March 14, 2017
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Newsroom, 14.03.2017, 14:34
VISIT Over March the 15th and the 17th government representatives from Bucharest will be paying a working visit to Italy in order to verify the information published by the press over some cases of exploitation of Romanian citizens working in the regions of Sicily and Calabria. Andrea Pastarnac, the Minister for the Romanians the world over, and a representative of the Interior Ministry will be holding talks with local officials and with representatives of the Romanian workers’ associations in Italy as well as with those from the local organisations in charge of defending foreign workers’ rights and fighting the abuses against them. A report published on Sunday by British weekly ‘The Observer’ says that nearly 75 hundred women, mostly Romanians, working in agriculture in the provinces of Ragusa in Sicily are victims of numerous abuses, including threats and sexual aggressions.
INS In the fourth quarter of last year Romania reported 5.24 million pensioners, the number being by lower by 6,000 than in the previous quarter, a report issued by the National Institute for Statistics (INS) says. According to the same sources, the ratio between the average number of pensioners and employees was 9 to 10. The report shows significant territorial variations; there are 5 pensioners to 10 employees in Bucharest as compared Teleorman county in southern Romania, where the ratio is 17 pensioners to 10 employees. Average pensions may also vary across the territory; the difference between the lowest and the highest pensions being of nearly 88 euros.
TALKS The European Commissioner for regional policy, Corina Cretu, will be in Romania over March 15th and 17th for talks with the authorities in Bucharest and civil society over the White Charter of the future of Europe. The European official will be holding a meeting with the European affairs committees of the Senate and Chamber of Deputies. President Iohannis has recently said that a multi-speed Europe for an indefinite period of time is not a good solution, on the contrary, it might lead to a rift inside the union. Iohannis added that Romania should not be afraid of the projects that are worked on at different speeds.
RULING Magistrates of the Supreme Court in Bucharest are today ruling on the first term of a file in which former deputy Prime Minister for national security and Interior Minister Gabriel Oprea has been accused of abuse of office. According to prosecutors, in July 2015, Oprea, at that time Interior Minister, illegally used the Ministry’s funds causing 90 thousand euros in prejudices to the state budget. Oprea is also being probed in for abuse of office in another file on the illegal use of the official motorcade, an issue that came into the limelight after a policeman from this motorcade was killed in an accident. Oprea’s name also appears in another court file against the suspended mayor of sector two, Neculai Ontanu.
SEIZURE Customs officers in the Romanian port of Constanta on Monday seized the largest quantity of smuggled cigarettes in the past five years with a value of 2.5 million euros. The police seized over 700 thousand cigarette packs in a sting operation on a transport from Thailand. The cigarettes were destined for Romania but could further go to any EU country. In 2013, also in the port of Constanta, officers seized 10.5 million cigarettes coming from Malta bound for Ukraine.
