September 2 – 8

A selection of the week's highlights in Romania.

Corina Cristea, 07.09.2013, 00:30

A new parliament session starts in Bucharest

The Romanian Parliament has resumed activity after the summer holiday. The senators and deputies who are members of the ruling Social Liberal Union say the priorities of the new session is the adoption of the new Constitution and the referendum law. The Romanian MPs also intend to amend the law regarding development regions. The main party in the opposition, the Liberal Democratic Party, says it has already submitted to Parliament a draft law regarding the creation of the Authority for the Protection of Investors, whose main goal would be to ease the burden of taxation. Among the proposals included in the draft are the lowering of the flat tax to 12%, a 5% decrease in health insurance contributions, tax exemption for reinvested profit used for recapitalisation and increasing the minimum wage to reach around 224 euros. The 2014 state budget and the country’s administrative decentralisation are the priorities of the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, who also want the education law to be maintained in a form that would not affect education in the mother tongue of ethnic minorities.

People in Bucharest and across the country have protested against mining in Rosia Montana

Many people have protested, both in Bucharest and across the country, against the mining project in Rosia Montana, central Romania, following Prime Minister Victor Ponta’s decision to submit the draft law on the subject for approval by Parliament. Ecologists are opposed to the cyanide-based extraction method saying it entails the major risk of irreversible pollution of the environment. Also, historians say that mining would destroy historical vestiges unique in the world. The opposing argument is that the project would develop the area, create new jobs in a part of the country facing severe unemployment and that the direct benefits for Romania would translate into 5 billion dollars. The Prime Minister has explained that he had to approve the new draft law, because otherwise the Romanian state would have to pay over 2 billion dollars worth of damages to the companies involved in the project. Victor Ponta has also said that the draft was submitted to parliament to ensure fair and transparent debates.

The killing of a four-year-old by stray dogs in Bucharest stirs fierce debates

The death of a four-year-old boy, ripped by stray dogs in Bucharest, has triggered reactions both among the public opinion and the authorities in Romania. Following this tragedy, decision makers are willing to take action, such as debating next week in Parliament a law on stray dogs, a referendum and a large-scale campaign aimed at gathering and euthanizing dogs that do not have owners. Romania’s president Traian Basescu believes an emergency ordinance is necessary to provide specifically that dogs which are not adopted within a set period of time, must be euthanized. There are some 65,000 stray dogs in Bucharest alone.

The Romanian Transport Ministry signs the contract for the privatisation of the freight division of the Romanian Railway Company

Early this week, the Romanian Transport Ministry signed with the Romanian Railway Group, a company run by the Romanian businessman Gruia Stoica, the privatisation contract of the Freight Division of the Romanian Railway Company. In June, the group was awarded the contract for the privatisation of this state-owned company, offering 202 million euros for 51% of the shares. Moreover, the group committed itself to making over 200 million euros worth of investment. The privatisation of the Freight Division, a company with huge losses, is one of the measures that the Romanian Government committed itself to in the precautionary agreement signed with the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and the World Bank in 2011.

After 23 years, Romanian prosecutors work on a case of genocide

The former chief of the prison in Ramnicu Sarat during the communist regime, Alexandru Visinescu, now aged 88, has been indicted for genocide. He is the first Romanian accused of crimes against humanity after the former dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. Early this week, Visinescu went to the Prosecutor’s Office to be heard in the case in which the Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes in Romania accused him of involvement in the killing of political detainees between 1956 and 1963. Many of the prisoners held there died because of the tough treatment Alexandru Visinescu subjected them to. Visinescu is one of the 35 communist torturers identified by the Institute.

The George Enescu Festival is underway in Bucharest

The capital Bucharest and other cities in Romania are hosting the 21st George Enescu International Music Festival, one of the most prestigious in Europe. Over 150 events make up this year’s edition, which, organizers say, is a unique cultural mix. Classical music fans thus have the opportunity to enjoy many concerts, recitals, opera and ballet performances, conferences and workshops. The George Enescu Festival, held once every two years, was set up in 1958, as a tribute to the composer George Enescu.