April 10, 2017 UPDATE

Bill on unitary pay for public sector employees not sent to Parliament/ American House of Representatives delegation in Bucharest/ Holy Week for Christians all over the world as of Monday

Newsroom, 10.04.2017, 20:15

EURO — The Romanian PM, Sorin Grindeanu, said Monday that adopting the euro would be possible only when Romanians’ revenues came closer to those of the citizens of the other EU states. He added that the Romanian authorities’ task was to make the adoption of the single currency easier for Romanian citizens. He made these statements at the meeting of the inter-ministerial committee for the adoption of the Euro, which was also attended by the governor of the national bank, and the finance and economy ministers, among others.

Unitary Pay Bill — The bill on unitary pay for public sector employees was no longer submitted to Parliament on Monday, said the leader of the Social Democratic Party, the main party in the governing coalition, Liviu Dragnea who is also the president of the Chamber of Deputies. He pointed out that the bill would be submitted for public debate this week as well. The labour minister, Lia Olguţa Vasilescu, explained that the military and policemen would be the first to have their salaries raised with the coming into effect of the unitary pay law, on July 1. The other categories of public sector employees will have their salaries increased as of January 2018. According to the unitary pay bill, the highest salary in the public sector will be that of the president of the country, amounting to 12 minimum wages.

US-Romania Cooperation — The Romanian defense minister, Gabriel Leş, on Monday met in Bucharest with a delegation of the American House of Representatives. The main topic of discussion was military cooperation both within the Strategic Partnership and within NATO. The situation in the Black Sea area and the Syrian case were also high on the agenda of talks. In the context, minister Leş underscored Romania’s commitment to fighting terrorism, as part of the anti-DAESH international coalition. In turn, the American congressmen have appreciated the Romanian-American military cooperation in Afghanistan and have hailed the decision of the Romanian authorities to allot 2% of the GDP to defense.

Holy Week – Christian believers the world over, among whom those in Romania, a country with a majority Orthodox population, on Monday entered the Holy Week, ahead of Easter. Special masses are celebrated every evening, the most important ones being those given on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. This year, Orthodox and Catholic believers will celebrate Easter at the same time.

Cairo — Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, has declared a state of emergency for a three month period all across the country, following the Coptic church bombings carried out on Palm Sunday, which left over 40 people dead. The Coptic Orthodox believers make up the largest Christian majority in the Middle East, accounting for 10% of the total number of 92 million Egyptians. The Islamic State terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the attacks. Pope Francis, who will pay a visit to Egypt in 20 days time, has prayed for the victims of the attacks and sent a message of condolence to the Patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church and to the whole Egyptian nation. The Romanian Foreign Ministry has firmly condemned the terrorist attacks in Egypt.