September 19, 2013
For a roundup of news and current affairs, click here...
Ştefan Stoica, 19.09.2013, 00:30
Unless Romania manages to exceed the psycological treshold of a 2% increase in its GDP, it will continue to lag behind the other EU countries, Romanian Economy Minister Varujan Vosganian said at a conference on economic issues held on Thursday in Bucharest. Minister Voganian pointed out that, if Romania absorbed the European funds at a satisfactory pace, the economic growth rate would get close to 4%. Exports are currently accounting for about 50 billion euros and Romania reenters the growth cycle, Vosganian also said. The National Statistics Institute revised to 1.8% the GDP growth rate in the first half of 2013, from the initial 1.7%. The IMF also changed its economic forcast for Romania this year, from 1.6% to 2%.
The large-scale protests organized by employees in the healthcare, transports and public services, who are primarily dissatisfied with their low salaries, continued on Thursday in Bucharest for the second day in a row. The protesters’ list of complaints includes six major points. Trade unions want 6% of the country’s GDP to go to the healthcare system, in addition to proper legislation that should guarantee the professional independence of those working in the public and private systems, as well as a field-specific law introducing performance-based practices. Minister Nicolaescu called on trade unions to put an end to the protests and resume dialogue. In turn, trade unions have announced daily protests until September 27.
Prime minister Victor Ponta was received in Ankara by the president of Turkey, Abdullah Gul, after he had met with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The talks of the Romanian prime minister, who was accompanied on this visit by the ministers of agriculture, defence and energy, focused on the Strategic Partnership signed in 2011. The goal of the visit is to pave the way for the development of joint projects with Turkish partners, considering that Turkey is Romania’s largest non-EU trade partner.
Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad said he would stand by an agreement to dispose of its chemical weapons and estimated their destruction would take about a year, and would cost 1 billion dollars, BBC reports. The West holds Assad responsible for the August 21st attack with chemical weapons. The UN Security Council meeting on Wednesday evening that focused on drawing up a new draft resolution to guarantee the destruction of the Syrian chemical weapons arsenal gave no results. This is the second such meeting after the American and Russian officials agreed on a plan to neutralise Syria’s chemical weapons.
The 48-hour strike against the government’s latest plans to fire thousands of public sector staff continued in Greece on Thursday. As many as 20 thousand state workers are protesting in Athens and several other cities against the Government’s decision to fire over 37,000 public sector staff by year-end, while union leaders say the austerity measures enforced over the past four years are inhumane. According the the latest IMF forecast, Greece’s economy will shrink by 4.2% this year after a 6% decrease in 2012. Representatives of the country’s international lenders, the EU, the Europea Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund will go to Ahens next week to radiograph the Greek economy again.
The Higher Council of Magistrates in Bucharest endorsed a bill that binds former communist prison wards to pay compensations for the wrongdoings perpetrated between 1945 and 1989. The bill was passed by the Government on Wednesday. The document provides for a minimum five-year payment period, and for compensation amounts ranging between 25% and 75% of the incomes of the sentenced individual. The Institute Investigating the Crimes of Communism has filed criminal complaints to the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the Supreme Court against two former commanders of communist prisons, the first on a list of 35 names. During the communist regime, in 1945–1989, over 600 thousand Romanians were sentenced and imprisoned for political reasons.
