Radio România Internațional

Tag: sovereign investment fund

  • November 15, 2018 UPDATE

    November 15, 2018 UPDATE

    NEGOTIATIONS – Negotiations between the
    Bucharest metro trade unions and the management are due to continue, following
    a warning strike on Thursday morning. The metro employees threaten to go on a
    general strike beginning on the 19th of November. They demand a 42%
    salary increase, but were only offered an 18% increase by the management.
    According to the transport minister Lucian Sova, the salaries of metro
    employees have grown every year in the last four years, the last time by 21%
    last year. 700,000 people use the Bucharest metro every day.




    PRESIDENCY – Romania is ready to take over and successfully carry
    out its term as holder of the EU Council presidency in the first part of next
    year, Prime Minister Viorica Dancila has again given assurances. The events
    timetable has been finalized and all working mechanisms have been created. We
    have the capacity to show our European partners that Romania is a balanced and
    responsible member state, determined to contribute to the future of the
    European Union, regardless of the purely political considerations at one time
    or another, the Romanian prime minister also said. Tuesday’s vote in the
    European Parliament is one such example and I assure you that it will not make us
    stray from our objectives, said Dancila. She added that she was disappointed
    with the conclusions of the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism report,
    given that Romania has proved to be a loyal and fair partner of the European
    Union. We recall that European Parliament’s resolution and the aforementioned
    report are critical of the changes to the justice laws made by the ruling
    coalition formed by the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals
    and Democrats.




    BREXIT – The foreign ministry in Bucharest
    welcomes the fact that Brussels’ and London’s negotiators have arrived at a
    final version of the text of UK’s EU withdrawal agreement. This marks an
    important moment in the negotiation process and paves the way for defining a
    close and strong future relationship between the EU and London, which is
    Romania’s strategic objective, given the bilateral strategic partnership and
    the close security cooperation, which is important to maintain in the context
    of the developments in the eastern neighborhood, where Romania and Great
    Britain share a common objective, reads a press release from the Romanian
    foreign ministry. The withdrawal agreement will guarantee the protection of the
    rights of all Romanian citizens who settle in Great Britain before 31st December
    2020. They will be able to continue to work, live and study in Britain after
    obtaining a settled status, the ministry also says.




    SIF – The Government on Thursday passed an emergency decree setting
    up the Sovereign Investment Fund. The Fund is aimed at developing and helping
    build profitable businesses in priority fields for the Romanian state, either
    standalone or jointly with external investors or other investment funds.
    Stipulated in the 2017-2020 governing platform and drawing on experience of
    states such as France, Norway, Poland or Italy, the Sovereign Fund will
    comprise profitable Romanian state-owned companies with a joint capital of some 2 billion euros.




    SURVEY – Over 60% of Romanians have contracted loans while 37% of
    them have monthly expenses tantamount to their revenue, reads a survey on
    Romanians’ financial habits released on Thursday. As regards loans, 83% of
    Romanians trust the banking system, saying they would take out a loan from a
    bank if they needed money. Additionally, 70% of Romanians who took out loans to
    finance a previous debt say their situation will improve in the future. 45% of
    Romanians have no family savings and the little they put on the side is
    destined for emergency situations.




    EXERCISE – Some 1,800 Romanian and foreign military backed by 250
    pieces of technical equipment are taking part in the Scorpions Fury multinational exercise under way at the shooting
    range in Cincu, central Romania until the 16th of November. The aim
    is to evaluate the capacity of the Headquarters Multinational
    Brigade South East in Craiova, in the south, to ensure the command and control
    of a NATO collective defense operation. The military carry out both
    computer-assisted command exercises and field training and tactical combat
    shooting exercises. Turkish, Polish, Bulgarian, Italian and Portuguese as well
    as Romanian military are taking part.




    MEETING – Romania’s Interior Minister Carmen Dan on Thursday met in Budapest
    with Hungarian Deputy Prime Minister for National Security Sandor Pinter. The
    agenda for talks focused on bilateral and regional cooperation and the upcoming
    agenda of the Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting, ahead of Romania’s
    taking over the EU Council presidency in the first half of 2019. Minister Dan
    presented the priorities of Romania’s term in office ahead of the council
    meeting, with complex topics outside internal security, border crossing
    management and civil protection. Attending were also the heads of the Romanian
    Police and the Romanian Border Police.





    COMMITTEE – Members of the Romanian-Moldovan inter-Government
    committee for economic cooperation on Thursday signed a cooperation protocol in
    several fields. The document was signed by Moldovan Minister of Economy and
    Infrastructure, Chiril Gaburici, and Romania’s Minister for the Business
    Environment, Trade and Entrepreneurship, Stefan Radu Oprea. Moldova will
    cooperate with Romania in the field of economy, SMEs, and connecting certain
    towns and villages in Moldova to Romania’s drinking water grid. Additional
    cross-border projects were discussed, such as the Romanian Mobile Emergency Service for Resuscitation and
    Extrication (SMURD) and the bridge over the river Prut. Moldova’s energy issues
    were also tackled during the meeting. Minister Oprea reiterated Romania’s
    support for Moldova’s European accession. The next inter-government committee
    meeting is slated for June 2019 in Bucharest.




    RADIRO – Starting November 18
    Bucharest plays host to one of the most important music events of the year: the
    International Radio Orchestras Festival – RaDiRo. The festival marks 90 years
    since the public radio was founded and 100 years since the Great Union. The
    Radio Concert Hall and the Auditorium Hall of the Fine Arts Museum will host 8
    symphonic concerts and 4 jazz concerts. This year’s guests include pianist
    Mihai Ritivoiu and cellist Andrei Ionita, alongside the famous vocalist Aura
    Urziceanu. Europe’s oldest radio
    orchestra, MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra from Germany, will return to
    Romania this year along with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra of Great Britain,
    Svizzera italiana – Lugano of Switzerland and RTE National Symphony Orchestra
    from Ireland. All concerts are broadcast live on Radio Romania and the Romanian
    Television Corporation, as well as members of the European Radio Broadcasting
    Union.




    MEDAL – Romanian Stefania Claudia Priceputu on Thursday scooped
    bronze in the 50-kg category at the Under-23 World Wrestling Championships
    underway in Bucharest. In the bronze final the Romanian defeated Lisa Ersel of
    Germany. Romania so far has won another two medals: Mihai Radu Mihut won bronze
    in the 63-kg Greek-Roman event, while Nicu Ojog won the silver medal in the
    82-kg category. Also worth mentioning is that Romania will win either silver or
    gold after Alexandra Anghel has qualified in the 72-kg category final, where
    she will take on Turkey’s Buse Tosun. A total of 30 athletes represent Romania
    in this year’s edition.


    (Translated by C. Mateescu & V. Palcu)



  • 15 November 2018

    15 November 2018

    Strike. Negotiations between the Bucharest metro trade unions and the
    management are due to continue, following a warning strike this morning. The metro
    employees threaten to go on a general strike beginning on the 19th
    of November. They demand a 42% salary increase, but were only offered an 18%
    increase by the management. According to the transport minister Lucian Sova,
    the salaries of metro employees have grown every year in the last four years, the
    last time by 21% last year. 700,000 people use the Bucharest metro every day.




    EU presidency. Romania is ready to
    take over and successfully carry out its term as holder of the EU Council
    presidency in the first part of next year, prime minister Viorica Dancila has
    again given assurances. The events schedule has been finalised and all working
    mechanisms have been created. We have the capacity to show our European
    partners that Romania is a balanced and responsible member state, determined to
    contribute to the future of the European Union, regardless of the purely
    political considerations at one time or another, the Romanian prime minister
    also said. Tuesday’s vote in the European Parliament is one such example and I
    assure you that it will not make us stray from our objectives, said Dancila. She
    added that she was disappointed with the conclusions of the Cooperation and
    Verification Mechanism report, given that Romania has proved to be a loyal and
    fair partner of the European Union. We recall that European Parliament’s resolution
    and the aforementioned report are critical of the changes to the justice laws
    made by the ruling coalition formed by the Social Democratic Party and the
    Alliance of Liberals and Democrats.




    Romania-Brexit. The foreign ministry in Bucharest welcomes the fact that
    Brussels’ and London’s negotiators have arrived at a final version of the text
    of UK’s EU withdrawal agreement. This marks an important moment in the
    negotiation process and paves the way for defining a close and strong future
    relationship between the EU and London, which is Romania’s strategic objective,
    given the bilateral strategic partnership and the close security cooperation,
    which is important to maintain in the context of the developments in the
    eastern neighbourhood, where Romania and Great Britain share a common
    objective, reads a press release from the Romanian foreign ministry. The
    withdrawal agreement will guarantee the protection of the rights of all
    Romanian citizens who settle in Great Britain before 31st December 2020. They will
    be able to continue to work, live and study in Britain after obtaining a
    settled status, the ministry also says.




    Brexit deal. The
    British government has seen a number of resignation over the Brexit agreement,
    including Brexit minister Dominic Raab. On Wednesday, British prime minister
    Theresa May secured her cabinet’s approval of the agreement, but conflicting
    views still exist within her cabinet. She will also have to convince an equally
    divided Parliament to back the agreement.




    Fund. An emergency order on the creation of the Sovereign Investment Fund
    is on today’s Bucharest government agenda. The Fund is aimed at expanding or building
    profitable businesses in priority areas for the Romanian state either on its
    own or together with other investors or investment funds. Included in the governing
    platform for the 2017-2020 period and based on the experience of states such as
    France, Norway, Poland and Italy, the Sovereign Fund will mainly be comprised
    of profitable state companies and will have a value of over 10 billion euros.




    Military. Some 1,800 Romanian and
    foreign military backed by 250 pieces of technical equipment are taking part in
    the Scorpions Fury multinational exercise under way at the shooting range in
    Cincu, central Romania until the 16th of November. The aim is to evaluate
    the capacity of the Headquarters Multinational Brigade South East in Craiova, in the south, to ensure
    the command and control of a NATO collective defence operation. The military
    carry out both computer-assisted command exercises and field training and
    tactical combat shooting exercises. Turkish, Polish, Bulgarian, Italian and
    Portuguese as well as Romanian military are taking part.








    Fair. The 25th Gaudeamus
    International Educational Book Fair organised by Radio Romania continues until
    Sunday. Today’s events include a debate entitled Do we still need literary
    clubs? and the launch of the book The History of Romania for Children in 100
    Images. 900 different events are held by the over 300 participating
    publishers.






    Football. Romania’s Under 21 football side today
    face Belgium in Cluj in a friendly match. Both sides have qualified for the European
    Under-21 Championship to be hosted by Italy and San Marino in June next year.
    12 sides will be taking part. This is the second time Romania have qualified for
    this tournament after 1998, when it was hosted by Bucharest. On Saturday,
    Romania’s senior side face Lithuania at home in a League C Group 4 match of the
    UEFA Nations League. In their final match in this newly created competition,
    Romania play against Montenegro on Tuesday. With one win and three draws,
    Romania have amassed six points. Serbia top the group with 8 points, followed
    by Montenegro with 7.





  • Sovereign Investment Fund

    Sovereign Investment Fund

    On Wednesday Romania’s Chamber of Deputies, as a decision-making forum, adopted the draft law on setting up the Sovereign Development and Investment Fund. The fund is to receive from the state minority or majority stakes in 33 companies, as well as 9 billion lei in cash, the equivalent of some 2 billion Euros, to be disbursed in the next five years. The list of companies includes resounding names such as Electrica, RomGaz, Nuclear Electrica, OMV Petrom, Antibiotice, CFR- The Romanian Railway Company and Poşta Română- the Romanian Post.



    The Sovereign Fund’s activity and the way in which it fulfils its objectives will be assessed every year by the Finance Ministry, and the results will be forwarded to the Government. Representatives of the Social Democratic Party and of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, in the ruling coalition, have said the Fund gives Romania a chance to develop through investments. According to the Social-Democratic leader Liviu Dragnea the project is one of the pillars of the governing program, the more so as such Funds are functioning successfully the world over:


    Liviu Dragnea: “Similar investment funds are functioning in many countries in Europe, in many countries of the world, and they have helped those countries’ economies. It is a Fund which will contribute to developing Romania’s big infrastructure, to Romania’s re-industrialization process, it will help investments in agriculture, will generate many jobs and will contribute significantly to increasing the gross domestic product.”



    In another move, the right-of-centre opposition accuses it of undermining the national economy. An MP of the Save Romania Union, Cosette Chichirău, claims the Sovereign Development and Investment Fund does not have an economic but a political purpose:



    Cosette Chichirău: “You need liquidities right away to pay electoral handouts, but the budget does no longer allow you to do that. Consequently, you want to create an instrument to indebt yourselves, without including this debt into the public debt. You stretched your arm further than your sleeve will reach and now you have to sell profitable shares to pay for electoral insanity. The Romanian state is being stripped of all its possessions, in all domains.”



    A superstructure or a company above other companies, the Fund, in its first years, before getting consolidated, should not make so-called non-productive investments, even though useful, says economic analyst Constantin Rudniţchi. In other words, why should a hospital or a highway be built with money from the Fund and not from the state budget or with European funds?



    Constantin Rudniţchi: “The logic behind such a Fund is that it should make profitable investments, to bring in money. It becomes a strong Fund on the market, it is traded on solid international markets, thus attracting new investors, bringing much more capital to the Fund, from outside, that is not from the companies which are part of the Fund. It is this money that the Fund should invest, investments that are usually made with money from the budget.”



    Given that the right-of-centre opposition will contest the constitutionality of the draft law setting up the Sovereign Development and Investment Fund, the bill will be sent to president Klaus Iohannis for promulgation only after the Constitutional Court issues its verdict.