Radio România Internațional

Tag: TRANSPORTERS

Compensations for Romanian transporters

At the end of this month, Romania and Bulgaria, members of the European Union since 2007, will finally be admitted into the Schengen free movement area. But only with the air and maritime borders, not with the land ones, which are crossed by most travelers and goods. A singular voice among the 27 member states of the Union, Austria still has objections regarding the admission of the two countries, although Romania, at least, has been meeting all the technical requirements for more than a decade.

About 25 million Romanians and Bulgarians continue to feel like second-class Europeans, which, commentators say, will fuel, this year – when elections for the European Parliament are due – the electoral share of Eurosceptic or overtly anti-European parties. Economic analysts point out, in turn, that the burden of keeping Romania outside the Schengen Area was borne by the private sector. In the transport sector alone, losses due to the unjustified delay of accession amount to more than 16 billion euros, accumulated since 2011.

Everyone seems to agree that the most affected are the drivers of cargo trucks. Due to the controls at the internal borders of the Union, they sometimes lose days in a row in customs. And, upon arrival, the beneficiary of the journey can penalize them for the delay, and the perishable goods arrive already altered. Finally, the Bucharest authorities decided to take measures to compensate for the negative effects on transport activities caused by postponing the Schengen accession.

Therefore, the food allowance will be instituted for mobile workers in road transport, in the amount of 40 euros per day, and the companies in the field will have the opportunity to grant posting allowances within the limit of four driver’s basic salaries. The bill, initiated by the National Liberal Party (member of the government coalition together with the Social Democratic Party) was unanimously endorsed by the Senate on Monday.

On behalf of the initiators, Liberal senator Alexandru Nazare said:

“The introduction of a food allowance. Why? Because it is mandatory at European level. All European states have it. Romanian transporters must clearly state the amount earmarked for a driver’s food. Today they can’t do it, because we don’t have this clearly defined food allowance.”

From the opposition, the Save Romania Union voted, in turn, in favor of the draft law. Senator Cristian Bordei

“This bill comes with some really good provisions, but, unfortunately, they reflect the fact that the state has to spend money, because we’re faced with this catastrophic failure regarding the admission of Romania to Schengen with the land borders .”

The document is now bound for the Chamber of Deputies, which is the decision-making body in this matter. (MI)

19 March 2024
February 15, 2024

CONFERENCE The Romanian Minister of Culture, Raluca Turcanu, who is these days participating in the World Conference on Cultural and Artistic Education in Abu Dhabi, has underlined the commitment of the institution that is heading to supporting cultural and education programmes contributing to the construction of a sustainable, equitable and resilient future. The Minister has mentioned the steps taken by Romania in this respect such as the process of reinvigorating libraries, museums, theatres or other cultural institutions, increasing the equitable access to education and culture, the institutionalization and valorization of the ecosystems of cultural and artistic education including by means of digital technologies, the importance of funding education and culture, the foundation for cultural and educational policies with a view to training the new generation, the Ministry of Culture says in a communiqué. The Conference, which ends today in the United Arab Emirates, has been the first UNESCO event dedicated to this subject. The event has brought together roughly 90 ministers and deputy-ministers of culture and education from around the world, who endorsed a joint statement presenting international desiderata in terms of education through culture and art.

MEETING The Italian capital Rome is today seeing the third meeting of the governments of Romania and Italy, under the leadership of the two Prime Ministers, Marcel Ciolacu and Giorgia Meloni. The event has taken place 13 years since the previous inter-government meeting. Earlier this morning, the Romanian Prime Minister was received by Pope Francis at the Vatican, upon which he talked with the state secretary of the Holy See, Cardinal Pietro Parolin. The Romanian delegation’s visit to Italy will end with a Romania-Italy economic forum. On Wednesday, in the first day of the visit in Italy, the head of the Executive in Bucharest, held talks with the mayor of Rome and representatives of the community of Romanians in Italy. Italy is Romania’s second major trade partner, the second market for the Romanian exports, and the second major source for Romania’s imports. The two countries last year reached a record high of their bilateral trade, which stood at over 20 billion Euros. Italy comes sixth in the ranking of foreign investment in Romania.

NATO In 2024, 18 NATO member countries are to hit the target of earmarking at least 2% of their GDP for defence, the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg announced on Wednesday ahead of the meeting of NATO defence ministers. According to the high NATO official, the European NATO members will be investing a total of 380 billion dollars in defence this year. At the same time, Stoltenberg said that last year saw an unprecedented 11% rise in defence expenses in countries like Canada and the European members. NATO members agreed in 2006 to spend at least 2% of their GDP on defence, but only some of them, Romania included have reached this objective. However, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the NATO members, especially Germany, have reiterated the pledge.

CALL Romania’s transporters have called on the Romanian government to intervene and put an end to the checking procedures initiated by the Bulgarian customs officers, which they consider abusive and which have been causing huge delays at the border between the two countries. The National Union of the Road Transporters has called on the Romanian Prime Minister, the Ministers of Transport and the Foreign Minister asking for support in this issue. Even in the absence of measures for solving the situation, the transporters have called for a decoupling of the two countries in the process of their Schengen accession. They argue that if they still have to wait for days at the Bulgarian border, at least the Schengen accession without Bulgaria would reduce the delays at the border with Hungary. Romania and Bulgaria are to be joining Schengen in March this year but only with their air and maritime borders.

15 February 2024
January 21, 2024 UPDATE

Protests – The Alliance for Agriculture and Cooperation, made up of several national organizations of Romanian farmers, requested the authorities in Bucharest to take all steps to convince the European forums to support the measures that can protect farmers in the Union from the effects of the sale of cheaper cereals from Ukraine. The Alliance made this move in the context of the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council meeting due on Tuesday, to discuss the proposals from five states, including Romania, regarding the regulation of Ukrainian grain trade. The Romanian farmers are asking for the introduction of a European system for monitoring the transport of Ukrainian agricultural products, a system that should guarantee that they reach their destination and do not remain on the route. Also dissatisfied with the drop in grain prices generated by Ukrainian imports, Romanian farmers protested, these past days, throughout the country, temporarily blocking customs offices at the border with Ukraine. Cheaper than those in the EU, Ukrainian cereals do not have to meet European quality standards.

Parliament — The Romanian Senate was convened, on Monday, in an extraordinary session, to adopt the emergency ordinances recently issued by the government in the context of the farmers and transporters protests. There are several laws – one of them refers to the excise duty on diesel fuel, while other modifies regulations in the field of road transport. The government adopted the ordinances on Thursday as an urgent response to the requests of farmers and transporters who have been protesting throughout the country for more than 11 days. The emergency ordinances were proposed after negotiations from the Ministries of Agriculture and Transport. One of them modifies road transport regulations. The new provisions will allow category B license holders to also drive agricultural or forestry tractors with a maximum speed of 40 km/h on public roads. Another amendment eliminates the obligation to carry out the periodic technical inspection of slow vehicles, respectively of those whose maximum designed speed is up to 25 km/h. Regarding the diesel fuel excise duty, the Government decided to postpone until June 1 the application of a European directive by which diesel and kerosene must have the same tax mark. The ordinances were adopted to respond to an emergency situation, during the parliament recess, so, according to the Constitution, the Parliament must be convened to turn them into laws. In this case, the Senate is the first chamber notified.

Weather — The bad weather affected several areas in Romania. In Bucharest, more than 20 cars were damaged by fallen trees as a result of the heavy snowfalls. On some sections of national roads, road traffic was temporarily blocked due to the layer of snow and ice formed on the road. Currently, traffic unfolds in winter conditions, and the Traffic Police called on drivers not to travel if their cars are not equipped with winter tires. Railway traffic was also affected. On some sections of the railway trains are running at low speed. Other trains are delayed due to broken rails due to the low temperatures. Also, the air traffic at Bucharest’s airports takes place in winter conditions. Delays are reported for some flights due to aircraft de-icing actions, which are carried out after the boarding of passengers.

Meeting — The Romanian Foreign Minister, Luminiţa Odobescu, had a meeting with her Vietnamese counterpart, Bui Thanh Son, in Bucharest on Sunday. He is part of the delegation led by Vietnamese PM Pham Minh Chinh currently on an official visit to Romania. Luminiţa Odobescu and Bui Thanh Son welcomed the state of bilateral relations established 74 years ago and emphasized the need to continue efforts to strengthen cooperation in areas of mutual interest. Ms. Odobescu reiterated her commitment to identifying opportunities for cooperation in such domains as trade, culture and education, digitalization, cyber security, medicine and pharmacy. The Romanian Foreign Minister has given assurances, at the same time, that Romania will remain a constant supporter of the consolidated cooperation between the EU and Vietnam. On Sunday, the Vietnamese PM Pham Minh Chinh was present at the signing of a memorandum of collaboration between the Romanian Institute for Research and Development in Information Technology and the Institute of Technology and Digital Transformation in Vietnam.

Bratislava – Slovakia rejects Ukraines admission into NATO, the PM Robert Fico said on the public radio. He pointed out that he was going to travel, on Wednesday, to Ukraine, to the border town of Uzhhorod, for discussions with his counterpart, Denîs Şmîhal. “I will tell him that we will block and express our veto for Ukraines accession to NATO because it would be nothing but the basis for a third world war”, said Fico, criticized by his opponents as “pro-Russian”. Slovakia, which has been a NATO member since 2004, has long been one of Ukraines staunchest supporters in its defensive campaign against the Russian invasion launched in February 2022. However, after Prime Minister Ficos left-wing nationalist government took over in October 2023, Slovakia decided to stop supplying Kyiv with weapons, although Bratislava continues to send demining systems and diesel generators in case of Russian attacks on power plants. At the 2023 Vilnius summit, NATO stated that Ukraine would be offered an invitation to join when the conditions allow it.

Sculptor – The sculptor Vlad Ciobanu, one of the most valuable fine artists in Romania, passed away at the age of 75. Since 1990 he had taught at the Bucharest National University of Arts. Throughout his career he received numerous awards, including the Prize of the Union of Fine Artists for Sculpture, in 2005. Vlad Ciobanu was the coordinator and curator of several editions of the International Sculpture Symposium ” Brâncusi Workshops” from Târgu Jiu, southwest Romania , in the period 2005-2021. He wrote numerous articles, papers and essays about the famous Romanian sculptor Constantin Brâncuşi. He had numerous solo or group exhibitions in the country and abroad, in the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Serbia, Bulgaria, Austria, Germany, France. Important monuments signed by Vlad Ciobanu can be found, among others, in Alexandria (south) – “Unknown Hero”, Alba Iulia (centre) – “King Ferdinand”, Onești (east) – “Dimitrie Cantemir”. The Artoteca Gallery, in Bucharest, hosted the last solo exhibition by Vlad Ciobanu called “Pilgrim” between December 4, 2023 and January 8, 2024. At the end of the exhibition, Maestro Vlad Ciobanu gave an interview, possibly his last interview, for our radio station, which you can listen to in one of the future editions of World of Culture.

Handball – CSM Bucharest defeated, at home, the Swedish team IK Savehof, 35-26, on Sunday evening, in a match from Group A of the Women’s Handball Champions League. After a more difficult start, the Romanians took control and dominated the match until the end. CSM Bucharest will play their next match on February 3, away from home, against Gyori Audi ETO KC (Hungary). Also on Sunday, the handballers from CS Rapid Bucharest were dramatically defeated, in an away match, by the Danish team Ikast Handbold, 30-29, in Group B of the Champions League. It was the second consecutive away match that Rapid lost by one goal difference. The Rapid players will play the next match at home, on February 4, against the vice-champion FTC-Rail Cargo Hungary. (LS)

21 January 2024
January 21, 2024

Protest — A protest by Romanian transporters and farmers was approved by the general mayor of Bucharest, Nicusor Dan, for three days, starting on Sunday, in the center of Bucharest. In this action, the local administration admitted the participation of no more than 5 thousand people, 100 tractors and 100 truck heads. The Bucharest Prefect, Rareş Hopincă, announced that, until Saturday, when the organizers had the obligation to notify the state institutions regarding the participating vehicles, the presence of only one vehicle had been communicated, but the Gendarmerie can extend this deadline. According to Radio Romania’s correspondents, on Saturday, a new protest took place in Sibiu (center), and dozens of tractors and trucks crossed the main roads of the city. A similar action took place on the southern belt of Craiova (south-west), and on the Jiului Gorge (south-west) tens of vehicles hampered road traffic, driving at low speed. Previously, the protesters also temporarily blocked Siret and Halmeu towns on the border with Ukraine, also dissatisfied with the drop in cereal prices generated by imports from the neighboring country. The European Commission is working on measures to solve to the problems caused by the export of cheap Ukrainian grains to the states bordering Ukraine – Romania, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Bulgaria. The representatives of the EC confirmed that they received a letter from the five countries, one of the requests being aimed at the introduction of import taxes for Ukrainian grains. These are cheaper and do not have to meet the same quality standards as those produced in the EU.

Parliament — The Romanian Senate was convened, on Monday, in an extraordinary session, to adopt the emergency ordinances recently issued by the government in the context of the farmers and transporters protests. There are several laws – one of them refers to the excise duty on diesel fuel, while other modifies regulations in the field of road transport. The government adopted the ordinances on Thursday as an urgent response to the requests of farmers and transporters who have been protesting throughout the country for more than 11 days. The emergency ordinances were proposed after negotiations from the Ministries of Agriculture and Transport. One of them modifies road transport regulations. The new provisions will allow category B license holders to also drive agricultural or forestry tractors with a maximum speed of 40 km/h on public roads. Another amendment eliminates the obligation to carry out the periodic technical inspection of slow vehicles, respectively of those whose maximum designed speed is up to 25 km/h. Regarding the diesel fuel excise duty, the Government decided to postpone until June 1 the application of a European directive by which diesel and kerosene must have the same tax mark. The ordinances were adopted to respond to an emergency situation, but during the parliament recess, so, according to the Constitution, the Parliament must be convened to turn them into laws. In this case, the Senate is the first chamber notified.

Weather — The bad weather affected several areas in Romania. In Bucharest, more than 20 cars were damaged by fallen trees as a result of the heavy snowfalls. On some sections of national roads, road traffic was temporarily blocked due to the layer of snow and ice formed on the road. Currently, traffic unfolds in winter conditions, and the Traffic Police called on drivers not to travel if their cars are not equipped with winter tires. Railway traffic was also affected. On some sections of the railway trains are running at low speed. Other trains are delayed due to broken rails due to the low temperatures. Also, the air traffic at Bucharest’s airports takes place in winter conditions. Delays are reported for some flights due to aircraft de-icing actions, which are carried out after the boarding of passengers.

Heavy snows — At least 50 people have died this week due to severe winter weather affecting the United States, the authorities have announced. Freezing, snow and ice made roads extremely dangerous, disrupted air travel, closed schools and left thousands of homes without electric power. More than 1,100 US flights were canceled and another 8,000 were delayed because of the weather, while the cold persisted in some regions, such as the center of the country. The wave of cold and heavy snow falls also hit Europe. In the west and north, hundreds of flights have been canceled in recent days. Most were at the Frankfurt airport. In Sweden, the snowstorm brought chaos to the roads and school buses, buses and commuter trains stopped running. Low temperatures and snow were also recorded in Great Britain, Scotland and France.

Sculptor – The sculptor Vlad Ciobanu, one of the most valuable fine artists in Romania, passed away at the age of 75. Since 1990 he had taught at the Bucharest National University of Arts. Throughout his career he received numerous awards, including the Prize of the Union of Fine Artists for Sculpture, in 2005. Vlad Ciobanu was the coordinator and curator of several editions of the International Sculpture Symposium ” Brâncusi Workshops” from Târgu Jiu, southwest Romania , in the period 2005-2021. He wrote numerous articles, papers and essays about the famous Romanian sculptor Constantin Brâncuşi. He had numerous solo or group exhibitions in the country and abroad, in the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Serbia, Bulgaria, Austria, Germany, France. Important monuments signed by Vlad Ciobanu can be found, among others, in Alexandria (south) – “Unknown Hero”, Alba Iulia (centre) – “King Ferdinand”, Onești (east) – “Dimitrie Cantemir”. The Artoteca Gallery, in Bucharest, hosted the last solo exhibition by Vlad Ciobanu called “Pilgrim” between December 4, 2023 and January 8, 2024. At the end of the exhibition, Maestro Vlad Ciobanu gave an interview, possibly his last interview, for our radio station, which you can listen to in one of the future editions of World of Culture. (LS)

21 January 2024
January 19, 2024

MINISTER Romanias Foreign Minister, Luminita Odobescu has again firmly condemned Russias aggression war and has reiterated Romanias unflinching support for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the neighboring Ukraine. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Romanian official has underlined the risks of the Russian attacks against the Ukrainian civilians and major infrastructure pose to the regional security.

MEASURES The Romanian executive on Thursday approved the first measures requested by transporters and farmers who have been protesting in Romania for several days now. Its clear that all protests are justified and these decisions confirm the fact that many of these claims are absolutely legitimate – Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu has said. In spite of the measures endorsed by the Executive, protests are still going on around the country. The Bucharest city hall has authorised for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday a protest expected to bring together 5 thousand people, 200 tractors and tractor heads. Family physicians and the personnel of the outpatient care units are also protesting the fund cuts for a series of medical services.

TRIAL The Pfizer company has sued Romania in Brussels to force its government to pay for the anti-Covid vaccine doses they contracted during the pandemic. According to the countrys health minister, Alexandru Rafila, Romania has negotiated for 28 million doses in a contract of roughly 550 million Euros. However, Romania failed to place the order and implicitly to get the contracted doses. The minister explains that against the background of a diminished interest for vaccination, Romania lacked the facilities to stockpile and destroy such a large quantity of vaccine. The Romanian official said he expected Pfizers legal action as that was also the case with other two states, Hungary and Poland. Late last year, the Romanian Anti-Corruption Directorate launched a criminal investigation against the former Prime Minister, Florin Citu, former health ministers Vlad Voiculescu and Ioana Mihaila as well as the former state secretary with the Health Ministry, Andrei Baciu. The have been accused of abuse of office for having contracted much larger quantities of vaccine than needed. Prosecutors have estimated a budget prejudice of over one billion Euros in this case.

WEATHER The weather is getting colder in the countrys northern regions, but highs are still above the usual figures for this period of the year mainly in the south and south-east. The sky is overcast and showers have been reported in some isolated regions. Mixed precipitations are also expected in the west, center, north and north-east, while snowfalls have been reported in the mountains. The wind is blowing at speeds of 45-50 km/h and is expected to reach 70 km/h in the mountains creating blizzards. The highs of the day are ranging between 2 and 14 degrees Celsius with a noon reading in Bucharest of 9 degrees.

TENNIS Romanian tennis player Victor Cornea has obtained his first win in a grand slam tournament today in Melbourne. He together with Indian Nsriram Balaji secured a two-set win 6-3, 6-4 against Matteo Arnaldi and Andrea Pellegrino of Italy in the first round of the mens doubles in Australian Open. The two will next take on Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador and Mate Pavic of Croatia. Australian Open has been Corneas third grand slam tournament after Rolland Garros and US Open

(bill)

19 January 2024
January 18, 2024 UPDATE

LAWS The government
in Bucharest on Thursday endorsed a series of bills to implement the solutions
agreed upon after the talks it had with transporters and farmers following the
latter’s protests of late. Among them there are amendments to the ways of
weighing products at the border checkpoints. Aspects regarding the periodical
technical checking of the vehicles registered in Romania and the professional
certification of the specialized personnel in the field of road transportation
have also been clarified. Under the new amendments, the prices of the mandatory
insurance for trucks will go down. In another development, the government is
granting a direct support of 100 Euros per hectare to the producers of
vegetables in order to offset the losses they incurred due to the war in
Ukraine. Farmers and transporters of Romania carried on their protests on
Thursday for the ninth day in a row. They took to the streets of Afumati, a
commune close to Bucharest, and to the checkpoints at the border with Ukraine. Also
on Thursday, the mayor of Bucharest, Nicusor Dan, announced the local
authorities approved a fresh protest on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday in
Bucharest. Five thousand people, 100 tractors and 100 tractor heads are to
participate in the aforementioned protest. Another professional category who is protesting against the
government’s austerity measures these days is the family physicians and the
medical personnel in the outpatient care units.

RATE According
to data released by the EU statistical office, EUROSTAT, Romania was among the
EU countries with the highest inflation rate, in December last year. The average
inflation rate at EU level stood at 3.4 % in December higher than a month
before, when it reached 3.1%. The EU members with the highest inflation rates
were the Czech Republic with 7.6%, Romania with 7% and Slovakia with 6.6%. The
lowest inflation rates were reported in Denmark, 0.4%, Italy and Belgium, each
with 0.5%. As compared to November 2023, the annual inflation rate went down in
15 member states, was stable in Spain and rose in 11 countries.

DEFICIT Romania’s
budget deficit this year will be around 5% of the GDP, Finance Minister Marcel
Bolos has announced. He said that Romania is among the countries with significant
deficits, and that ten countries, including Poland and France will enter the excessive
deficit procedure. According to Bolos, the government in Bucharest has to carry
on its fiscal-budgetary measures, projects related to digitization, or aimed at
implementing an improved collection of taxes and fighting tax evasion.

EU The
European Commission has announced it kicked off a detailed research into the
legislation of Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, the first step in the process
of the two countries’ EU accession. The Commission is concurrently assessing
the way in which, Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova have already applied what
the EU has requested as a preliminary condition. The Community Executive is
working on a draft of the negotiation framework with the two states, a document
to be submitted to the Council for approval, which will also mark the formal
opening of the accession negotiations. The decision to launch this process was made
by the European Council in December 2023.

(bill)

18 January 2024
January 15, 2024 UPDATE

Protests — Romania’s PM Marcel Ciolacu asked the heads of the ministries in direct dialogue these days with transporters and farmers to speed up the drafting of laws that would solve the problems reported by the protesters. At Mondays meeting, the ministers presented the timetable for the approval of the respective draft laws, so that the first decisions with agreed measures in support of farmers and transporters should be adopted at the following government meetings. The Financial Supervisory Authority has announced that it is already working on a set of measures that will reduce Liability Car Insurance rates, especially for those who do not cause accidents. As far as the agricultural field is concerned, the Agriculture Minister, Florin Barbu, and the representatives of the agricultural associations agreed during Mondays negotiations to several requests from the farmers. Among them are the emergency granting of the Agency for Payments and Intervention in Agriculture – APIA payments, the compensation of losses suffered by Romanian farmers who were affected by imports from Ukraine and the updating of the value of state aid regarding the reimbursement of the excise duty on diesel fuel purchased and used in agriculture. Meanwhile, the protests of farmers and transporters continued, on Monday, on several roads in the country.

Healthcare – The Romanian Health Minister, Alexandru Rafila, and the management of the National Health Insurance House called on family doctors on Monday to participate in good faith in the negotiations scheduled for Thursday in order to find solutions that should allow the proper financing of the field. Family doctors started protests and threatened to stop providing free consultations from February 1, after the National Health Insurance House published a project to reduce the value of the consultations point. This would mean, according to family doctors, the reduction of their income by 30% up to 50%. There are also protests at the public health departments. The employees are also demanding an increase in income, after their colleagues from the National Health Insurance House obtained increased salaries at the end of last year. Meanwhile, the Sanitas Federation continues to collect signatures to decide whether to launch an all out strike. Unionists say that the recent unlocking of vacancy-filling contests for doctors and nurses does not solve the problems in the system, because the salaries are not attractive and people will not participate in the contests.

Environment – “The cooperation of all EU member states is necessary and I would like to assure you that we are open to dialogue and establishing, by consensus, the EUs position, both internally and internationally, from the point of view of environmental protection and climate change”. The declaration was made, on Monday, by the Romanian Environment Minister, Mircea Fechet, during the discussions held on the sidelines of the Informal Meeting of Environment Ministers in Brussels. According to him, Romania took all measures to maintain a vigorous population of large carnivores, including bears, and at the same time tried to obtain the support of the EU member states. Mircea Fechet participates, on Monday and Tuesday, in the Informal Meeting of Environment Ministers in Brussels. The event has several topics on the agenda such as adaptation and resilience, ambition and climate policy, a just transition and the circular economy.

Culture Day – The Romanian Academy and the Science Academy of the Republic of Moldova had, on Monday morning, a joint festive session organized in a hybrid system on the occasion of the anniversary of the National Culture Day. From Chişinău, the president of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova, Ion Tighineanu, spoke about the importance of this holiday in promoting national identity, as well as about the numerous joint actions of the two academies. He said that the representatives of the Romanian ethnic space have every chance to impose themselves through culture and centuries-old traditions, by highlighting the truth about the common identity and history, by further cultivating the Romanian language, which the poet Mihai Eminescu said is “our master”. January 15, which marks the National Culture Day, is also the date of birth of the great poet of Romanians, Mihai Eminescu, and this year we mark 174 years since his birth. The celebration is marked by a series of exhibitions, theater performances, guided tours or concerts, both in Romania and the Republic of Moldova, as well as abroad, where there are important communities of Romanians.

Statistics – Although they are not among the Europeans with the highest incomes, Romanians are on the second place in the European Union in terms of the degree of satisfaction with their life, shows the conclusion of the latest Eurostat report. Statistics are influenced by age, family or financial situation, diversity of lived experiences, priorities or various individual values. According to the European barometer, the average level of satisfaction at the community level is 7.1 points. Austrians are the most satisfied EU citizens, with 7.9 points, followed by Romanians, Finns and Poles, all with an index of 7.7 points. At the opposite pole are the Bulgarians, with 5.6 points. (LS)

15 January 2024
Fuel excises and prices

As of Friday, the excise duty on fuels is higher by some 3.5 Eurocents per liter. Another similar increase will be operated on October 1st. The measure, aimed at bringing more money to the state budget, was taken by the leftist Government although early this year the extra excise duty of 7 Eurocents per liter had been eliminated.

In support of this latest decision, the Romanian Finance Minister Ionut Misa said that, this summer, the petrol price in Romania was the lowest in the whole of the EU and the price of diesel was the third lowest. He has also said that the decision to raise the excise fuels in two stages was taken in order to avoid a shock in terms of consumption, which would trigger price rises. However, financial analysts argue that this will certainly have a domino effect in the Romanian economy. Analyst Cristian Paun explains:

Cristian Paun: “ An increase in the extra excise duty will be reflected in prices. Fuels are related to every type of transportation and production. Therefore, when we see a product on a store’s shelf, it is clear that fuel was used to produce it and to transport it. Not to mention the customer who went to the store by car or bus to buy it. This extra duty does not but reflect the crisis the state budget is in, and the effects envisaged are short lived. Therefore, it could be seen as a solution in the short run, but in the long run it will clearly be damaging, because it will not help develop any sector of the economy.”

The National Union of Romanian Employers’ Association strongly disapproves the Government’s measure, saying that all prices of goods and services will go up, and this might even trigger a growth in the inflation rate, after a period of relative stability. The Union draws attention to the fact that many carriers will have to close their businesses and thus jobs will be lost.

The carriers’ discontent is also amplified by the fact that even before the introduction of the additional duty, the prices of fuels went up with no reason. To ease tension a little bit, Prime Minister Mihai Tudose has announced that next week the Government will hold a meeting on this very issue. Specialists believe that the growth is artificial, imposed by the big chains of gas stations in the country, and not a natural consequence of price evolution at global level.

15 September 2017
April 25, 2017

ROMANIAN PENITENTIARIES — Detention conditions in Romanian penitentiaries do not observe the European Convention for Human Rights and point to the existence of a structural dysfunction. Therefore general measures should be adopted by the state, the European Court for Human Rights has today ruled. The European court has said Romania has six months available to come up with a precise timetable for the introduction of measures meant to solve overcrowding in penitentiaries and improper detention conditions. By this pilot decision, the European Court for Human Rights, ECHR, has fined Romania some 17,850 Euros, but it does not impose any such measure as pardoning or easing the criminal policy. The ECHR judges have also decided to suspend trying similar complaints filed against Romania, until the state comes up with a plan of measures. In another move, in Bucharest, the Judicial Committee of the Romanian Senate has started discussing amendments to the pardon bill, which is regarded as a solution to overcrowding in Romanian prisons. The senators on the committee should come up with a report on the bill within 15 days, and afterwards the document is submitted for debate in a plenary session.

LEGAL — The magistrates of the High Court of Cassation and Justice in Romania are today discussing a new term in the lawsuit in which the leader of the Social Democratic Party, Liviu Dragnea, is accused of incitement to abuse of office. According to the anti-corruption prosecutors, Dragnea, in his capacity as president of the Teleorman County Council, at the time, intervened for maintaining two employees on their positions at the General Welfare and Child Protection Directorate in Teleorman County and for paying them their monthly wages, although they were actually working for the local branch of the Social Democratic Party. In another move, the suspended two-year sentence in the “Referendum” case is still in place. Yesterday, the High Court rejected Liviu Dragnea’s appeal to annul the sentence, the ruling being final.

TRANSPORTERS — Romanian transporters will stage protest movements in front of the Government headquarters on Wednesday and Thursday. They deplore the absence of clear legislation to sanction the unauthorized activity in the field. Transporters call for outlawing the online technological platforms which provide unauthorised taxi services, outlawing all online platforms which provide undeclared, unauthorised and non-fiscalised passenger transportation services and of all companies which carry out regular transportation activities along routes for which they haven’t tendered. The transporters say these legal measures are stipulated in the legislation of all European states which protect their licensed transporters.

MILITARY EXERCISES — Romanian-British joint naval drills are held in Constanta, southeastern Romania. Romania’s Frigate King Ferdinand and the British destroyer HMS Daring will carry out several training exercises at sea. At the end of the training sessions, the British destroyer will dock at the passenger pier of the Constanta Port, for two days. During this time span, the Commander of the destroyer is due to pay a visit to the Romanian Fleet Command Centre and to meet the local public authorities in Constanta. The Romanian and British marines will also carry out joint training sessions. As a first, two young officers of the Romanian Naval Forces will go on board the British destroyer for two weeks, to take part in the destroyer’s missions in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.

25 April 2017
Hauliers versus Insurers

As a result of the market liberalisation Romania committed itself to as early as 2007, the mandatory liability insurance for car owners grew by as much as 2.5 times compared to the first quarter of 2015. This is about to change, following a massive protest by road hauliers, who have obtained from the Financial Supervisory Authority the promise that the insurance fee will be calculated differently in the future. Thus, the most expensive insurance policy, that for high tonnage trucks, will not exceed the equivalent in lei of some 1,700 euros, down from 4,500 euros at the moment.

After a meeting between hauliers and the Financial Supervisory Authority, it was established that the factors that will be taken into account when calculating reference fees for the mandatory liability insurance will be frequency of claims and average damage, as well as their trends, the charge for administrative costs, a maximum of 25% fee purchase and the charge for the application of the bonus-malus system. Prior to this agreement, truckers staged a large-scale protest in Bucharest and tens of other cities in Romania despite a government emergency ordinance freezing mandatory liability insurance fees for 6 months at a level to be announced by the Financial Supervisory Authority within a month at the most.

The negotiations held with the government had not established, however, the compensation ceiling, and it was uncertainty over this issue that made truckers take to the streets until they reached an agreement with the Financial Supervisory Authority. Working groups will be created to come up with the reference fees, a process that will also involve hauliers’ associations. Once these aspects are established, the agreed fees will only have to be approved by the Competition Council and the Government in order to come into effect.

While an agreement was yet to be reached between hauliers and the Financial Supervisory Authority, president Klaus Iohannis had called on the institutions with responsibilities in the field to resume dialogue with hauliers and insurance companies to resolve the situation and find a long-term solution to the hauliers’ problems.

(Translated by Cristina Mateescu)

16 September 2016
16 August, 2016

HUMAN RIGHTS — Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, in a message sent to participants in the Summer University in a central Romanian town, said: A consolidated democracy is based on mutual respect, tolerance, and inter-cultural and inter-ethnic dialog, as cultural diversity is a source of creativity. From this point of view, Romania is a model recognized as such in Europe, and beyond, as the rights of minorities are fully protected. The Summer University in Izvorul Muresului is attended by students from Romanian communities from countries neighboring Romania, as well as from mixed ethnic and religious communities from across the country, members of civil society who debated the issues of Romanians living abroad, and those of Romanians living in the majority ethnic Hungarian regions of Harghita and Covasna. The theme this year is The Romanian State and Romanians on the Border of the EU and NATO.

TRANSPORTERS — Romanian road transporters have resumed today protests against the raising of mandatory insurance rates. They announced that would initiate a month long campaign of sounding horns daily in front of the government headquarters and the Financial Supervision Authority. At the same time, they said that each beginning of the week, for two hours early in the morning, freight vehicles would run at slow speed on beltways across the country, but without blocking traffic completely. Protesters are also angry at the fact that the executive did not intervene to slow down the rise in prices. They warned that a failure to meet their demands would trigger a national protest on September 14 and 15.

FOOTBALL — Romanias soccer vice-champions, Steaua Bucharest, play at home against English team Manchester City, in the first leg of the Champions League play-offs. Even if eliminated, Steaua is still going to the Europa League groups. Romanias champions, Astra, play on Thursday, also at home, against another famous English team, West Ham United, in the play-offs to qualify in the groups of the second continental competition. Three other Romanian teams, CSMS Iasi, Viitorul Constanta, and Pandurii Targu Jiu, have been eliminated in the preliminaries of the European cups.

OLYMPICS — Romanian athletes compete in Greco-Roman wrestling, gymnastics and athletics on the 11th day of the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. In wrestling, Ion Panait is pitted against Russian Islambek Albiev in the 66 kg category in the qualifiers, while Alin Alexuc-Ciurariu fights to qualify to the quarter finals against Egyptian Hamdy Abdelwadah, in the 98 kg category. Athlete Alina Rotaru will attempt to qualify in the long jump event. In gymnastics, Andrei Muntean will try for a medal in the parallel bars event, after yesterday Marian Dragulescu narrowly missed getting the bronze in the vault event. He came in fourth, matched evenly against the bronze medalist, Japanese Kenzo Shirai. Romanian gymnast Catalina Ponor came in seventh in the beam finals. In terms of medals, Romania right now ranks 35th. Romanian athletes have so far secured four medals. The womens epee team won a gold medal, the tennis pair Florin Mergea and Horia Tecau got the silver in the mens doubles, while Gabriel Sincraian won a bronze medal in weightlifting. The other bronze was won by the womens coxed eight team in rowing.

BIDEN — US Vice-president Joe Biden meets today in Belgrade Serb President Tomislav Nikolich and PM Aleksandar Vuchich. The visit shows the willingness of the administration in Washington to maintain their influence in the Balkans, in the contexts in which Russia is trying to draw Serbia into its sphere of influence, according to press agencies. The visit shows Washingtons wish for a reconciliation between Belgrade and Pristina, 17 years after the NATO military intervention that allowed the former Serb province of Kosovo to gain independence. Joe Biden is next going to Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, where he will recommend the implementation of the 2015 agreement, mediated by the European Union, aimed at normalizing relations with Belgrade.

16 August 2016