sunday as well in many cities in the world.

PEACE
The president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, attending a meeting in Malta,
called for a global model based on his 10-point plan for peace with Russia, Reuters
reports. An official list of the participants in the meeting is not yet
available, but attending were officials for European, South-American, Arab,
African and Asian countries. The plan includes clauses concerning the
restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, the pull-out of Russian troops,
protection of food and energy supplies, nuclear security and the release of all
prisoners. The co-chairs of the meeting, Ukraine and Malta, issued a joint
declaration that mentions the participants’ commitment to just and sustainable
peace, based on the UN Charter. The parties will take steps to arrange for a
possible peace summit at a later date.

GOVERNMENT PM Marcel Ciolacu announced that preparations have
started for drafting the 2024 public budget. The government will analyse the projects
and programmes that went well, as well as the investment applications for next
year. On the other hand, the PM dismissed the idea of other fiscal changes in
addition to the ones for which his Cabinet has taken responsibility before
Parliament. The law on measures to ensure Romania’s long-term financial
sustainability, promulgated by presidentKlaus Iohannis on Thursday, introduces new taxes and tax raises and cuts off tax facilities. Some
of the measures take effect on November 1, while the others will be enforced as
of January 1. Marcel Ciolacu also estimated that the new pensions law will be
endorsed in Parliament by the end of next month and will take effect on January
1, 2024. (AMP)

29 October 2023
The priorities of the second parliamentary session

The Romanian Senate and Chamber of Deputies on Monday began the second ordinary parliamentary session of the year. According to the Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, the leader of the Social Democratic Party, the priorities include, besides the government’s taking responsibility before Parliament for a legislative package aimed at fiscal changes and administrative reform, a new pension law and tougher punishments for drivers under the influence of alcohol or drugs:

Marcel Ciolacu: “We know that there are many inequities in the old pension law. We continue to have in Romania pensions of 1,500 lei (almost 300 Euros), and also of 30-40,000 lei (that is 6 – 8,000 Euros). I have also discussed with my colleagues about the package that will be included in a single law, the law on assuming responsibility, which includes measures for combating evasion, for reforms in the local administration, as well as measures to accommodate a smaller deficit than last year”.

Moreover, the Prime Minister tried, the other day, in Brussels, to convince the European Commission of the capacity of the Romanian government to respect a new budget deficit target this year, higher as compared to the one assumed by Romania, of 4.4%, to cover the aid that Bucharest granted to neighboring Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova. The National Recovery and Resilience Plan – PNNRand special pensions were also at the center of recent negotiations. The governing partners of the Social Democrats, the Liberals, announced that a new pension law, which would solve the inequities in the system, represents a priority. For the moment, however, the document regarding the reform of special pensions has been declared partially unconstitutional by the judges of the Constitutional Court of Romania, even if the changes made to special pensions represent a requirement under the PNRR.

On the other hand, the opposition announces a censure motion if the package of fiscal-budgetary measures is adopted by the government’s taking responsibility for it before Parliament. The Save Romania Union leader, Cătălin Drulă, believes that an increase in fees and taxes is not a viable solution.

Cătălin Drulă: “Ciolacu is preparing to bury Romanias economy! He has already slowed economic growth, businesses are complaining, there are no more orders, sales are decreasing and they want to increase taxes and drive investors away from Romania. Why? To pay the bill for the budget fraud”.

However, Marcel Ciolacu gave assurances in Brussels that Romania is a credible and responsible and above all a fair partner, both of the Council, the Commission and the European Parliament. The Romanian government experts continue to discuss with European officials about the renegotiation of the PNRR, taking into account the principles established by the prime minister at the meetings he had in Brussels. After the European Commission sees the reforms that the government is making, it will propose to the European Council a renegotiation of the value of the budget deficit, which will allow Bucharest to obtain a higher deficit. A decision on the new percentage could be made by the end of the year. (LS)

4 September 2023
July 10, 2023 UPDATE

Abuse – The Romanian authorities have announced checks at childrens homes, care homes for the elderly and the people with disabilities around the country. The prime minister Marcel Ciolacu said all their permits would be analyzed again. He also called for those guilty of abuse to be punished and underlined that the social care system needs to be changed. His statement comes after the organized crime body began an investigation at three social care centers in Voluntari and Afumaţi near Bucharest for the inhumane treatment to which residents were subjected by the staff.

Healthcare – The employees of the health insurance houses around Romania on Monday stopped working for two hours in protest against their low salaries compared to their responsibilities and amount of work and against the drastic cuts in personnel nationwide. One of their trade union leaders said employees are no longer motivated to work, are flooded with assignments and salaries havent increased since 2017. The national healthcare system ensures treatment for two million seriously ill people and the budget managed by the National Health Insurance House amounts to almost 11 million Euros, the largest in the public system in Romania. Despite this, 1,200 jobs have been cut in this sector in the last two years.

Parliament — Romania’s Parliament met Monday in an extraordinary session to declare the position of director of the Romanian Intelligence Service – SRI vacant. The procedure is necessary after the head of the institution, Eduard Hellvig, resigned at the beginning of last week. He spent eight years at the head of the Service, during which he has achieved his goals, as he believes. Currently, the leadership of the SRI is ensured by Hellvig’s first deputy, general Răzvan Ionescu. On 27 January 2015, Hellvig replaced George Maior, who resigned in turn. The Director of the Romanian Intelligence Service is appointed by the President of Romania, approved by the control committees in the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies and voted in Parliament in a plenary session.

Summit — Romania’s president, Klaus Iohannis, will participate, on Tuesday and Wednesday, in the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania. He will reiterate his support for Ukraine, including in relation to Ukraine’s accession to the Alliance, as well as for the most vulnerable partners, especially the Republic of Moldova. Ukraine is, actually, the main topic on the agenda of the meeting in Vilnius. The alliance will offer additional commitments, both at political and practical levels. Also, the NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced that he expected most of the allies to announce a commitment to increase defense budgets to over 2% of the GDP starting in 2024. Already 11 member states have fulfilled the commitment this year, including Romania. (….) On Monday, the Turkish leader, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan conditioned Swedens entry into NATO on the reopening of negotiations for Turkeys accession to the EU. He continues to criticize Sweden for its alleged leniency towards the Kurdish militants who have taken refuge on its territory. Turkey is the last NATO country, along with Hungary, to oppose Swedens accession, despite measures taken by the Scandinavian country, including a reform of its Constitution and the adoption of a new anti-terrorism law. Also on Monday, the US President, Joe Biden, paid a short visit to London before arriving in Vilnius. The American leader met with King Charles III and the British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Environment — The Romanian environment minister Mircea Fechet is attending an informal meeting of the EU environment ministers hosted by Valladolid, in Spain. The European Commission says the Union must go ahead with the initiatives to improve air quality and provide more protection for citizens and the environment. Talks focus on industry transformation by using latest technologies and stimulating innovation to achieve safe and sustainable chemical substances, as well as on improving water management, further treatment of residual waters, reducing pollution and promoting a circular economy. (CM, LS)

10 July 2023
The special pension reform continues

The last week of the current parliamentary
session was devoted to bills which target sensitive areas and which, precisely
for this reason, had been long postponed. On Monday, in an almost unprecedented
political effort, Romania’s Senators and Deputies scrapped the special pensions
granted to MPs. The piece of legislation under which Romanian MPs give up what
the media and the public have long regarded as an immoral right, has already
been signed into law by President Iohannis.

On Wednesday, 2 other overdue bills were
endorsed. One of them no longer allows individuals to receive both public
sector salaries and retirement benefits, and the other is aimed at reforming
the special pension system, which relies only in part on contributions during
the employment period, and which benefits magistrates, military personnel,
diplomats, parliamentary and court staff as well as aeronautical personnel.

In the first case, exemptions from the
restriction concerning public sector salaries and pension benefits paid to the
same individual at the same time triggered fiery criticism, primarily because
these exemptions cover local elected officials and MPs, alongside other
categories, such as teaching staff, healthcare professionals, specialist carers
and employees of the Romanian Academy, the National Bank of Romania, the
National Energy Regulatory Authority and the Communications Regulatory
Authority.

A final favourable vote was also cast on the special
pension reform bill, but the draft submitted by the Government was
significantly amended. In this final version, the implementation of the reform
is basically postponed 5 years and extended until 2043. Until 2028, prosecutors,
judges and military personnel may retire under the same conditions as before. The
retirement age will be increased in several stages from 60 to 65, and minimum
25-year relevant seniority will be a requirement for retiring magistrates.

Pension benefits in excess of the national
average net salary will be subject to taxation, but the rate will be 15%
instead of the 30% originally suggested. All these provisions have been
discussed with EU experts, the PM Marcel Ciolacu said.

The reform of the special pension system is a
milestone in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. USR party in Opposition,
which would have liked special pensions to be scrapped altogether, voted
against the bill, arguing that it still leaves Romania with the same number of 210,000
special pension beneficiaries as before.

The Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in
Romania, no longer a partner in the ruling coalition since the government
rotation, said a long time would pass until the system may rely exclusively on
lifetime contributions to pension funds. Even this version of the law, which according
to analysts saw its most radical provisions amputated, annoyed the Higher
Council of Magistrates. They disapprove of the amendments and claim Parliament
overlooked constitutional principles and endorsed measures that cause irreparable
damages to the independence of the judiciary and of magistrates. (AMP)

29 June 2023
No more special pensions for the Romanian MPs

This is the last week of the present session of the Legislature in Bucharest, which decided not to go on holiday before finalizing some of the most sensitive bills – that on the elimination of the MPs special pensions and the reform of the public service pensions. The elimination of the special pensions for the MPs was endorsed on Monday with a landslide majority in a joint sitting of the two chambers, a sitting marked by speeches abounding in quotations from classical literature, ironies, cries, booing and bell ringing sounds. The aforementioned voting has a special significance for the entire political class, says the Liberals president, Nicolae Ciuca, while the interim president of the Chamber of Deputies, the Social-Democrat Alfred Simonis has described it as a first step towards the reform of all special pensions, which is also an objective in the countrys National Plan of Recovery and Resilience (PNRR).

Alfred Simonis: “We begin today with the first serious pension reform, the pensions of the MPs, which we dont tax, we dont cut, but we simply eliminate. We eliminate those, which are presently paid as well as those about to be paid in the absence of such a law. The special pensions, the accumulation of the pension and salary, unmet objectives in the National Plan of Recovery and Resilience, are priorities.”

Although the oppositions backed the bill, there were voices who cautioned the document could be declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court; Parliament had endorsed the same law two years ago, but former MPs notified the Constitutional Court, which ruled it as unconstitutional. Furthermore, USR leader, Cătălin Drulă, has recalled that…

Catalin Drula: “We are speaking about 700 beneficiaries of special pensions, the other 210 thousand special pensions remain untouched.”

We recall that Romania has several occupational categories, whose pensions arent exclusively based on the contributions of these employees to the state social insurances before retirement, like the rest of the citizens.

And for this reason, most of the Romanians believe that MPs, magistrates, servicemen, policemen, diplomats or pilots belong to an intangible privileged cast. For now the draft bill on the reform of the entire special pension system, among other things, provides for a gradual increase in the retirement age, at least 25 years of service for the magistrates, in order to be able to benefit from a public service pension or a 15% tax levied on sums above the medium gross salary.

The provisions are actually amendments proposed by the ruling MPs after the latest talks with representatives of the European Commission in order to comply with the PNRR commitments so that the country may not lose the related funds. The political groups in the ruling coalition have hailed the amendments, whereas the opposition says they do not actually reform the special pension system.

(bill)

27 June 2023
May 19, 2023

FORUM
Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction and the EU accession efforts of that country
and of the Republic of Moldova are among the topics discussed in Bucharest in a
forum devoted to security challenges at the Black Sea and in the Balkans. The
2-day event comprises over 40 sessions, attended by senior civilian and
military officials, diplomats and experts from the European Union and NATO, as
well as partner states. Attending the event, PM Nicolae Ciucă pleaded for a
strengthened NATO presence at the Black Sea, where free maritime and air
traffic are jeopardised by Russia’s threats.

SOLAR
POWER Individual households in Bucharest and Ilfov County may enroll, as of
today, in a new session of the Photovoltaic Green Home programme, addressing
people who want to install solar panels using state assistance. According to
the environment ministry, the app used for enrolment is available for separate
development regions, in alphabetical order, with 3 working days earmarked for
each region. The programme has a budget of around EUR 35 mln, covering over 87,000
photovoltaic systems.

EDUCATION Members of the
Senate’s committee on education have today resumed discussions on the
undergraduate education bill. On Thursday the analysis of the higher education
bill was finalized and a positive report was issued, with certain amendments. The
Opposition criticized the final draft of the document, which they say fails to
ensure a true reform of the system. On the other hand, the representatives of
the ruling coalition, made up of the Social Democratic Party, National Liberal
Party and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, said the
amendments improved the bill. Parliament is scheduled to vote on both education
bills on Monday, when trade unions in the sector announced they would go on
all-out strike. Negociations continue today to avoid a strike, but
after the talks yesterday the unions announced they would not give up their
planned strike unless their salary demands were met.

UNESCO Codex Aureus, the
best-known and most important illuminated medieval manuscript, currently in Alba
Iulia, central Romania, has been included in the UNESCO heritage list. According
to the National Library of Romania, the famous manuscript is part of the Memory
of the World Register, which comprises 9 other 1,200-year old works from various
countries in Europe. Most
manuscripts are fragments of Latin gospel books, written in gold ink, and
featuring portraits of the 4 evangelists.

SANCTIONS The
US and their G7 allies Friday announced new sanctions to reduce Russia’s
ability to carry on its war in Ukraine. The sanctions, which target Russia’s
highly profitable diamond exports, were decided right ahead of the G7 Summit in
Hiroshima, Japan. Diamond exports, mainly to the UAE, India and EU member state
Belgium, earn Moscow several billion US dollars a year. A
EU official said India’s joining the new set of sanctions would be crucial. Invited to
attend the summit in Hiroshima is also the Indian PM Narendra Modi, whose
country has strong ties with Moscow and has been reluctant so far to condemning
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

RADIO The Romanian and
Bulgarian public radio broadcasters announced they would strengthen their
cooperation. The president and director general of the Romanian Radio
Broadcasting Corporation, Răzvan Ioan Dincă, and the head of the Bulgarian
National Radio Corporation, Milen Mitev, will sign an agreement in Sofia, under
which the 2 parties will exchange news and radio programmes free of charge,
will produce joint programmes and will provide access to archive recordings to
their respective listeners in the next 2 years.. Radio Romania International aired
Bulgarian-language programmes between 1946 and 1949, and again between 1995 and
2004. Since 2022 the Bulgarian National Radio has a Romanian-language web page.
(AMP)

19 May 2023
Complicated Parliament Agenda

Parliament in Bucharest is in for more heated debates this
week after two draft laws, on the abuse of office and special pensions – have
been submitted for debates and voting.

Voting on the two bills has become predictable in principle, thanks
to the comfortable majority the ruling PNL-PSD-UDMR coalition is presently enjoying.
The Chamber of Deputies is a decision making forum regarding these two bills.

The draft law on the abuse of office is to be endorsed
within a ceiling of 9,000 lei, (18 hundred Euros) above which the deed is to be
criminalized and punishable with jail sentences for public employees- PSD
leader Marcel Ciolacu says. He believes that Justice Minister Cătălin Predoiu
should have assumed the aforementioned value limit as early as the draft’s
initial form, and that should have prevented the first endorsement at a higher
ceiling of 250 thousand lei.

Marcel Ciolacu: ʺI am firmly
convinced together with my colleagues from the PSD PNL and UDMR that this law
will get promulgated with the ceiling of 18 hundred Euros, as proposed by the Justice
Minister.

However, the opposition USR has lashed out at the form
endorsed by the PSD, PNL, UDMR senators.

Stelian Ion: The
Constitutional Court’s decision imposed a ceiling, which was common sense,
reasonable at the level of the minimum wages.

Also in spite of the oppositions’ protests, a draft on
reforming the special pensions paid to state employees has made it to the
Chamber of Deputies.

Under the new amendments backed by the ruling
coalition, no special pension has to exceed the incomes before the person’s
retirement. Accumulated pension plans have been banned and a tax of maximum 15%
has been introduced for the non-contribution period. Unsatisfactory, says the
opposition, which has called for the introduction of the contribution system
for all pensions irrespective of the activity domain. 200 thousand people are
presently benefitting from special pensions, most of them former employees of
the country’s defence and public order structures. However, the former magistrates, judges and
prosecutors are presently enjoying the biggest special pensions, which can go
up to 36 hundred Euros, ten times above a regular pension. Reforming the
country’s pension system is a request provided by the National Plan of Recovery
and Resilience and we recall that the approval of roughly 3 billion dollars worth
of EU funds hinges on this plan.

Other bills on the Parliament agenda in Bucharest
might be the new laws on education, based on Romanian president Klaus Iohannis’
project entitled Educated Romania’. The
law is aimed at curbing school dropout and functional illiteracy, at placing
the student at the center of the country’s educational process, at the same
time backing the European cooperation of universities in Romania. The
opposition has criticized the draft laws as faulty and prone to cause
imbalances.

(bill)

3 April 2023
February 8, 2023 UPDATE

EARTHQUAKE The massive earthquakes that hit Turkey and Syria on Monday killed around
12,000 people, according to the latest reports. Two-thirds of the total
casualties are reported in Turkey. Tens of thousands of people were injured. In
spite of the freezing cold, rescuers are struggling to find survivors. President Tayyip Erdogan declared
disaster areas in the 10 provinces affected by the quakes, and introduced a
3-month state of emergency. Seventy countries have so far provided support in
the search and rescue operations. Romania joined the international aid efforts
and sent nearly 120 search and
rescue specialists, doctors and nurses, as well as search and rescue dogs.
Many Romanian nationals have contacted the Embassy in Ankara to report the situation there, but few of them
requested to be repatriated. Turkey is located in one of the world’s
main seismic areas. In 1999, an
earthquake occurring in Düzce, in the north of the country, killed over 17,000 people. As regards Syria, Romania is going to provide mostly humanitarian aid,
following that country’s request to the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.

PATRIOT Romania has received a second Patriot system, out of the total
four, that were contracted for the first stage of the country’s Air Force
equipping programme. According to the defence minister Angel Tilvar, the four
systems represent the first stage in achieving state-of-the-art ground-based
air defence capability, which can be fully integrated into the NATO system.
Patriot systems were first delivered to Romania in 2020, and 2023 is the year
when the first stage of the equipping programme is to be fully completed,
according to the Defence Ministry. The Patriot system is one of the most
advanced air protection systems of the US military arsenal. It is a mobile
system that usually includes a powerful radar, a control station, a power
generator, launch stations and support vehicles.

EU The European Council on Thursday will hold a summit in Brussels to
discuss the war in Ukraine, the EU economy and migration. A video-conference
chaired by the European Council President, Charles Michel, was held on Tuesday
and was also attended by Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, who said talks
focused on the support granted to Ukraine, consolidating the competitiveness of
the EU economy and implementing concrete measures of combating illegal
migration. Although Schengen enlargement is not officially on the agenda,
President Iohannis might approach it informally in the plenary or during
bilateral meetings with his counterparts.

MOTION The Chamber of
Deputies Wednesday dismissed the simple motion tabled by the opposition against
the interior minister Lucian Bode. The document signatories accuse Bode of plagiarism
and blame him for Romania’s failure to join the Schengen area. In Monday’s
debates on the motion, Lucian Bode argued that the opposition’s claims were
untrue and prompted by the forthcoming elections.This is the
second failed motion against minister Bode, after the one in October.

PROTESTS Members of the Sanitas Trade Union Federation Wednesday held
protest rallies in Bucharest, for the 3rd consecutive day, picketing
political party offices. Several hundred unionists from around the country
protested against the Salaries Law and the under-financing of healthcare
institutions and social assistance in Romania. The list of demands includes a
minimum 15% pay raise. The unionists warned that unless the authorities meet
their demands, further protests may be planned. (E.E., A.M.P.)

8 February 2023