The Week in Review 2-8 October 2017

Click here for a review of the main stories making headlines in Romania in the past week

Mihai Pelin, 07.10.2017, 14:34

Croatia’s president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic travels to Bucharest

The Romanian president Klaus Iohannis and his counterpart in Zagreb Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, who has made a state visit to Bucharest, opened the Romanian-Croatian Business Forum on Tuesday. The Romanian president said on this occasion that bilateral trade exchanges stood at almost 300 million euros. In his opinion, although this is below the potential of the two economies, recent developments give, however, encouraging signs. During talks on Monday, the two presidents discussed ways to improve collaboration within the European Union and NATO. They also agreed on the need to develop infrastructure in the region, with next year’s summit of the Three Seas Initiative in Bucharest due to focus on this aspect. The Croatian president said her country supported Romania’s accession to the Schengen area and the elimination of the Mechanism for Cooperation and Verification for Romania in the field of justice.

Prime minister Mihai Tudose attends four-party high-level meeting in Varna, Bulgaria

Romania’s prime minister Mihai Tudose, who travelled to neighbouring Bulgaria on Tuesday, and his Bulgarian counterpart Boiko Borisov chaired the fourth joint meeting of Romanian and Bulgarian governments in Varna. Talks focused, among other things, on economic cooperation, transport and energy infrastructure, regional development and cross-border cooperation. A declaration was signed in the presence of the two prime ministers on the main lines of action for bilateral, regional, European, Euro-Atlantic and international cooperation. Also in Varna, the Romanian prime minister attended a high-level four-party meeting between Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece. Mihai Tudose, Boiko Borisov, the Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras and the Serbian president Alexandar Vucic discussed bilateral and regional cooperation. According to the Bulgarian prime minister, the four countries are to form a coordinated group whose voice would be better heard at European level. The Serbian president also believes the four countries can accomplish many things together to secure the prosperity of their citizens. The Greek prime minister is of the opinion that the group can play an essential role in the stability and peace of the entire Balkan region. The Romanian prime minister recalled that Romania, Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia have a very pragmatic partnership and that they wish to attain some concrete objectives by the time of their next meeting due in Belgrade.

Trade unions stage protests in Romania

The whole week has been dominated by trade union protests. One of the biggest trade union confederations, Cartel Alfa, as well as Sanitas and Solidaritatea Sanitara healthcare trade unions and the trade unions in education, have protested mostly against the Government’s decision to transfer the payment of social security contributions from employers to employees. Trade unions are also unhappy with the public sector salary law and the social dialogue law. The first rounds of negotiations with government representatives have already been held in Bucharest. The latter have admitted that some categories of public employees will have smaller salaries when the payment of the social security contributions are transferred from the employer to the employee. Nevertheless, Prime Minister Mihai Tudose has announced he will not give up this controversial measure. He has argued that this measure is part of a legislative package that also includes the new salary law and provisions for smaller taxation. On the other hand, trade unionists have threatened with new protests unless their demands are met.

Mining accident at the Lupeni mine

A new, serious mining accident occurred at the Lupeni mine, in central Romania, killing one and wounding two. The ceiling of a gallery collapsed some 400 meters in the underground. The miners had gone down into the mine for consolidation works. The Lupeni mine is one of the mining exploitations that should be closed down by the end of 2018. It is located in the Jiu Valley, the most dangerous mining area of Romania, where around two thirds of the total number of accidents occur. According to statistics, the incidence of work accidents in the mining field is several times higher than the average number reported at national level for all economic sectors. Nevertheless, the number of accidents has dropped, just as the number of miners has constantly decreased in the past years.

Romania’s national football team defeats Kazakhstan

Romania’s national team on Thursday won 3-1, on home ground, the match against Kazakhstan, the last but one in the preliminaries of the 2018 World Cup scheduled to take place in Russia. This victory only account’s for the Romanian team’s record, as they already failed to qualify for the World Cup. In the next match to be played on Sunday, Romania will take on Denmark, away from home. The match against Kazakhstan marked the debut of Cosmin Contra as coach. He replaced the German Christoph Daum, the first foreign coach of the national team in the history of Romanian football. Cosmin Contra’s main objective is to make sure Romania qualifies for EURO 2020.