Radio România Internațional

Tag: Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos

  • September 20, 2016 UPDATE

    September 20, 2016 UPDATE

    CORRUPTION – Romanias President Klaus Iohannis is extremely disappointed with the Senates vote concerning the former Interior Minister Gabriel Oprea and warns that the politicians who hamper justice will never gain citizens trust and respect, a spokesperson for the presidency has stated. The head of state believes that some senators have again proven they have never understood that somebodys quilt or innocence cannot be established by a vote in parliament, but in a court of justice, and has reiterated that a rule of law state cannot be above the law. In their turn, prosecutors with the National Anti-Corruption Directorate (DNA) have said that the senators’ decision blocks further investigations and prevents Gabriel Oprea from answering to justice. On Monday, the Senators rejected the request filed by the National Anti-corruption Directorate for the prosecution of the former Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Gabriel Oprea, accused of manslaughter. A police officer died last year in a motorcycle accident while part of Opreas official motorcade. When the accident occurred, Oprea was actually heading for a private destination, which did not entitle him to benefit from an official motorcade.




    UN SUMMIT – New York is playing host to the first summit for refugees and migrants called by the UN, during the annual UN General Assembly meeting. Romanias delegation at the summit is headed by Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos, who is accompanied by Foreign Minister Lazar Comanescu. The leaders attending the summit are analysing the causes of migrant influxes and are trying to find solutions for the future. The Romanian officials are also promoting Romanias candidacy for a new term as non-permanent member of the Security Council for 2020-2021. On the sidelines of the event, Dacian Ciolos will meet with the UN Secretary General Bank Ki-moon and the presidents of Finland and Egypt. On Monday, Lazar Comanescu attended an informal meeting with his Bulgarian, Croat and Greek counterparts on European issues and also met with Victoria Nuland, the Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs at the United States Department of State. The two officials talked about the bilateral strategic partnership, regional security, migration and means of approaching it.




    COUNTRY PROJECT – A committee having the task to draw up a so-called “country project” has been set up in Bucharest, the Presidency has announced. As many as 23 people are part of the committee, of whom ten independent members, one Government representative and two representatives for each parliamentary party. The committee will convene in the forthcoming period for a first meeting chaired by President Klaus Iohannis. According to the Presidency release, the country project represents a vision about how Romania should look like in the medium and long run, taking into account its status as EU member state and its strategic partnership with the US.




    BREXIT – Slovakias Prime Minister Robert Fico, whose country is holding the rotating presidency of the EU, has stated that the Union will make Brexit extremely painful, according to the British newspaper “The Independent”. Fico says Brussels will use Brexit to prove to the other member states how important it is to remain part of the EU. The Slovak Prime Minister has also stated that Great Britain will not be allowed to turn the EU workers into second-class workers, while still benefiting from the advantages of the single market. The British PM Theresa May has refused to guarantee the status of the EU citizens in Great Britain, but has stressed the fact that she wishes they stayed, provided the British citizens are respected in the EU member countries.




    ECONOMIC FORUM – Romanias capital Bucharest is hosting the 3rd Annual Economic Forum for Central and Eastern Europe. The event has brought together Forbes editors-in-chief from the entire region, but also authorities and business people. This year, talks are focusing on development, innovation and investment, both at macroeconomic level and by business sectors. The forum is intended as a platform for business models and investment directions.




    INSURANCE – The Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF) announced on Tuesday that it will set, within 30 days after the enforcement of the Government’s emergency ordinance, the maximum level of the mandatory liability insurance for car owners. Last week Romania’s technocratic government passed an emergency ordinance freezing mandatory liability insurance fees for 6 months at a level to be announced by the Financial Supervisory Authority within a month at the most.




    TENNIS – Three Romanian tennis players are taking part in the WTA tournament in Seul, with 250,000 USD in prize money. Top seed and defending champion Irina Begu, overpowered South-Korean Su Jeong Hang, 2-0, to advance to the second round of the Korea Open on Tuesday. Begu will play on Thursday against Jana Cepelova of Slovakia. 55th ranked Monica Niculescu and Patricia Tig, number 135, have already qualified for the second round. Monica Niculescu will take on the Slovak Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, and Patricia Tig will try to defeat the winner of the match between Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium and the Czech Kristyna Pliskova. Monica Niculescu and Irina Begu may have to play against each other in the quarter finals.


    (Translated by Elena Enache)

  • September 18, 2016 UPDATE

    September 18, 2016 UPDATE

    REPORT – Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos on Monday is presenting a report on the countrys economy before Parliament. The Prime Minister will give details regarding the current budget framework. Parliamentary factions are also expected to address the plenary session. Ciolos will appear before Parliament after the National Forecast Committee has upgraded the economic growth forecast for this year to 4.8%. Earlier this year, the institution estimated a 4.2% growth of Romanias GDP. Over the next three years, the committee has maintained its economic growth forecast to 4.3, 4.5 and 4.7% respectively. The GDP per capita is expected to grow steadily in coming years, from 8,581 euros in 2016 to 10,587 euros in 2019.



    UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY – Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos will attend the 71st session of the UN General Assembly, held in New York over September 19-22. On Tuesday, among others, Dacian Ciolos will attend the opening session of the Assembly, as well as the Summit of leaders on the global crisis of refugees, hosted by the USA, Canada, Ethiopia, Germany, Jordan, Mexico and Sweden. Prime Minister Ciolos will also hold bilateral talks with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Egyptian President Abdel Al-Sisi and Finnish President Sauli Niinisto. Ciolos is also invited to a reception hosted by US President Barack Obama and the first Lady Michele Obama, in the honor of heads of delegation. On Wednesday, Dacian Ciolos will meet with representatives of the Jewish communities in the USA, as well as with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and the president of the UN General Assembly, Peter Thompson. On the last day of his visit, the Prime Ministers agenda includes a breakfast meeting with US investors from Romania.



    CELEBRATION – Celebrations continued on Sunday in Bucharest to mark 557 years since the city was first officially documented. A number of cultural events were held on this occasion, including concerts, exhibitions, workshops, arts and crafts fairs, theatre plays, street concerts, parades and chariot rides in squares and parks. Music bands from Spain, Italy and France took part in the event. Bucharest was first documented on September 21, 1459, in an official document issued by Vlad the Impaler, the ruler of Wallachia at the time, which subsequently inspired Bram Stokers famous novel Dracula.



    EXPLOSION – The Governor of the State of New York, Andrew Cuomo on Sunday described the explosion of the previous night in the district of Chelsea as the result of a bomb, without linking it to international terrorism. The blast injured 29 people and resulted in severe material damage. Romanias General Consular Office in New York is taking steps to ascertain whether any Romanian citizens are among the victims. The Consular Office is monitoring the case and is ready to provide assistance. In another incident in a trade center in Minnesota, 8 people were wounded in a shooting involving a white male, whom the Police shot dead. According to the Islamic State-affiliated Amaq agency, the perpetrator was a jihadist combatant. Since 2014, Islamic State terrorists, currently holding large areas in Syra and Iraq, have staged numerous bloody attacks around the world, killing hundreds of people.



    PROTESTS – Trade unions in the healthcare sector are preparing a series of protests. On Monday, Sanitas Foundation employers associations will start collecting signatures for starting strike actions, while as of September 20, each Tuesday will be devoted to protesting in front of a state institution. The same federation has also scheduled protests in October. The decision follows the recent Government emergency ordinances, regulating the salaries of medical staff, and which do not include major salary raises for auxiliary staff, employees of Public Health Care Directorates and social workers.



    SCULPTURE – Romanians on Sunday could see Constantin Brancusis Wisdom of the Earth sculpture on show at the National Bank of Romania Museum. Access was free of charge, with no preliminary reservation required, Culture Minister Corina Suteu said, who described the move as a gesture of gratitude to the hundreds of thousands of donations to procure Cosntantin Brancusis work. So far some 800,000 euros have been collected, but an additional 5 million euros are required. People can still make donations until the end of the month.


    (Translated by V. Palcu)

  • Budget Adjustment in Romania

    Budget Adjustment in Romania

    On Wednesday, the Romanian Government
    approved the first adjustment of the state budget and the social insurance
    budget for 2016, in a bid to ensure the financial resources needed for the
    implementation of the measures adopted by Parliament. The measures are aimed
    mainly at ensuring the payment of welfare benefits, without however
    jeopardizing the macroeconomic balance. Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos has stated
    that the budget adjustment is mainly aimed at funding public policies, even if
    2016 is an election year in Romania.

    Dacian Ciolos: Our goal is to finance the announced public policies, to meet real needs, not
    to win votes to the detriment of effective budgeting.


    The
    main fields to benefit from the adjustment are health-care, education and
    welfare. The health ministry will get an extra 125 million Euro to pay
    increased salaries for the medical staff. Also, additional amounts will be used
    to fund health-care programs and to ensure subsidized medicines. One priority
    in the field is to combat hospital-acquired infections, said the Ministry of Health
    Vlad Voiculescu.


    Vlad Voiculescu: 4.6 million lei was added to the budget’s program, to cover interventions such
    as active testing, screening for all patients newly admitted in intensive care
    units, for all the patients who need intensive care for more than seven days
    and also for all the patients hospitalized in the same ward as a person known
    to suffer from a hospital-acquired infection. Also, we have a budget for
    professional training on hospital-acquired infections and the careful use of
    antibiotics.

    In
    education, the allocated amount, standing at some 220 million Euro, is used as
    of August 1st to cover the increased salaries of the teaching
    staff in higher-secondary and
    tertiary education. Programs for students are also envisaged. Here is the
    Education Minister Mircea Dumitru with more:

    For the first time, the
    Education Ministry will ensure free school-books for students in the 11th
    and 12th grades. This entails the spending of some 32 million lei
    for 3.6 new school books.


    The
    Labour Ministry will get some 620 million Euro for welfare benefits. Half of
    the amount is to be allocated for child-rearing benefits, allowances for
    children and people with disabilities and other forms of welfare. The other
    half will cover pensions until the end of the year. Also, the budget adjustment
    earmarked money for this fall’s parliamentary elections, but also for
    agriculture, environment, defense and transportation.

  • Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos in an exclusive interview on Radio Romania

    Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos in an exclusive interview on Radio Romania

    The exclusive interview which technocrat Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos gave on Radio Romania focused on a number of topical issues in Romanian society. He made it a point to dissipate the fears of Romanians residing in Great Britain about losing certain rights, especially the right to work, after the referendum in the wake of which the UK will have to leave the European Union. Dacian Ciolos:



    At present and in the coming period, until the negotiation process has been completed, which we estimate to last at least two years, Romanian nationals, just like any other European citizens can keep all the rights and obligations they have as European citizens in Great Britain.



    Dacian Ciolos underscored that in the coming period, Romania would negotiate at EU level with Great Britain the further protection and backing of the Romanian nationals rights. In terms of domestic policy, the Prime Minister answered questions pertaining to the economy and investments. He said that there had been delays in the preparation for the budget execution during the 2014-2020 period and in the absorption of European funds over 2007-2013; he said that after the technocrat government had taken office, the absorption rate had reached over 70-75%. Dacian Ciolos:



    “For me it is important now that we prepare for the 2014-2020 period as best as we can and in the most transparent possible way, that we do away with all sources of corruption or bureaucracy or sources blocking the implementation of those projects because not only the absorption capacity, but also the absorption quality will depend on that.



    Along the line of fostering rational social spending from the state budget, there is also the initiative announced by the Prime Minister on Radio Romania of challenging at the Constitutional Court the law granting special pensions to local officials. That law has turned out to be not only as unpopular as the law granting additional incomes to the MPs, but also inequitable. Dacian Ciolos:



    “Special pensions mean higher pensions than the respective category contributed to the pension budget, so somebody has to provide that surplus.



    Finally, in the exclusive interview he gave on Radio Romania, Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos referred to the measures taken by the government to curtail bureaucracy. He said that essential measures would be applied to simplify certain bureaucratic procedures deemed by Romanians as non-performing. Dacian Ciolos:



    “Five months ago, we launched a project that has been very effective from the very beginning, in that weve received a lot of ideas and proposals. We synthesized those ideas and proposals and in the last few months, weve been identifying legislative and legal ways of putting these ideas into practice.



    The project refers to the simplification of procedures related to the criminal record, ID copies, certified copies, certain forms of the Fiscal Administration and the payment of various taxes and dues by card.


    (Translated by AM Palcu)