April 2, 2017 UPDATE

VAT for Romanian travel agencies, likely to be slashed to 9%.

Newsroom, 02.04.2017, 18:55

DECREES – Romanian President Klaus Iohannis will sign on Monday the decrees regarding the appointment of two new ministers. Gratiela Gavrilescu will be the new Deputy Prime Minister and Environment Minister, at the proposal of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE), who also nominated Viorel Ilie as Minister for the Relation with Parliament. We remind you that a week ago, the ALDE leadership decided to withdraw political support for the party’s co-president, Daniel Constantin, who was deputy PM and Environment Minister, against the background of misunderstandings between Constantin and the other ALDE co-president, Senate Speaker Calin Popescu Tariceanu.

VAT – The Romanian Minister of Tourism, Mircea Titus Dobre, has announced he will submit on Monday the necessary documents to the Finance Ministry so that the VAT for travel agencies be decreased to 9%. Minister Dobre has said he believes this is a way of boosting this sector and a measure likely to trigger a decrease in holiday packages. He has pointed out, however, that slashing the VAT will take time, given that the approval of the European Commission is also required.

NATO – The Romanian Foreign Ministry hailed the celebration of the NATO Day on Sunday and said that Romania continues to be a beneficiary of the measures taken by the Alliance but also an important contributor to it, by taking part directly in the handling of threats coming from the eastern and southern flanks. On NATO Day, the Romanian Defense Ministry opened its gates to visitors. Also, there was a military ceremony dedicated to Romania’s accession to NATO, an outdoor exhibition of military equipment, as well as film screenings. Romania officially joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) on March 29, 2004. The country celebrates NATO Day every year on the first Sunday of April.

GENEVA — Romanian won 34 gold medals, 8 silver medals and 10 special prizes at the International Exhibition of Inventions in Geneva, Switzerland. Romania also got 17 prizes awarded by foreign delegations. Romania participated at this year’s edition with 40 inventions funded by the state budget and 8 inventions financed from other sources. Over 2 thousand inventions were exhibited in Geneva this year.

HEALTH — Romanian doctors who want to return to Romania will enjoy the assistance of a National Centre for Human Resources, set up within the Health Ministry. The Bucharest authorities have decided to open this centre after they received signals from Romanian doctors working in Germany and Britain that they want to return home, encoraged by the recent salary increase in the Romanian health system. The Health Ministry is also considering measures lilely to stimulate doctors to work in rural areas.

INVESTIGATION — The controversial computer game Blue Whale will be analysed next week by the Control committee of the Romanian Inteligence Service (SRI), Liberal senator Cristian Chirtes has said. The Blue Whale game is believed to be encouraging people to kill themselves. It is believed that an administrator assigns ‘daily tasks’ to members, which they have to complete for 50 days. These tasks include self-harming, watching horror movies and waking up at unusual hours, but these gradually get more extreme. Several children and teenagers in Romania died or have been taken to hospital lately for trying to hold their breath, one of the tasks they received during the game. Romanian Police has recently initiated a prevention campaign, trying to raise awareness over the dangers that teenagers are exposed to in the online environment.

GAS PRICE — The liberalization of the purchase price of natural gas for the population came into force on April 1st, and the National Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE) has already announced a 2% increase. Also as of April 1st, domestic consumers will be able to choose their provider of natural gas. The ANRE President Niculae Havrilet has told Radio Romania that the price liberalization for domestic consumers, which will bring more competitors into the market, will eventually lead to a drop in the price of natural gas.

(Translated by Elena Enache)