January 17, 2014
News and current affairs from Romania
Ştefan Stoica, 17.01.2014, 11:11
Romanian President Traian Basescu will meet early in February the head of the European Commission, Jose Barroso, to discuss available finances that would speed up the electrical hook-up between Romania and the Republic of Moldova. Basescu announced this after meeting on Thursday in Brussels the president of the European Council, Herman van Rompuy. He also mentioned that he pointed out in Brussels that there are issues with schools teaching in Romanian in the breakaway region of Transdnestr, calling on the EU to intervene.
Romania and Estonia are first place in the EU in terms of average price increases in 2013 as compared to the previous year, 3.2%. According to Eurostat, the annual rate of inflation was 1.3% in December, while the average in the EU was 1%. The governor of the National Bank of Romania, Mugur Isarescu, said that the average annual rate of inflation is the most relevant figure in terms of price hikes, but that it does have a delayed reaction to quick changes in consumer prices.
Romania’s Competition Council, a government body dealing with preventing corruption and inside trading at a large scale, has slapped a record fine, 13 million Euro, on 14 appliance companies for breaking fair competition rules. According to the council, the fine was caused by buy back campaign practices, where buyers swap old appliances for new ones. The main accusation was that the 14 companies dominating the market fixed prices and discounts. In addition, the Competition Council also accused the companies of using the so-called ‘green stamp’ for promoting their products instead of using it for recycling, as the law provides.
Romania is represented in the Australian Open, the year’s first Grand Slam, only by Simona Halep. 11th seed Halep plays on Saturday against Zarina Dias of Kazakhstan. All three Romanians playing in Melbourne on Friday, Monica Niculescu in the singles and Horia Tecau plus Raluca Olaru in the doubles, lost their games.
