8 May, 2018
Government officials meet healthcare workers following protests; Parliament debates proposed amendments to judicial laws
Daniela Budu, 08.05.2018, 13:54
HEALTHCARE — Romanian PM Viorica Dancila, alongside the ministers of health and finance, met today representatives of healthcare trade unions, who said they would go on general strike on Friday if the government does not find means of increasing wages. On Monday, hospitals across the country went on a two hour warning strike. Protesters are not satisfied with the 30% ceiling to bonuses, and claim that the new wage scheme caused losses of up to 215 Euro to certain categories of health workers. The situation has caused the opposition National Liberal Party to introduce a motion to remove Social Democrat Health Minister Sorin Pintea.
JUSTICE – The special committee in Parliament starts debating individual proposed amendments to the penal, civil and procedural codes, following hearings last week with the Minister of Justice, parliamentary caucuses and professional associations. Justice Minister Toader supports the amendments to the Penal Code in line with the decisions of the Constitutional Court and European directives, while the right wing opposition believes that the proposed changes would favor politicians under investigation by courts of law. The representatives of professional associations are upset with the relaxation of the Penal Code, and point out that these changes would have repercussions for years to come. President Iohannis referred last week to send once again the proposed amendments to the Constitutional Court, announcing he would file a complaint with the Venice Commission.
CANNES – The 71st edition of the Cannes Film Festival opens, with 21 movies competing for the Palme dOr prize, which will be given out on May 19. Romania competes with the short film Blue and Red, Equally, by Georgiana Moldoveanu, while Romanian origin director Marta Bergman participates with her French-Belgian production of Seule a mon mariage feature length drama. The Romanian Short Waves program, containing 14 Romanian productions, has been running at Cannes since 2008, continuing this year. In the Short Film Corner category, three more short films will be screened. Famous director Cristian Mungiu chairs the tenth edition of the La Fabrique Cinema program, aimed at supporting filmmakers in emerging countries.
TENNIS — Romanian tennis star Simona Halep, number one in the world, plays today against Belgian Elise Mertens in the second round of the Madrid WTA tournament, with prize money totaling 6.7 million Euro. Also today, Sorana Carstea plays against Russian Daria Kasatkina. The Romanian player will also play in a doubles game alongside Sara Sorribes-Tormo of Spain against the double Julia Gorges of Germany and Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic. In the mens singles, Marius Copil, 92nd seeded, plays against Jan-Lennard Struff, and in the doubles, Florin Mergea and Daniel Nestor, a Romanian-Canadian pair, meets the Italian-Argentinian pair Fabio Fognini- Diego Schwartzman.
PROSECUTION — Anti-corruption prosecutors have filed in the supreme court a request for a three year sentence against Senate Speaker Calin Popescu-Tariceanu. In 2016, prosecutors with the National Anti-corruption Directorate started a prosecution against him for perjury and conspiracy in a case regarding land deals. The sentence will be issued on May 22.
STATISTIC — Eurostat announced that the number of people over 65 as compared to the working population was almost 30% last year. It also announced that Romania is among the countries with a lower figure in those terms, alongside Luxembourg, Ireland, Slovakia, Cyprus and Poland. At the opposite end are Italy, Greece, and Finland. This indicator has been climbing constantly between 1997 and 2007. The ratio 20 years ago was five to one.
