December 13, 2013 UPDATE
A look at some of the stories making headlines in Romania today.
România Internațional, 13.12.2013, 18:32
Criminal Code Talks were held on Friday at the Justice Ministry in Bucharest between the members of the Parliament’s legal committee and ministry experts about the amendments to the Criminal Code adopted on Tuesday which have been criticised for giving dignitaries what has been described as “super-immunity”. Friday’s meeting followed comments by the leaders of the Social Liberal Union, the Senate speaker Crin Antonescu and prime minister Victor Ponta, who said the changes to the Criminal Code are debatable and must be discussed with the institutions competent in the field. The president, the National Anticorruption Directorate and the Higher Council of Magistrates, as well diplomatic offices of western countries have used harsh language to criticise these amendments. The High Court of Cassation and Justice and the Liberal Democratic Party, in opposition, have referred the matter to the Constitutional Court.
Road carriers Romanian road carriers continue talks on the requests made to the transport ministry on Tuesday. These include the elimination of the 7-eurocent excise duty on diesel, lower fines and the elimination of town entry fees. Early this week, the Romanian government made public its intention to only apply the 7-eurocent excise on petrol and to postpone the implementation of a similar excise on diesel for another three months. Still unhappy with the government’s decision, road carriers on Monday decided to go on strike. They threaten to extend their protest indefinitely unless their demands are met.
Proposal The National Liberal Party, a member of the ruling coalition in Romania, has proposed MP Gigel Stirbu as the new minister of culture, following the resignation of Daniel Barbu. Stirbu is the president of the committee for culture in the Chamber of Deputies and a former state secretary in the ministry of culture. Daniel Barbu resigned after saying too much money is allocated to the HIV prevention and treatment programme compared to the budget earmarked for culture.
Foreign workers The number of work permits issued in Romania for foreign workers dropped more than 8.3 times between 2009 and 2013, according to data published on Friday by the General Inspectorate for Immigration. Thus, the number of work permits decreased from 15,000 in 2009 when the Romanian economy was growing at a fast pace, to around 1,800 in November 2013. In the last two years, most foreign workers in Romania have come from China, Turkey, the Philippines and Vietnam.
EU Representation Angela Filote, a former spokeswoman for the EU commissioner for enlargement Stefan Füle, will become the head of the European Commission Representation in Romania as of January 1st 2014. She will take over from Nicolae Idu, whose term ends at the end of the year. With a 20-year long experience in the management of institutional communication, Filote has worked in Romania, Turkey and Egypt and, since 2010, at the European Commission headquarters in Brussels. Since 2011, she has worked at the General Directorate for Agriculture and Rural Development, where she is mainly responsible for communicating information related to the Common Agricultural Policy.
