The events making the headlines in Romania this week.
Romania has a new government
The new Romanian Government, headed by Mihai Tudose, was endorsed by Parliament and then sworn in on Thursday. Romania needs an alert government, focused on performance, and the new team will have to make up for the delays caused by the previous Government, so that the goals set in the governing programme are reached, the new Prime Minister Mihai Tudose has stated:
"Romania is currently in a good economic situation. The economy has been growing, we have a well-developed industry, and both incomes and consumption have also grown. What we still lack is a serious growth in investments and revenues to the budget."
Romania's President Klaus Iohannis has been harsh on the ruling coalition, which, unhappy with its former Cabinet, removed it under a no-confidence motion only after six months after investiture, blaming it for failing to implement the governing programme that brought victory to the Social Democrats in December 2016. The head of state stressed the fact that, along with appointing a new Government, the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, supported by the Union of Ethnic Hungarians, have changed the governing programme too. Klaus Iohannis:
"In six months, we have passed from tax lowering to levying new taxes, from pay rises to solidarity taxes. Such a behavior is by no means characterized by fiscal-budgetary predictability. Dear members of the Social Democratic Party and of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, on behalf of all Romanians I urge you to stop this hop on-hop off."
The president signs public sector pay law
The recent political crisis in Bucharest has raised fears that the public sector salary law will be left aside for a while and its implementation delayed. Moreover, the removal of the Social-Democratic Cabinet headed by Sorin Grindeanu, who initiated the bill in the first place, and the prospects of its being replaced by a government of a different political colour had the pessimists believe that the law, benefiting a large part of the population, would be forgotten. However, everybody's fears were dispelled when it was announced that president Iohannis promulgated the law.
A communiqué issued by the Presidential Administration reads that the head of state supports the need for a sustainable increase in the salaries of public employees, in order for their living standard to increase. The president has also stressed the fact that it is the responsibility of the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats to ensure a balanced growth and to harmonise the income growth objective with that of maintaining Romania's macro-economic and budgetary stability. The public salary law stipulates that over the coming five years, state employees' salaries will grow by more than 50% on average. However, the law has come under criticism from employers associations and trade unions.
The investigation into the 2009 presidential elections is closed
The Prosecutor General's Office on Tuesday closed the investigation into the presidential elections of December 2009, having failed to discover any illegal acts of abuse of office and forgery of documents and electoral records. An inquiry began following allegations by the journalist and political advisor Dan Andronic that a number of high-ranking officials, including Romania's former Prosecutor General Laura Codruta Kovesi and the former Romanian Intelligence Service general Florian Coldea were at the home of the former deputy prime minister Gabriel Oprea on the evening before the second round of the presidential elections and helped Traian Basescu win the elections. The latter won a second term defeating his rival Mircea Geoana by a narrow margin.
A number of politicians holding public offices in 2009 were heard by the prosecutors as part of the case. Investigators also requested documents from state institutions such as the Permanent Electoral Authority and the Special Telecommunications Service. A parliamentary committee is also looking into the 2009 presidential elections.
Romania faces extreme heat
Many countries in Europe, including Romania have been faced with a heat wave starting last week. A yellow code alert for heat and thermal discomfort was first issued on Wednesday in 12 counties in the west, south and centre, where temperatures reached 33 to 36 degrees Celsius. On Thursday, the colour code alert was raised to orange, as temperatures went up to 40 degrees. For Saturday, the authorities even issued a red code alert in some areas, where temperatures are expected to reach 44 degrees Celsius in the shade.
More than 800 ambulance cars and almost 300 special vehicles belonging to the Mobile Emergency Service for Resuscitation and Extrication (SMURD) have been made available and are ready to intervene in case of an emergency. The heat wave has also affected the capital Bucharest. Just like last year, the local authorities have put in place 20 air-conditioned tents with medical staff ready to provide assistance, water and medicines to passers-by in need of help.
Useful Links
Copyright © . All rights reserved