October 14 UPDATE
For a roundup of domestic and international news, click here.
România Internațional, 14.10.2013, 12:07
The European Commission on Monday made public the list of top-priority projects for the Trans-European Energy Transport Infrastructure in the 2014-2020 period. According to EU Commissioner for Energy Gunther Ottinger, the European Commission will earmark some 6 billion euros over the next 7 years to this field in the form of direct financing, loans or bank bonds. Romania is involved in several projects in the field of natural gas and energy, namely the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Romania Gas Interconnector, the building of a gas pipeline linking Bulgaria to Austria and crossing Hungary and Romania, the White Stream project which provides for the building of an underwater gas pipeline linking Romania to Georgia. Romania is on the list of countries where the Commission wants to increase the capacity for transporting energy by means of projects also implemented in Bulgaria and Serbia.
The 2013 Noble Prize for Economy has been awarded to US professors Eugene Farma, Lars Peter Hansen and Robert Shiller for their empirical analysis of asset prices, the Nobel Committee announced on Monday in Stockholm. This marks the last prize on the 2013 Nobel Awards list. The Nobel Prize for Economy was established in 1968 by the Swedish Central Bank and was first awarded in 1969. The Prize is financed by the Swedish Central Bank, unlike the other awards, which are directly financed by the Nobel Foundation.
The lack of technical or decision-making skills is one of the main obstacles for Romania and Bulgaria when drafting eligible projects for European funding, reads an international financial institutions report. The study, conducted by the European Bank for Investment, the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, also points to the repeated administrative delays in the process of approving projects. According to data made public by the Ministry for European Funds, Romania rate of absorption of EU funds stood at 23.7% in September.
The healthcare system employees on Monday went on a work-to-rule strike. Until Wednesday they will do no more than the minimum required by the rules of their contract and will wear an armband in protest of the under- financing of the system. In November the healthcare trade unions might go on an all out strike.
The opponents of the mining project in Rosia Montana (in central Romania) have again protested in Bucharest and other cities of Romania. They are asking for the withdrawal of the draft law regulating that gold ores exploitation, the cancellation of the contract with the Canadian company Rosia Montana Gold Corporation. Protesters want a ban on cyanide use in Romania and the introduction of the Rosia Montana area on the UNESCO heritage list. A special parliamentary committee will look into the project and will present a report on the mining project by October 20th, which will be forwarded to Parliament.
Monday marked the deadline for the GFR Company (The Romanian Railway Group) to pay the remaining 170 million euros for purchasing the majority stake in the state owned company CFR Marfa- the freight division of the Romanian Railway Company. GFR asked the Transport Ministry to urgently get involved in the privatization process and warned that privatization might fail because the seller allegedly did not comply with the contractual obligations. GFR claims its interests have been violated adding that it is willing to collaborate to find a legal solution. In September the Transport Ministry signed the privatization contract of CFR Marfa with the GFR company after the latter won in June the public sale of the state-owned company, offering 202 million euros for the 51% share package in CFR Marfa. Moreover GFR promised to make further investments worth 204 million euros. Under the precautionary agreement with the IMF Romania pledged to sell the majority stake in several state-owned companies, mainly in the transport and energy fields.
