Radio România Internațional

Tag: swap

  • Preparations for government swap

    Preparations for government swap

    The Liberal PM Nicolae Ciucă announced he would hand over the post on May 26, to the leader of the Social Democratic Party, Marcel Ciolacu, who in turn is to step down as speaker of the Chamber of Deputies and take over as prime minister until the elections due in 2024.



    The talks between the Liberals and the Social Democrats regarding the new government are to begin on Wednesday, after both Ciucă and Ciolacu received flexible negotiation authority from the leading bodies of their respective parties.



    The Liberals want fewer state secretaries and under-secretaries, and want the protocol on which the ruling coalition is based to stay in force. PM Nicolae Ciucă said that unless the protocol remains valid, the Liberals would seek to renegotiate the distribution of all ministry positions.



    Nicolae Ciucă: “The National Liberal Party has not asked for anything but to keep the protocol in effect. The National Political Bureau entrusted these negotiations to us, and during these negotiations, after we have seen the requests made by the other partners, we will make a decision. If the protocol is discarded, the alternative is to renegotiate all posts in ministries, on one condition that I mentioned before, namely to lower the number of ministries and all the posts in the public system-state secretary, under secretary, agencies, public corporations and so on.



    In turn, the Social Democrats want a streamlined cabinet, with fewer ministries, state secretaries and government agencies. The Social Democratic leader announced he would like the right people to be appointed to lead public institutions.



    Marcel Ciolacu: “My fellow party members authorised us to discuss with each minister, after the new cabinet has been formed, and especially with the cabinet members who held positions in the previous governmental team, and together with the president of the National Liberal Party, Mr. Nicolae Ciucă, to discuss the number and the responsibilities of state secretaries in each ministry, depending on the importance of that particular ministry. What I wish for is to have a cabinet with the right people in the right places, I want this new political approach, where the best people become part of the new government.”



    Nicolae Ciucă and Marcel Ciolacu emphasised that they want the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania to stay in the ruling coalition, after its officials warned that the party would leave the government if they lost any positions following the changeover.



    The political basis for this PM rotation is an agreement signed in November 2021, with the establishment of the National Coalition for Romania, which comprises the Social Democrats, the Liberals and the Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, and which is supported by the parliamentary group representing ethnic minorities.



    It is for the first time in Romanias post-1989 history when a prime minister rotation takes place. (AMP)

  • Political Priorities

    Political Priorities


    After a rather long winter recess, which started well before Christmas, on December 14, 2022, Romanian MPs are returning to work on Wednesday, February 1, 2023, for the first parliamentary session of the year.



    Among their priorities, the mass media notice, are sensitive bills, such as the one capping special pensions at the level of the salaries paid for the respective positions, or the ones amending the education laws, on which the parties in the ruling coalition, the Social Democrats, the Liberals and the Ethnic Hungarians in Romania are yet to reach an agreement.



    The Undergraduate Education Bill and the Higher Education Bill are still being analysed by education experts in the 3 parties. These are part of the Educated Romania project, launched nearly a decade ago by president Klaus Iohannis, and still pending approval.



    According to the timetable agreed by political decision-makers, these bills should be passed by the government in February and reach Parliament in March, for endorsement. But the Social Democratic MP Vasile Dîncu said recently that he had asked his party chief Marcel Ciolacu to request an extension for the education laws deadline, for further consultations. On the other hand, the Liberal spokesman Ionuţ Stroe insists that the original timetable must be complied with.



    Another bill to be discussed and endorsed concerns the pension benefits granted to certain categories of public sector employees, including magistrates, court staff and military personnel.



    Ahead of the elections due in 2024, another bill pending in Parliament stipulates that at least one-third of the candidates for parliamentary and local elections must be women.



    Meanwhile, analysts say, the Liberals and the Social Democrats are planning ahead for the PM rotation decided by the ruling coalition. Under a protocol in this respect, the 2 main coalition members are to swap posts at the end of May, when the Social Democrat Marcel Ciolacu should replace the Liberal Nicolae Ciucă as prime minister, and the latter should take over the Senate speaker post, currently held by his fellow Liberal Alina Gorghiu.



    The Liberals insist that, under the protocol, some government ministers should also be replaced, although the Social Democrats would like to keep the offices where they claim their members have put up good performances, such as Sorin Grindeanu at the transport ministry and Adrian Câciu at the finance ministry. (AMP)


  • December 29, 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)