Radio România Internațional

Tag: Transcarpathia

  • November 17, 2017 UPDATE

    November 17, 2017 UPDATE

    NO-CONFIDENCE MOTION — The National Liberal Party and the Save Romania Union, in opposition, tabled a no-confidence motion in Parliament, against the government made up of the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats. As many as 148 MPs signed the motion. Initiated after the government amended the Fiscal Code, the no-confidence motion is also backed by the People’s Movement Party and the independent MPs. The Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania announced it will not sign the motion while the Pro Romania Party, led by former PM Victor Ponta will not back the motion either. The new version of the Fiscal Code switches the responsibility for social security payments from employers to employees and cuts income taxes from 16% to 10%, as of January 1, 2018. Over the past few weeks, street protests have been held in Bucharest and other major Romanian cities against the government’s plans to change the tax code and the laws on the judiciary. On the other hand, PM Mihai Tudose claims that the new fiscal reform would result in more money to the state budget and social security budget, and will reduce bureaucracy. On Friday, the Social Democratic Party announced in a report, after ten months in power, that more than 100 objectives in their governing programme have been fulfilled.




    PRESIDENCY – Romanian President Klaus Iohannis spoke on Friday in Gothenburg, Sweden, at a social summit on fair jobs and growth in the EU, about education as means of easing the accwess to the labour market. He pointed out that special attention should be paid to giving access to the labour market to vulnerable categories such as the Roma, the people with disabilities and the elderly. Iohannis also said Romania will stand for an education system adapted to the needs of the economy, so that the best solutions be found to create jobs for the young people. Also on Friday, the European Pillar of Social Rights was proclaimed and signed by the Council of the EU, the European Parliament and the Commission during the Gothenburg Social Summit for fair jobs and growth. The objective of the Pillar is to contribute to social progress by supporting fair and well-functioning labour markets and welfare systems and sets out 20 principles and rights, divided into three categories, namely, equal opportunities and access to labour market, dynamic labour markets and fair working conditions and also public support, social protection and inclusion.




    TRANSCARPATHIA – Students and teachers in the Romanian language schools in Transcarpathia, a region in south-western Ukraine, that is home to over 40,000 ethnic Romanians, are currently being assessed by a commission of the Education Ministry in Kiev. Teachers are outraged, saying the evaluation, the first in many years, is in fact aimed at proving that the schools of the national ethnic minorities are not good enough, that teachers are unable to offer students high level training and that pupils are insufficiently prepared to have their national evaluation tests. Teachers say the evaluation is nothing but a disguised form of pressure and intimidation, following the contested education law in Ukraine, which infringes upon the constitutional rights of the ethnic minorities to study in their own language. In late October, experts of the Venice Commission paid a visit to Kiev to assess the newly created situation following the adoption of the education law, which has been criticised also by Bucharest.




    NICOSIA — The state secretary for bilateral and strategic affairs in the Euro-Atlantic area, George Ciamba, held consultations in Nicosia, with several Cypriot officials together with whom he approached the migration issue as well as the priorities of the Romanian presidency of the EU Council, in the first half of 2019. During the meeting with the Cypriot foreign minister Ioannis Kasoulides, George Ciamba has underlined the interest taken by Romania in rendering the bilateral dialogue more dynamic, given the traditional cooperation between the two states, and has also referred to the presence of a large Romanian community in Cyprus and of a Cypriot business community in Romania. In the field of migration, the officials reiterated their support for the EU’s actions to strengthen cooperation with its foreign partners, both countries of origin and transit countries, and to further implement the EU-Turkey Declaration. Relative to the Eastern Neighbourhood, the officials underlined the need to further support the Republic of Moldova on its European path. The Cypriot officials reiterated their support for Bucharest’s candidacy for a non-permanent member seat of the UN Security Council in the 2020 — 2021 period and for Romania’s Schengen accession.




    TRAVEL FAIR– The 38th edition of Romania’s Travel Fair brings together until Sunday over 200 tour operators and travel agencies. 12 foreign countries from around the globe chose to have their own stands at the fair, just like Romanian county councils, which try to promote Romania’s travel destinations.


    (Translated by Elena Enache)







  • November 17, 2017

    November 17, 2017

    CENSURE MOTION – The National Liberal Party and the Save Romania Union, in opposition, on Friday filed a censure motion in Parliament, against the government made up of the Social Democratic Party-the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats. The motion has been signed by 148 MPs. The motion, initiated after the government amended the Fiscal Code, is also backed by the Peoples Movement Party and by the independent MPs. The Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania will not sign the motion and the Pro Romania party, led 8by the former PM Victor Ponta will not back the motion, either, saying a replacement of the PSD government with a PNL cabinet would not be a good solution for Romania. Amendments to the Fiscal Code provides for the transfer of social contributions from employer to employee and a cut in income tax from 16 to 10% as of January 1, 2018. Those contesting the measure say their incomes will actually decrease, and many others will run the risk of loosing their jobs. In exchange, Social-Democrat PM Mihai Tudose claims that, by the fresh fiscal reform, much more money will go to the budget and the pension fund, and companies will benefit from simplified procedures. Over the past few weeks, against the backdrop of the ruling coalitions plans to amend the Fiscal Code and the Justice Laws, people took to the streets in the big cities across the country, particularly in Bucharest.



    SUMMIT – Romanias President Klaus Iohannis is today attending the Social Summit on promoting equitable jobs and economic growth in the EU, venued by Gothenburg, in Sweden. The summit brings together EU heads of state and government, social partners as well as other key players. The summit includes an introductory plenary session and three thematic sessions on access to the labour market, the current situation on the labour market and the transition between jobs on the labour market. The Romanian President said Romania will stand for a new education system adapted to the needs of the economy, so that the best solutions be found to create jobs for young people, on the one hand, and to properly train youngsters to successfully enter the labour market, on the other. According to FP, the summit is part of the offensive launched by Brussels and Sweden to regain the citizens confidence in face of rising populism which renders Europe fragile. After the Brexit shock and against the backdrop of growing Euro-scepticism in the EU member states, including in Germany and Austria as of late, the European Commission is determined to show that the EU is not a mere big market, but it wants to reduce inequalities.



    TRANSCARPATHIA – Students and teachers in the schools with teaching in the Romanian language, in the Transcarpathia region in south-western Ukraine, which is home to over 40,000 ethnic Romanians, are currently being assessed by a commission of the Education Ministry in Kiev. The teachers are outraged, saying the evaluation, which hasnt been made for years, would be aimed at proving that the schools of the national ethnic minorities would not be proficient enough, teachers would not be able to teach at a high quality standard and pupils would not be properly educated and ready to take national evaluation tests. Teachers say the evaluation will actually be a disguised form of exerting pressure and of intimidation, following the contested education law in Ukraine, which infringes upon the constitutional rights of the ethnic minorities to study in their languages. In late October, experts of the Venice Commission paid a visit to Kiev to assess the newly created situation following the adoption of the education law, which has been criticised also from Bucharest.



    NICOSIA – The state secretary for bilateral and strategic affairs in the Euro-Atlantic area, George Ciamba, has held consultations in Nicosia, with several Cypriot officials together with whom he approached the migration issue as well as the priorities of the Romanian presidency of the EU Council, in the first half of 2019. During the meeting with the Cypriot foreign minister Ioannis Kasoulides, George Ciamba has underlined the interest taken by Romania in rendering the dialogue more dynamic, given the traditional cooperation between the two states, and has also referred to the presence of a large Romanian community in Cyprus and of a Cypriot business community in Romania. In the field of migration, the officials reiterated their support for the EUs actions to strengthen cooperation with foreign partners, origin and transit countries, and for further implementing the EU-Turkey Declaration. Relative to the Eastern Neighbourhood, the officials underlined the need to further support the Republic of Moldova on its European path. The Cypriot officials reiterated their support for Bucharests candidacy for a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in the 2020 – 2021 period and for Romanias Schengen accession.



    TRAVEL FAIR– The 38th edition of Romanias Travel Fair bring together until Sunday over 200 tour operators and travel agencies. 12 foreign countries from around the globe chose to have their own stands at the fair, just like Romanian county councils which try to promote Romanias travel destinations.

  • October 8, 2016

    October 8, 2016

    VISIT– Slovak President, Andrej Kiska, will pay a two-day state visit to Romania, as of Monday, at the invitation of his Romanian counterpart, Klaus Iohannis. According to a communiqué issued by the Romanian Presidential Administration, the main aim of the visit is to consolidate bilateral ties, at political, economic and sectoral level and to boost cooperation on European issues of topical interest, in a context marked by many challenges. Given that Slovakia is currently holding the half-yearly presidency of the EU Council, the talks will mainly focus on the European agenda, and President Iohannis will present Romanias stance on the future of Europe- the aforementioned source also says. Iohannis will also underline the need to further strengthen economic cooperation, starting from the historical record high of two-way trade exchanges reported in 2015, worth 2.4 billion Euros, which is on the rise. On Tuesday, the two presidents will open the Romanian-Slovak Business Forum and will meet, in the western town of Nadlac, with representatives of the Slokav community in Romania.



    ROMANIAN DIASPORA – The town of Slatina in the western Ukrainian region of Transcarpathia (a.k.a. Zakarpattia) is today hosting the first meeting of the Romanian cultural associations in Ukraine. Initiated by the Dacia Union of the Romanians living in Transcarpathia, jointly with the Department for the Romanian Diaspora with the Romanian Foreign Ministry, the meeting is devoted to the problems encountered by these organisations in their activity, particularly financing. Almost half a million ethnic Romanians are living in the neighbouring state of Ukraine, most of them residing in localities along the common border, in the Romanian eastern territories annexed by the former USSR in 1940, following an ultimatum, and taken over by Ukraine in 1991, as a successor state.



    COLECTIV TRAGEDY – Approximately one year after tragedy struck the Bucharest-based Colectiv nightclub, justice takes its course, with a trial being opened into the case. 64 people died and over 100 others got injured in the fire which accidentally broke out on the night of October 30 to 31, 2015. The three owners of the club are accused of manslaughter, bodily harm and of not taking the legal work health and safety measures. The indictment compiled by the Prosecutor Generals Office shows, among others, that they encouraged and permitted the access of a large number of people, far beyond the allowed limit, in the absence of emergency exit ways, also accepting the organisation of an indoor pyrotechnical show, in spite of improper insulation. The owners of the pyrotechnical company, one of their employees and two legal persons are being tried in the same case. The huge collective emotion produced by the Colectiv tragedy generated massive anti-corruption rallies in Romania, which led to the resignation of the coalition cabinet led by Social-Democrat Victor Ponta, on November 4, and its replacement by the technocratic government led by Dacian Ciolos.



    PARTY LEADER – The National Council of the National Liberal Party, the second largest party in the Romanian Parliament on Saturday confirmed Alina Gorghiu as the Liberals only president, following the resignation tendered by Vasile Blaga from the position of party co-president. On September 28, Blaga stepped down, after anti-corruption prosecutors announced he was subject to legal restrictions pending trial in a corruption case. The acts of corruption were reportedly carried out in the 2009-2012 period, when Blaga was interior minister and later on Senate Speaker, and he favoured the preferential granting of contracts. In exchange for this influence peddling, he would have received commissions worth 10% of the value of contracts, that is 700,000 Euros for himself and the party he was a member of, the Liberal Democratic Party, which later merged with the National Liberal Party.



    HURRICANE MATTHEW – A Romanian officer from the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations will lead the team which will assess the damage produced by hurricane Matthew in Haiti. Colonel Marius Dogean will also coordinate international assistance, including aid relief operations to the disaster-affected population. Boasting an extensive experience in the field of civil protection, with a career spanning over 15 years, Marius Dogean was designated by the European Commission head of the EU Civil Protection Team which will go to that Caribbean island, where approximately 900 were killed by the hurricane. Colonel Dogean also travelled to and worked extensively in Jordan, in 2012, during the crisis caused by the massive flow of refugees from Syria, and a year later in the Philippines, following Typhoon Hayian. He was also one of the national experts dispatched by the European Commission to the conflict area in Southern Sudan, on an assessment mission.



    FOOTBALL Romanias national football squad will take on Armenia this evening in an away fixture counting towards the World Cup preliminaries in 2018. In the same group, E, Poland take on Denmark and Montenegro face Kazakhstan. Three days after the match in Yerevan, Romania face Kazakhstan, also away from home. Last month the national team were held to a 1-all draw by Montenegro on home turf, in what counts as the debut game for the newly appointed manager of the national team, the German Christoph Daum, the first foreign manager to have been appointed at the helm of the national team. This autumn, Romania also takes on Poland on home turf, on November 11th. (Translated by D. Vijeu)