September 27, 2017

A roundup of domestic and international news

România Internațional, 27.09.2017, 13:47

CORRUPTION – Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis has stated that the ministers who are being investigated in the so-called ‘Belina’ case, namely the Social Democrats Rovana Plumb and Sevil Shhaideh, should have resigned or should have been sacked. The head of state has criticized the ruling Social Democratic Party for its decision to support the two ministers, who four years ago allegedly transferred an island and an arm of the Danube from state property into the property of Teleorman County. The transfer was illegal. President Iohannis has also voiced worries over the planned changes in the judiciary laws, announced by the line minister Tudorel Toader. Harshly criticized by civil society and the media, Toader’s draft stipulates, among other things, that appointing the heads of the National Anti-corruption Directorate and of the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism will no longer be the president’s prerogatives. Also, under the new law, Judiciary Inspection would be part of the Ministry of Justice, and the seniority threshold for the promotion of magistrates will be set higher. Early this year, Government’s attempt to amend, under an emergency decree, the criminal codes, triggered large-scale protests across the country and in the Diaspora. Hundreds of thousands of Romanians took to the streets, accusing the ruling party of trying to exempt from criminal liability top level politicians and decision-makers.

MINORITY RIGHTS – The Romanian Education Minister Liviu Pop is in Kiev today to discuss with his Ukrainian counterpart Lilia Grinevici the negative effects of the new education law on the Romanian ethnic minority living in Ukraine. Also, according to the Romanian Foreign Ministry, Romania will inform the international community about the violation of the right of the Romanians living in Ukraine to study in their mother tongue. These reactions have come following the promulgation on Monday of a law that drastically confines education in minority languages. The approximately 500,000 Romanians in Ukraine form the second largest ethnic community in the country, after the Russian one. More on this after the news.

TRADE UNION PROTEST – The Romanian health federation Solidaritatea Sanitara (Solidarity for Health) has today announced a string of protests planned for Thursday and Friday. The participants will picket the head offices of the Labour and Health Ministries, following the Government’s announced intention to change the legal provisions regarding the basic salary. According to trade unionists, the change would trigger massive drops in the incomes of most employees in the health-care sector, of up to 60%, as of January 1st 2018. In another move, hundreds of people protested across Romania on Tuesday, after authorities announced that the payment of social contributions would become employees’ responsibility. The protests were staged by Cartel Alfa, one of the largest trade union confederations in Romania, which has announced that protests will continue throughout the week. Trade unionists say that transferring the responsibility of paying social contributions from employers to employees will lead to a drop in the net incomes, the dismantling of the unemployment fund and lower contributions to the pension fund. On October 4th, trade unions will gather for a large protest in Bucharest.

ARMY EQUIPMENT – By the end of the year, the Romanian Army will have purchased the first Patriot missile system, according to the Romanian Defense Minister Mihai Fifor. He has stated today that Romanian authorities are also discussing the purchase of another 36 F16 fighters from the US. Also today, the Secretary of State for Defense Policy Mircea Dusa and the Chief of Staff of the Romanian Air Forces, the Lieutenant – General Laurian Anastasof, are attending at the air base in Monte Real, Portugal, the ceremony for the reception of three F16 updated fighters. According to a communiqué issued by the Romanian Defense Ministry, by taking over the three fighters, the Romanian Air Forces have finalized stage I in the process of introducing in the fleet F16 Fighting Falcon multi-role fighters. The first six out of the 12 strong squadron that makes the object of the Romanian – Portuguese agreement became part of the Romanian Air Forces capabilities in September 2016, and the next three in December last year.

COMPETITIVENESS – Romania ranks 68th in a classification of the most competitive countries in the world, 6 places lower than last year. In the same classification, Switzerland has maintained is leading position for the ninth year in a row, according to a report released by the World Economic Forum. Switzerland is followed in the rankings by the US, Singapore, the Netherlands and Germany. Ranking lower than Romania are countries such as Estonia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Lithuania, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Hungary. However, Romania is in a better position that Croatia and Greece. According to the report, the biggest issues facing Romania are taxation, bureaucracy, access to funding, a poorly educated labor force, corruption and the improper use of infrastructure.

ROWING – Romania’s women’s eight has qualified straight into the finals of the World Rowing Championship in Sarasota – Bradenton, Florida, the US. In the men’s double sculls, Vlad-Dragos Aicoboae and Cosmin Pascari will compete in the semi-finals on Thursday. Ionela-Livia Lehaci and Gianina-Elena Beleaga have qualified for the doubles sculls semi-finals, the light category, to be held also on Thursday. Romania is taking part in the World championships with six crews.

FOOTBALL – The only Romanian representative in the European football competitions, the vice-champion FCSB (formerly known as Steaua Bucharest) is playing on Thursday, away from home, against the Swiss from Lugano, in the Europa League. In the first Group G game, two weeks ago, FCSB won 3-0, in Bucharest, against Viktoria Plzen of the Czech Republic. The other game, Hapoel Beer Sheva of Israel defeated Lugano 2-1. In the rankings, FCSB comes 1st, with three points, followed by Hapoel, also with three points.