Radio România Internațional

Tag: single market

  • December 14, 2018 UPDATE

    December 14, 2018 UPDATE

    EU SUMMIT – The EU long-term budget, the single market, migration and foreign relations, the Eurozone and Brexit were the key topics discussed in the winter European Council in Brussels, which ended on Friday. In the summit conclusions, the European Council says more needs to be done to ensure that the Single Market provides a solid underpinning for an outward-looking, confident and more autonomous European Union in a challenging global environment. With respect to migration, the EU leaders plead for vigilance on all existing and emerging routes, in particular in view of recent increases on the Western and Eastern Mediterranean routes. President Klaus Iohannis, who represented Romania in the summit, emphasised the importance of the cohesion policy and of the common agricultural policy in the new multi-annual budget framework. On the sidelines of the meeting, the President of Romania held talks with the British PM, Theresa May, to discuss the Brexit deal and the situation of the Romanian community in the UK. Klaus Iohannis mentioned that the withdrawal agreement would be a major element in guaranteeing the rights of those who live, work or study in that country. In turn, Theresa May appreciated the dialogue with President Klaus Iohannis, considering Britains prospective withdrawal from the EU during Romanias presidency of the EU Council, in the first half of 2019.




    SWINE FEVER – African swine fever cases are currently reported in over 300 villages in 18 counties in Romania. The over 1,000 outbreaks affect 18 pig farms, and 500 other cases involve wild pigs. According to the National Veterinary Authority, 12 outbreaks have been closed so far in Satu-Mare County in the north-west, where the virus was first reported in Romania, last July. Veterinary authorities remind citizens that in order to prevent the virus from spreading, all susceptible animals must be culled, and owners will be compensated for their losses in keeping with the relevant legislation. African swine fever is not transmitted to humans, but it has major economic consequences.




    ATTACK – A 4th victim of the shooting in Strasbourg, who had been in a critical state since Tuesday night, died on Friday, Paris prosecutors announced. The perpetrator of the Strasbourg Christmas market attack was shot dead by the police on Thursday night. More than 700 police took part in the extensive manhunt operation.




    SPORTS – Romania Friday night lost the semi-finals of the European Womens Handball Championship to defending Olympic champions Russia, 22-28. The teams star player and leader Cristina Neagu, who is the highest scoring player in the history of the European championships, did not play on Friday, because of an injury in the match against Hungary on Wednesday, which Romania lost. The match for the European bronze is scheduled for Sunday. The national womens handball team has nonetheless ensured their ticket to the World Championship in Japan next year.



    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • The European report on product quality

    The European report on product quality

    What Romanians
    had long found out has ultimately been agreed upon in Brussels too: the quality
    of food products sold in East European countries, including Romania, as well as
    Bulgaria, Slovakia, Hungary or Poland, is inferior to that of similar products
    sold in Western countries.






    Formerly,
    officials from all those East European countries demanded that multinationals
    be no longer allowed to use low quality ingredients on the cheaper markets
    where they deliver their products. For instance, 9 of the 29 food products
    under scrutiny by the Institute of Hygiene and Veterinary Public Health in
    Bucharest last year were different.






    Those products
    included canned fish, ham, bacon and bologna. These days, a report debated by
    the MPs in the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection in the
    European Parliament says that the problem of dual quality has been reported in
    East European countries and the phenomenon must be made known at all levels, so
    that pressure should be put on producers.




    The question
    which raises itself automatically is whether there was the producers’ intention
    to cheat consumers. Moreover, the food labeling law must be amended because, as
    Euro MPs say, the products sold with a similar packaging across the EU must be
    the same.






    Actually, the
    discussion should start from the fact that all EU consumers should be treated
    in the same way. Furthermore, Euro MPs argue that quality tests should be extended
    to other products too and not only to the food products because there are
    differences in those cases too.






    According to the
    Brussels correspondent for Radio Romania, the measures taken by the European
    Parliament add up to those already announced by the European Commission, which
    has developed a new methodology of comparing the quality of food products sold across
    the EU. That new methodology aims to clarify and strengthen the consumers’
    rights, prohibiting the practices of applying double standards in the matter.






    The national
    authorities in charge of food security and consumers’ protection are
    responsible for ensuring that the food placed on the Single Market complies
    with the relevant EU legislation. Consumers must also be informed about key
    characteristics set in the EU food labeling law and should not be misled by the
    packaging.






    Under the
    coordination of the Joint Research Centre, laboratories in several EU member
    states will apply that methodology in a pan-European testing campaign to
    collect data on the scope gained by the dual product quality. The first results
    are to be made public at the end of this year.