January 15, 2024 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 15.01.2024, 19:50

Protests — Romania’s PM Marcel Ciolacu asked the heads of the ministries in direct dialogue these days with transporters and farmers to speed up the drafting of laws that would solve the problems reported by the protesters. At Mondays meeting, the ministers presented the timetable for the approval of the respective draft laws, so that the first decisions with agreed measures in support of farmers and transporters should be adopted at the following government meetings. The Financial Supervisory Authority has announced that it is already working on a set of measures that will reduce Liability Car Insurance rates, especially for those who do not cause accidents. As far as the agricultural field is concerned, the Agriculture Minister, Florin Barbu, and the representatives of the agricultural associations agreed during Mondays negotiations to several requests from the farmers. Among them are the emergency granting of the Agency for Payments and Intervention in Agriculture – APIA payments, the compensation of losses suffered by Romanian farmers who were affected by imports from Ukraine and the updating of the value of state aid regarding the reimbursement of the excise duty on diesel fuel purchased and used in agriculture. Meanwhile, the protests of farmers and transporters continued, on Monday, on several roads in the country.

Healthcare – The Romanian Health Minister, Alexandru Rafila, and the management of the National Health Insurance House called on family doctors on Monday to participate in good faith in the negotiations scheduled for Thursday in order to find solutions that should allow the proper financing of the field. Family doctors started protests and threatened to stop providing free consultations from February 1, after the National Health Insurance House published a project to reduce the value of the consultations point. This would mean, according to family doctors, the reduction of their income by 30% up to 50%. There are also protests at the public health departments. The employees are also demanding an increase in income, after their colleagues from the National Health Insurance House obtained increased salaries at the end of last year. Meanwhile, the Sanitas Federation continues to collect signatures to decide whether to launch an all out strike. Unionists say that the recent unlocking of vacancy-filling contests for doctors and nurses does not solve the problems in the system, because the salaries are not attractive and people will not participate in the contests.

Environment – “The cooperation of all EU member states is necessary and I would like to assure you that we are open to dialogue and establishing, by consensus, the EUs position, both internally and internationally, from the point of view of environmental protection and climate change”. The declaration was made, on Monday, by the Romanian Environment Minister, Mircea Fechet, during the discussions held on the sidelines of the Informal Meeting of Environment Ministers in Brussels. According to him, Romania took all measures to maintain a vigorous population of large carnivores, including bears, and at the same time tried to obtain the support of the EU member states. Mircea Fechet participates, on Monday and Tuesday, in the Informal Meeting of Environment Ministers in Brussels. The event has several topics on the agenda such as adaptation and resilience, ambition and climate policy, a just transition and the circular economy.

Culture Day – The Romanian Academy and the Science Academy of the Republic of Moldova had, on Monday morning, a joint festive session organized in a hybrid system on the occasion of the anniversary of the National Culture Day. From Chişinău, the president of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova, Ion Tighineanu, spoke about the importance of this holiday in promoting national identity, as well as about the numerous joint actions of the two academies. He said that the representatives of the Romanian ethnic space have every chance to impose themselves through culture and centuries-old traditions, by highlighting the truth about the common identity and history, by further cultivating the Romanian language, which the poet Mihai Eminescu said is “our master”. January 15, which marks the National Culture Day, is also the date of birth of the great poet of Romanians, Mihai Eminescu, and this year we mark 174 years since his birth. The celebration is marked by a series of exhibitions, theater performances, guided tours or concerts, both in Romania and the Republic of Moldova, as well as abroad, where there are important communities of Romanians.

Statistics – Although they are not among the Europeans with the highest incomes, Romanians are on the second place in the European Union in terms of the degree of satisfaction with their life, shows the conclusion of the latest Eurostat report. Statistics are influenced by age, family or financial situation, diversity of lived experiences, priorities or various individual values. According to the European barometer, the average level of satisfaction at the community level is 7.1 points. Austrians are the most satisfied EU citizens, with 7.9 points, followed by Romanians, Finns and Poles, all with an index of 7.7 points. At the opposite pole are the Bulgarians, with 5.6 points. (LS)