February 2, 2015
News and Current Affairs from Romania
Ştefan Stoica, 02.02.2015, 11:59
Romanian PM Victor Ponta submits today in Parliament, on the first day of its first session of the year, the priorities of his cabinet. Ponta said that he would like to have a regular so-called ‘Prime Minister’s Hour’ on every first Monday of the month. This is one of the proposals for change that the head of government wants to introduce in Parliament. Among the announced priorities for the new session of Parliament are new election legislation, simpler procedures for lifting parliamentary immunity and passing the law of personal bankruptcy.
Anti-corruption prosecutors ran searches at company offices and homes as part of the Gala Bute case, dating back to 2011. Many of the people under investigation are former employees of the Ministry of Tourism, which was headed back then by Elena Udrea, one of the contenders for presidency in the last elections. The alleged crimes involve public acquisition procedures. In this case, one of the main targets is the former head of the Romanian Boxing Federation, who is suspected of abuse of office in relation to the 2011 Champion for Romania Gala, a fight pitting Romanian origin boxer Lucian Bute and French fighter Jean-Paul Mendy. The Anti-Corruption Directorate has informed officially the General Prosecutor’s Office of the criminal investigation against Elena Udrea, currently an MP on behalf of a center right party. She is also involved in a continuing major investigation into the fraudulent granting of IT licenses with public money.
Romanian tennis player Simona Halep is still a 3rd-seed, according to the rankings the WTA has made public today. The Romanian tennis player who last week reached as far as the Australian Open’s quarterfinals has been overpowered by the American Serena Williams and Russia’s Maria Sharapova, who fought for the trophy of the year’s first Grand Slam tournament. Among the world’s top 100 tennis players, representing Romania are also Irina Begu, ranked 34th, which is the best position of her career, Monica Niculescu, ranked 57th, and Alexandra Dulgheru, seeded 95th. Halep, Begu, Niculescu and Dulgheru are actually part of Romania’s team that later this week will be taking on Spain, in a confrontation counting towards the first round of the Fed Cup’s World Group. The match will be venued by the eastern Romanian city of Galati.
Romania’s new electronic national health system cards come into effect on February 1st. Family physicians warn that this brings additional expenses for the insured, as the holders have to run tests for blood group and Rh determination in case they are not listed on their ID cards or birth certificates. According to the law, family physicians have to record on the cards this data, which is not considered reliable by word of mouth only.
