March 7, 2017 UPDATE
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Newsroom, 07.03.2017, 20:36
LAW The Romanian government wants to complete the unitary salary law by the end of the second quarter of the year, Social-Democratic Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu said in an interview with Radio Romania. According to Grindeanu, salaries under 4000 lei in state-owned companies might double in three or four years while the budget expenditure could stay at 32 billion lei. Grindeanu has said that everything depends now on how the Romanian economy performs. The Prime Minister has also said the government doesn’t support the amendments recently announced by Social Democratic senator Serban Nicolae to the draft law on pardons, under which clemency would be granted even to people convicted for corruption. Social Democratic leader Liviu Dragnea on Tuesday said he was not supporting clemency in the case of corruption crimes.
VISIT Prince Charles, heir apparent of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth ll, will be paying a formal visit to Romania between March 29th and 31st, the British Embassy in Bucharest has announced. This is Prince Charles’ second formal visit to Romania since 1998, this country being the first leg of a regional tour, which will also take him to Italy and Austria. The prince has frequently come to Romania in private visits, as he owns several properties in this country. The last such visit was in 2016. Britain’s first-in-line to the throne has been fascinated by the architecture of the medieval Saxon villages in Transylvania.
TOURISM 40 tour operators from Romania are attending the Travel Trade Show in Berlin due over March 8th – 12th. According to a communiqué issued by the Tourism Ministry in Bucharest, travel destinations from all over Romania will be presented during the fair. The Romanian stand in Berlin will also include workshops where visitors can admire traditional arts like the art of painting eggs as well as techniques of making traditional costumes and adornments. Visitors will have the chance of getting acquainted with Romania’s traditional music, dance and cuisine at an event entitled ‘Romanian Night’. Also attending the event, Romania’s Tourism Minister, Mircea-Titus Dobre is expected to participate in the Silk Road Ministers’ meeting on March 8th, an event staged by World Tourism Organisation. On March 9th, the Romanian official will be meeting his counterparts from Poland, Serbia and Ukraine and will deliver a speech at the Danube Center in a conference devoted to joint travel projects of the Danube countries. Romania has been attending the fair since 1970.
TALKS Representatives of police trade unions in Bucharest, on Tuesday held a fresh round of talks over the unitary salary law, which also involved the participation of Interior and Finance Ministers Carmen Dan and Viorel Stefan respectively. They said that negotiations would continue on Thursday after the Finance Ministry had come up with a survey on the budget impact on police claims, adding though that the conflict had been defused 50%. The policemen’s discontent is related to the fact that incentives do not apply to the minimum wages, which presently stand at 320 euros but to a value that was frozen in December. Talks on unitary salary law were also held on Tuesday with trade unions from the healthcare sector and are to continue with those from Education and Culture on Thursday and Friday respectively.
