Radio România Internațional

Tag: private

June 24, 2023

PRICES
Romania is the EU member country with the smallest prices for foodstuffs and soft
drinks, according to the European Statistics Office. Specifically, in Romania, such
products were nearly 30% cheaper than the European average. In fact, Romania
also saw the lowest levels of household end consumer prices. At the opposite
pole, Ireland, Denmark and Luxembourg are the most expensive countries to live
in. The most significant differences were in terms of alcohol and tobacco
prices-such products are over 3 times more expensive in Denmark compared to Bulgaria.
The latter country also reports the lowest prices in the hospitality industry.

RUSSIA In an emergency tv broadcast on Saturday,
Russia’s president Vladimir Putin said
an armed uprising by the Wagner paramilitary group would be considered
treason and that anyone rising against the Russian army will be punished. He also
added that decisive action will be taken to stabilise the situation in Rostov-on-Don,
the southern city where the Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin claims his fighters
have taken control of military facilities. Previously, Prigozhin hinted that his mercenaries
were heading for Moscow, Reuters reports. Prigozhin accused the Russian army of striking a
Wagner military camp, which he used as a
pretext for what he called a march of justice, arguing that he had 25,000 men
ready to fight the evil at the top of the army. Yevgeny Prigozhin was accused of armed rebellion, and
the authorities ordered he be arrested. Russia’s
National Anti-Terrorism Committee announced an anti-terrorist alert in and around
Moscow.

BLOUSE Every year on 24 June, the Romanian blouse is
celebrated both in the country and in Romanian communities around the world. The
Universal Day of the Romanian Blouse is a cultural diplomacy instrument and a
means to promote Romanian culture and traditions. The country hosts events
devoted to the traditional blouse, ia, including an Art Safary exhibition of
folk costumes in Bucharest, screenings and creative workshops for children, as
well as a fashion show featuring the traditional blouse as a street wear element.
Some museums, including the Ethnography Museum in Braşov and ASTRA Museum in
Sibiu, received visitors free of charge if they come dressed in traditional
blouses. Last year the Romanian blouse was included in the UNESCO Heritage list.

THEATRE
The central Romanian city of Sibiu, a European capital of culture in 2007, is
hosting the International Theatre Festival, currently in its 30th
year. This year’s theme is Miracle.
Until 2 July, 825 indoor and outdoor events
will take place, bringing together some 5,000 artists and guests from 75 countries.
All the outdoor performances are free of charge. The festival also keeps its
online section, which includes 40 shows. The official opening took place on
Friday night, with the play A Cathedral Full of Organs staged at the Lutheran
Cathedral of St. Mary in Sibiu.

HOLIDAY Orthodox and Greek-Catholic
Christians celebrate today the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, the last Old
Testament prophet. St. John the Baptist was born 6 months before Jesus; he
urged people to repent their sins and baptised them in the River Jordan. John
also baptised Jesus, presenting him to the world as the Mesiah. The Christian
feast day of St. John the Baptist overlaps a pre-Christian tradition in which
24 June was devoted to the Sânziene, gentle fairies believed to bring fertility
and wealth. (AMP)

24 June 2023
Views on public pensions

Five million pensioners for a total of only 9 million employees, a steady population decline, a chronic shortage of labour fuelled by the migration of youth and, not least, a public pension budget always too small, requiring frequent loans, are elements that make Romania vulnerable in the medium and long run.

After the Social Democratic government left power and the Liberals took over, debates on a large-scale reform of the public pension system came into the spotlight. The minister of labour and social protection Violeta Alexandru confirmed for the public radio station that analyses and assessments are conducted, with respect to a bill enabling employees to opt for a deferral of retirement from the age of 65 at present to 70. Such a delicate topic will be extensively discussed with all players, the labour minister promised:

Violeta Alexandru: “Personally, I have no doubt that this topic requires extensive debate in society, given the insights I am getting from pensioners. Some of them are aware that an active life and extended employment entails benefits in the sense of higher pensions and feel that they need to work longer, whereas others intend to retire even sooner than the law stipulates. This is why a discussion is needed. In any case, such a debate will not work on the assumption of forcing people to stay employed longer, but would try instead to enable people to choose whether to retire sooner or not.

The future of public pension systems is a concern across Europe. According to the labour minister, there are EU member countries where life expectancy figures are different from the ones in Romania, and where active measures are encouraged, including an increase in the retirement age. At the same time however, there are countries where things are not yet clear in this respect.

In Romania, pension benefits will be increased in September by 40%, a raise introduced by the former left-wing government and which makes experts shiver at the prospects of severe budgetary imbalances. The National Bank governor Mugur Isarescu said that as long as the economy grows by 4%, one cannot go and raise pensions by 40%.

Violeta Alexandru: “The money is earmarked for this. It is not so much a matter of impact on the budget, but rather a decision that we have made, namely the decision to comply with the law. We are concerned, however, with how the Social Democratic Party chose to legislate only with electoral purposes in mind, without considering all these signals given by those who monitor the economic development of Romania, and who know that huge, sudden leaps of this kind are not advised.

Meanwhile, the Liberal government announced plans to increase contributions to privately-managed pension funds to 6%. So far, these funds have given good returns, making private pensions the only safe bet in a sea of uncertainties regarding the reliability of state-managed pensions.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

9 January 2020
“Help us to help!” Campaign

In Romania there is a private health clinic where doctors provide free of charge surgery for low-income patients. Two years ago, they started an association called “Zetta”, and ever since, a growing number of patients in difficult financial situations have been coming for help here, particularly for plastic surgery and reconstructive microsurgery.

The founder of the association is doctor Dragos Zamfirescu, a plastic and reconstructive surgery specialist with over 20 years of experience and with scores of innovations in the field of surgery, some of them rewarded with gold medals in Brussels. Alongside 10 other physicians, he is part of a team that has saved many people in need.

Although initially the doctors had decided to conduct 50 operations per year free of charge, in 2018 they reached this goal in only 5 months. By the end of the year, they had already performed free surgery in 125 cases. This year was equally successful, with the team doing twice as many operations as they had originally planned.

Dr. Dragos Zamfirescu: “What I like is to operate, not to talk or brag about it. Basically, for one and a half months the clinic only performed pro bono surgery, which I think is something unheard of anywhere in the world. As for myself, one-quarter of my time, that is 3 months a year, I’ve been working for this cause alone. We are a handful of doctors who perform operations that are not possible in any other centres in Romania, and in some cases we are the patients’ last hope. And to turn down a patient only because they can’t afford to cover the costs of surgery in a private clinic is something I’ve never thought acceptable. I founded this association at the suggestion of my accountants, in order to be able to accept donations to cover the costs of these operations which are by no means easy. We looked at the average salary in Romania, at the average monthly spending figures in Romania, and we came up with 2 categories of patients. We have average-income patients who can afford some procedures and who only pay for the materials used for surgery. And we have people with less than 500 euros a month in net wages, who may receive surgery free of charge. Basically, anyone who earns a barely decent amount, not very little, may benefit from our services.”

Andreea Marin is one of the TV celebrities in Romania who got involved in the project and launched a campaign which is a novelty in Romania. Called “Help us to help!”, the campaign aims to raise funds to cover the costs of the materials used in the free of charge operations.

Andreea Marin: “One year ago, the idea of this campaign was born in a conversation I had with Dr. Dragos Zamfirescu, who was my doctor at the time. While I was in his clinic I learned about these people who had operations free of charge, and many of them were rather complicated cases. There were burn victims, people with injuries caused by accidents and who had to have their limbs amputated, there were cancer patients who needed reconstructive surgery, there were children and adults with malformations, really difficult operations that were being done pro bono by these doctors. I asked about it and Dr. Zamfirescu told me that he was trying not to turn down any patients, if possible. But the materials used in surgery cost thousands of euros, the cost for each operation is about 3.5 euros per minute and some operations may take as many as 12 hours, not to mention that a patient may require successive reconstructive operations over a period of time, in order to get to the desired state. So these doctors were trying to cover these costs from their own incomes and make sure the patients did not have to pay for anything. This is how this campaign started. Today, there are thousands of Romanians, including Romanian nationals who live abroad, who make donations to this association.”

Last autumn, Zetta Association organized the second edition of the “Zetta Help us to help” charity gala, an event that rewards and encourages social responsibility and which its initiators would like to turn into a tradition in Romania. This is where we met Magda Coman, the initiator of a movement called “Atypical Beauty”:

Magda Coman: “I have been in this wheelchair since 2005. It was an unfortunate accident, but I prefer to think of this as my destiny and I think that maybe this way I can be more useful to those who need my help. I am the president of an association called Open Your Heart, which organises the Atypical Beauty event, and I am taking part in this Gala because Zetta Clinic offered free surgery to wheelchair users who are role models for other people. So I came here to thank these wonderful doctors who offer free operations to wheelchair people.”

Monica Radu is 44. She was a literature freshman with the University of Bucharest when she suffered a spine fracture in a car crash. She has been bound to a wheelchair for 22 years. But even so, she moved on with her life, she is a writer and has 3 children. She has recently had surgery for an infected deep wound:

Monica Radu: “I had the chance to find out about the interventions performed at Zetta Clinic and about the programme that Zetta Association is implementing right at a very difficult time for me, health-wise. I was on the verge of sepsis, and when the doctors saw what was happening they brought me for surgery the very next day. I needed a procedure that is specific for plastic surgery, that can only be performed in a plastic surgery clinic, but it is a very expensive type of surgery. So this programme was an extraordinary chance for me, it was great to hear about it exactly when I needed it the most, and it was amazing for me to be accepted in this programme. I am no stranger to hospitals, I’ve been in a wheelchair for 22 years but I’d never heard of anything like this. The sense of confidence and safety and kindness that I found at Zetta Clinic is something I have never encountered before.”

The “Help us to help” campaign will go on in 2020 as well.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

1 January 2020
December 29, 2019 UPDATE

VISIT PM Ludovic Orban will be on a working visit to EU and NATO institutions in Brussels between January 7th and 9th, the Government announced on Sunday. The Romanian PM will have meetings with the European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, and with the NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg. The agenda also includes talks with the president of the European Council Charles Michel and with the president of the European Parliament David Sassoli.

PENSIONS The Romanian public pension system is in imminent danger, given that the number of employed contributors has dropped significantly, and people need to be encouraged to save money in privately-managed pension funds, which ensure more safety, transparency and traceability, the Labour Minister Violeta Alexandru said in an interview to AGERPRES news agency. She also warned that there is a trend across Europe to increase the retirement age, but she did not suggest that the Government plans to take any measures in this respect in the current term in office. The Labour Minister also expressed concern with the budgetary impact of the planned 40% pension raise as of September 2020, as decided by the previous, Social Democratic cabinet dismissed in October, but said that as long as she is the labour minister the law will be complied with.

CUSTOMS The customs offices on the Romanian – Moldovan border will be revamped and upgraded as part of a EU-funded project. Included in the project are the check points in Albiţa, Sculeni and Giurgiuleşti, which are seen as strategic points for the Unions security policy. The programme has a 36-month deadline for implementation, a total budget of 10 million euros, and is designed to enhance institutional and operational efficiency in customs offices by modernising the infrastructure and streamlining the transit of goods and persons. A number of 347 customs workers will also be trained to use special equipment to fight cross-border organised crime.

FINANCIAL Most analysts in CFA Romania Association expect the national currency to depreciate in the next 12 months, to 4.8663 leu for the euro, with an average inflation rate of 3.52%, according to data in the Macroeconomic Confidence Indicator for November. CFA Romania is an organisation of chartered financial analysts certified by the CFA Institute (USA). At present CFA Romania has over 240 members. The Macroeconomic Confidence Indicator was launched by CFA Romania in May 2011 and is designed to measure the financial analysts expectations regarding Romanias economy for the coming 12 months.

BORDER Nearly 900,000 people came into Romania during the Christmas period, and 655,000 left the country, the Romanian Border Police announced on Sunday. The highest numbers were reported on the Hungarian border, in the west of the country. On the other hand, Romanian border police have caught Middle Eastern citizens attempting to illegally cross the border into Hungary. They were coming from Iraq, Iran, Syria and Afghanistan, had applied for asylum in Romania, and were trying to get to Hungary and further west illegally.

UKRAINE The Ukrainian governmental forces and the pro-Russian separatists in east Ukraine Sunday completed a prisoner exchange, thanks to which all people taken captive in the 5-year conflict were able to return home, Reuters reports. The operation took place in the breakaway Donbass region. According to Kiev, a total of 76 Ukrainian prisoners were freed. Since 2014, over 13,000 people have been killed in the conflict in east Ukraine, with occasional clashes still reported in spite of the ceasefire. The prisoner exchange agreement was reached in a summit in Paris this month by the Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Ukraines president Volodimir Zelenskiy. The French-German brokered deal also includes a number of measures such as consolidation of the cease-fire, massive prisoner swaps by the end of December and new troop pull-outs from the 3 zones by the end of March 2020.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

29 December 2019
December 29, 2019

VISIT PM Ludovic Orban will be on a working visit to EU and NATO institutions in Brussels between January 7th and 9th, the Government announced today. The Romanian PM will have meetings with the European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, and with the NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg. The agenda also includes talks with the president of the European Council Charles Michel and with the president of the European Parliament David Sassoli.

PENSIONS The Romanian public pension system is in imminent danger, given that the number of employed contributors has dropped significantly, and people need to be encouraged to save money in privately-managed pension funds, which ensure more safety, transparency and traceability, the Labour Minister Violeta Alexandru said in an interview to AGERPRES news agency. She also warned that there is a trend across Europe to increase the retirement age, but she did not suggest that the Government plans to take any measures in this respect in the current term in office. The Labour Minister also expressed concern with the budgetary impact of the planned 40% pension raise as of September 2020, as decided by the previous, Social Democratic cabinet dismissed in October, but said that as long as she is the labour minister the law will be complied with.

CUSTOMS The customs offices on the Romanian – Moldovan border will be revamped and upgraded as part of a EU-funded project. Included in the project are the check points in Albiţa, Sculeni and Giurgiuleşti, which are seen as strategic points for the Unions security policy. The programme has a 36-month deadline for implementation, a total budget of 10 million euros, and is designed to enhance institutional and operational efficiency in customs offices by modernising the infrastructure and streamlining the transit of goods and persons. A number of 347 customs workers will also be trained to use special equipment to fight cross-border organised crime.

FINANCIAL Most analysts in CFA Romania Association expect the national currency to depreciate in the next 12 months, to 4.8663 leu for the euro, with an average inflation rate of 3.52%, according to data in the Macroeconomic Confidence Indicator for November. CFA Romania is an organisation of chartered financial analysts certified by the CFA Institute (USA). At present CFA Romania has over 240 members. The Macroeconomic Confidence Indicator was launched by CFA Romania in May 2011 and is designed to measure the financial analysts expectations regarding Romanias economy for the coming 12 months.

UKRAINE The Ukrainian governmental forces and the pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine have initiated a prisoner exchange, thanks to which all people taken captive in the conflict 5 years ago should be able to return home, Russian news agencies report. The prisoner exchange agreement was reached in Paris this month by the Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Ukraines president Volodimir Zelenskiy, in the first Ukraine peace summit since 2016. The French-German brokered deal includes a number of measures such as consolidation of the cease-fire, massive prisoner swaps by the end of December, new troop pull-outs from the 3 zones by the end of March 2020. The conflict between the Ukrainian army and pro-Russian separatists—backed by Moscow, according to the West and to Kiev—dates back to 2014 and has left behind over 13,000 dead and nearly 1.5 million displaced. The peace agreements signed in Minsk in 2015 allowed for a substantial decrease in violence. This September Moscow and Kiev also swapped an important number of prisoners.

HANDBALL Romanias mens handball team is playing today against North Macedonia in the Carpati Trophy final. In their first match with French top league Saint Raphaels coach Rareş Fortuneanu as a manager, Romania defeated Netherlands on Saturday, 27-25. In the first match of the competition, North Macedonia outplayed Algeria 25-24. Netherlands and Algeria will face each other for the 3rd place. The games are part of the preparations for the first stage of the 2021 Egypt World Championships qualifiers, in which 32 teams are taking part. Next month, in the preliminary tournament in Italy, Romania will play against the host country, Georgia and Kosovo.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

29 December 2019
The new academic year and the real estate market

The beginning of October traditionally marks the start of a new university year. Statistics show that Romania ranks last in the EU in terms of the number of university graduates, which is 25.6% of the people aged between 30 and 34. Moreover, in the past few years the number of people who take the bachelors degree exam has also decreased. For example, in 2009 more than 870,000 Romanian students registered for the graduation exam, but the number dropped to around 383,000 in the 2016-2017 academic year. At the same time, Romania comes 5th in the European classification of countries with the biggest number of students studying abroad.

Romanians who choose to study in the country can opt for one of the big university centres here, such as Bucharest, Cluj, Iasi or Timisoara. The fact that most students come from outside these cities leads to another problem, related to accommodation and the limited number of rooms in campuses. Alina Simion, head of the Students Association with the Bucharest University explains:

Alina Simion: “The Bucharest University has room for around 5,300 students in its own campuses, which are divided between faculties depending on the number of students that each of them have. The Bucharest University has more than 30,000 students, so the number of campus rooms is small and the demand quite big. Of course, the room offer does not cover the demand, and the selection is based on academic performance. There are also social and health criteria, which count in the distribution of rooms.

Although several new university campuses have been built in the past ten years, it is still not enough to cover the demand. The Bucharest Universitys campus in Grozavesti area, for instance, one of the best known in the capital city, is located in the west, close to the Regie campus, the biggest in Romania, made up of 33 buildings, of which 26 are run by the Polytechnic University and 7 by the Medicine University. There are other campuses as well, some located close to the faculties, some towards the citys outskirts. Renting or even buying an apartment or a studio is another solution that many students opt for. The demand is so big every fall that a new phenomenon has emerged in the Romanian real estate market. Radu Zilisteanu, an expert in the real estate field, explains:

Radu Zilisteanu: “Generally, in the cities that are also big university centres, the real estate market is marked by a new phenomenon every autumn, namely, the demand exceeds the offer, resulting in an increase in prices. This has been a regular phenomenon for years now. This year, however, it was doubled by another phenomenon, specific to this period, namely, the fact that the ROBOR index based on which interest rates on mortgage loans are calculated, has grown significantly. This has restricted Romanians access to mortgage loans. Therefore, students arrival in the great university centres and the rather more difficult access to mortgage loans, which forced those who sought to buy property to rent in the city instead, have jointly led to a rather high demand in the rental market and to an increase of rents. Because of that increase, there are students who make groups of three or four and who rent three or four-room flats together to reduce individual costs.

Experts estimate that this year, studio rents will be almost 20% higher than in the regular real estate transaction seasons. However, this solution is only accessible to those who have above-the-average budgets, given that the monthly rent for a studio flat ranges from 75 to 200 Euros. Comparatively, in the Regie campus, the monthly rent for a room does not exceed 35 Euro in the winter and does not go below 24 Euro in the summer, for students who do not pay tuition fees. For the students who pay their own tuition fees, the summer monthly rent accounts for 49 Euros while for the winter, the monthly rent is around 64 Euros. Monthly rents in the student dorms allotted to the University of Bucharest are even smaller.

The high rents for lodging in town, and also the fact that the number of flats available for rental is limited, make it even harder for students to have access to decent accommodation. Here is Alina Simion again, speaking about that.

Alina Simion: “There are a few students who can afford it, but not so many. Most of the friends I know live in the campus. Rents are quite OK, for the students supported by their parents. But for those who have a job, it is quite difficult to pay the rent all by themselves, since the rent accounts for 150 Euros per month. It is a bit too much for a student to be able to afford a flat with decent living standards. I have been living in a campus room for four years now, and I cannot afford a flat or a studio. I am just wondering how I will get by, money-wise, this year, after Ive completed my Masters. It is rather hard, especially for the students who support themselves and need to attend classes as well. Problems are bound to occur, either with their studies or at their job.

Students would like to rent lodging in town, because there is still a lot more to be done in terms of living standards and hygiene in campus dorms. Cockroaches, rats, shared bathrooms… the solutions to these problems are postponed from one year to the next.

Alina Simion: “Unfortunately, there is no secret that the living standards are still as bad as they used to be. Throughout the years, attempts have been made and are still being made to modernise campuses. However, the bureaucracy at university administration level has prevented it. The furniture is new; new mattresses have been brought in as well. The students paint their own rooms. But these are not the real problems. Bathrooms have been refurbished in Grozavesti. But the shared bathroom facilities are in fact the main problem. “

A new solution has recently been offered: private dorms. There, the rents and the living standards are somewhere halfway between the solutions offered by university campuses and the rented lodgings in town.

(translated by: Elena Enache, Eugen Nasta)

3 October 2018