January 3, 2018
President Iohannis promulgates the 2018 state budget and the social security budget laws, Family doctors refuse to sign articles of amendment to framework contract
Newsroom, 03.01.2018, 13:58
Budget — The Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Wednesday promulgated the state budget and the social security budget laws for 2018. However, he pointed to the laws’ vulnerabilities and to the challenges posed by the current fiscal and budget framework, given that Romania needs a credible and balanced budget that should consistently observe the fundamental objectives of macroeconomic stability, predictability and fiscal and budgetary sustainability. The 2018 budget is based on a 5.5% economic growth rate, an average annual inflation rate of 3.1%, an average currency exchange rate of 4.55 lei for one Euro and an average net monthly salary of 565 Euros. The budget deficit is estimated at 2.97% of the GDP, thus observing the under 3% target.
Family doctors — Family doctors in Romania who did not sign articles of amendment for extending the contracts with the National Health Insurance House can no longer issue free or reduced cost prescriptions or referral letters as of Wednesday. They announced they would carry on with their protests and would not sign the articles of amendment. They are discontented with the funds they received and with the fact that the state does nothing to cut down on red tape in the system. Thus patients will have to pay for their medication and in some cases even for the medical checkups, if they are not provided pro bono. The doctors’ decision was announced in the context of discontent generated by the promises unmet by the government, promises that they had made in November in the wake of street protests. More than 60% of the family doctors in Romania signed the articles of amendment to the framework contract, the representatives of the National Health Insurance House have announced.
Chisinau — In the Republic of Moldova, the speaker of Parliament, with pro-western views, Andrian Candu, will take over the interim presidency from the pro-Russian president Igor Dodon, to sign the decree for appointing 7 new ministers. The announcement was made by the Parliament’s press office, after the Constitutional Court decided that the pro-Russian president Igor Dodon could be suspended again, following his repeated refusal to promulgate the government reshuffles. Radio Romania’s correspondents to Chisinau say this measure was already applied last October in the case of the appointment of the defense minister, Eugen Sturza. The PM Pavel Filip announced the change of 7 of the 13 members of the government with the avowed purpose of boosting reforms. Among the nominees are also two former prime ministers, Iurie Leancă, proposed as deputy prime minister for European integration and Chiril Gaburici, who is to take over the Economy portfolio.
Tennis — World’s no. 1 player, Simona Halep, on Wednesday defeated the Chinese Ying-Ying Duan (91 WTA), 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 and made it to the quarterfinals of the WTA tournament hosted by Shenzen, China, which has prizes up for grabs totaling almost 630 thousand dollars. Thus Simona Halep maintains the 1st place in the WTA ranking. Another Romanian player, Irina Begu (43 WTA) also qualified to the quarterfinals after defeating Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova (96 WTA), 4-6, 6-1, 6-2. Romania’s 3rd representative in the tournament Ana Bogdan (105 WTA) will take on today the Czech player Kristyna Pliskova in an eighth finals match. In the doubles, the pair made up of Irina Begu and Simona Halep on Tuesday qualified to the semifinals after a dramatic match against another Romanian pair made up of Mihaela Buzarnescu/ Irina Bara.
Teheran — Tens of thousands of regime supporters on Wednesday gathered in the Iranian cities to condemn what they call the ‘unrest’ facing the country. The demonstrators waved Iranian flags and signs supporting Iran’s clerically overseen government and protested against the US, Israel and the internal enemies of the Islamic Republic. For almost a week Iran has seen protests against economic austerity and the corruption of politicians. The police arrested hundreds of people and over 20 died in the clashes between the police and the protesters. The US labeled as ‘nonsense’ Teheran’s accusation that Iran’s enemies were behind the wave of violent protests that occurred in the country. The US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, announced the US wanted to call for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on the issue of Iran. Previously President Donald Trump had warned the regime in Teheran that Washington would monitor any infringement of human rights in that country. He also added that the Iranian people could no longer accept that the country’s money be wasted on funding terrorism. (news translated by Lacramioara Simion)
