The Week in Review, 22-28 July

A roundup of the week's main stories

Roxana Vasile, 28.07.2018, 13:02

Government presents report after 6 months in office

The third governmental team put together by the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats this week reviewed its accomplishments after the first six months in office. Higher budget revenues, increased investments and better spending of EU funds are some of the achievements presented by PM Dancila on Monday. She also mentioned the Governments measures to encourage employment and support farmers. Viorica Dancila explained that in the first 6 months of the year the state budget revenues were some 3.2 billion euros higher than in the corresponding period of last year. Doubling the salaries of healthcare personnel and a 25% increase of teaching staff incomes were also listed as “social measures. In the first 6 months in office, the Government also approved 13 strategic investment projects, 4 of which in the transport infrastructure sector. Also, 192 km of power lines were completed, which allow for inter-connection with the neighbouring Hungary and Serbia. Ludovic Orban, the president of the National Liberal Party, in opposition, criticised the activity of the government, arguing that the current Cabinet brought to a halt the economic growth of the past few years and lowered the citizens purchasing power.

PM visits Montenegro and the Republic of Macedonia

The Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila, while on an official visit this week to Podgorita, reiterated Romanias support for Montenegros EU accession efforts. The head of the Romanian Cabinet had meetings with president Milo Djukanovic and her counterpart Dusko Marcovic, as well as with the Parliament Speaker Ivan Brajovic. Mrs Dancila promised that the Western Balkans will be a key priority of the upcoming Romanian EU Council presidency and that Romania will be offering the expertise and the necessary technical assistance for the success of this process. She also congratulated Montenegro on its recent NATO accession, emphasising that Podgorica is a true friend and ally of Romania. The Romanian Prime Ministers Western Balkans tour continued with a visit to the Republic of Macedonia, the agenda of which included meetings with the head of state Gjorge Ivanov, PM Zoran Zaev and Parliament Speaker Talat Xhaferi. The topics approached included opportunities to strengthen bilateral relations.

The position of chief prosecutor of the National Anticorruption Directorate remains vacant

According to an announcement of the Romanian Justice Ministry on Friday, all four candidacies for chief prosecutor of the National Anticorruption Directorate have been rejected, and the selection procedure will be resumed. The press release reads that none of four met the necessary requirements. The four candidates, interviewed on Thursday, were Florentina Mirica, chief prosecutor with the Anti-corruption Service of the Directorate, Cristian Lazar, deputy chief prosecutor with the Criminal Prosecution Department of the Prosecutor Generals Office, Marius Iacob, deputy chief prosecutor with the National Anticorruption Directorate, and Elena Grecu, prosecutor chief of service with the central offices of the National Anticorruption Directorate. The position of Chief Prosecutor of the Directorate became vacant when Laura Codruta Kovesi was dismissed under a decree signed on July 9th by the countrys president, Klaus Iohannis, who thus complied with a ruling of the Constitutional Court.

Romania supports fire-ravaged Greece

The disaster in Greece, dubbed by many as Biblical, has sensitized the entire world, including Romanians, who have shown their willingness to help. On Wednesday, the Romanian Air Forces sent two airplanes and 20 soldiers to help the Greek authorities. The C-27 J Spartan, designed to extinguish fires, launches special cardboard boxes, each filled with 1.000 litres of water, and the other aircraft, a Hercules C-130, provides logistical support. Princess Margaret, the Custodian of the Crown of Romania and president of the Romanian Red Cross, has conveyed a message of compassion to the Greek people. Also, the Romanian Patriarchy has urged all eparchies in the country and abroad to provide financial support to those affected and has announced the opening of several bank accounts. The money will be donated to the Athens Archbishopric.

Bad weather takes Romania in its grip again

One person has died taken by the waters and lots of households and thousands of hectares of farming land and pastures have been damaged this week by heavy ran and flooding, affecting half of the country. Such phenomena have become quite normal this summer, which has proven rather atypical. July 2018 has been the coolest summer month in the last 34 years, with temperatures below the average and heavy precipitations reported almost every day, keeping meteorologists busy issuing one alert after another for heavy rain, storms and unstable weather across the country. Firefighters and military rescue teams have intervened to help the population deal with the damage caused by the bad weather. The Government has announced it will provide emergency aid in the areas affected by flooding and has called on local authorities to take all the necessary measures.

Swine fever wreaks havoc

The African swine fever virus continues to spread across Romania and cause colossal damage among local farms, amounting to hundreds of millions of Euro. Some 440 outbreaks have been reported since the beginning of the year, mostly in the county of Tulcea, in the south-east. Tens of thousands of pigs have been slaughtered, and deliveries of pork and pork meat products have been restricted. The African swine fever affects only animals, therefore it cannot hurt humans, but there is no treatment or vaccine against it.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu, Mihaela Ignatescu)