A look at the headline-grabbing events this past week
Coronavirus and Relaxation
More than 23 thousand cases of coronavirus infection and 1,500 deaths is the toll of the Covid-19 pandemic in Romania so far. President Klaus Iohannis has voiced worries over the increase in the number of new cases in the past days and called again on the population to observe sanitation rules, describing them as "simple, commonsensical and extremely important": wearing a protective face mask, social distancing and hand hygiene.
After two months of state of emergency and one of state of alert, the Government has decided to extend the latter, as of June 17th, for another 30 days, but against the background of further relaxation measures. Therefore, fitness centers have reopened, just like shops in malls. Indoor cinemas and playgrounds though remain closed. Also, religious masses inside the church are now allowed. Private indoor events must not gather more than 20 participants, and the outdoor ones 50. Betting and gambling facilities have also reopened. The list of countries where flights from and to Romania are allowed will be updated on a weekly basis.
A Special Pension Story
A recurrent theme in public debates in Romania, the taxation of the so called 'special pensions', which does not observe the contributive principle, has grabbed the headlines again. Parliament has decided to tax the difference between the special pension, benefiting also senators and deputies, and the one obtained through contributions paid, periodically, to the pension fund, during one's active life. The difference from 2,000 lei, which is the equivalent of some 400 Euro, up to the amount of 7,000 lei shall be taxed as before, by 10%, and for the amounts exceeding 7,000 lei, the tax will be 85%.
According to data provided by the Public Pension House, the number of people receiving special public service pensions stood at 9,500 at the end of last month. Out of them, some 4,100 are benefiting from the provisions of the law on the status of prosecutors and judges, and one of them gets the highest pension in Romania: 19,000 Lei, which is approximately 3,900 Euro. Also receiving special pensions are some 150,000 former employees of the public order and national safety services.
Quite promptly, the High Court of Cassation and Justice and the Ombudsman notified the Constitutional Court about the taxation of special pensions in Romania. The supreme court criticizes the fact that successive rulings on the matter have been ignored, that the Superior Council of Magistracy has not been consulted and that the principles of fair taxation and judges' independence have been violated. Notified by the same institutions last month, the Constitutional Court of Romania rejected a bill meant to abrogate special pensions. Pundits are expecting a similar outcome, given that six out of the nine Constitutional Court judges are beneficiaries of special pensions, and some of them actually cumulate several such pensions.
Evaluation in the Time of Pandemic
Shut since March, when on-line classes started being held in Romania because of the pandemic, schools have reopened this week for the so called 'National Evaluation', which is a prerequisite for enrollment into high school in Romania. The exams have been taken by some 160,000 graduates of secondary schools.
Because of the pandemic, special measures were taken this week. Healthcare personnel checked children's temperature and every school was equipped with decontamination mats, protective face masks and biocide substances to use on floors, doorknobs, desks and chairs. Children were not allowed to bring any bags or backpacks into the examination rooms and were seated 2 m from each other during the exam. The students who are self-isolating, quarantined, hospitalized, and those who had a temperature above 37.3 degrees Celsius on the exam day and those suffering from conditions that may be worsened by the novel coronavirus will take the exams in a special session between June 22 and July 4.
Sibiu International Theatre Festival Online
The Sibiu International Theatre Festival has been held online this week, which is a first for the reputed festival. This year's theme is 'The Power of Believing'. The agenda of the festival includes 138 events, from 30 countries on 5 continents, presented on the official website of the festival: www.sibfest.ro, and also on Facebook and YouTube. Adding to that are 12 special conferences. According to the organizers, the Sibiu Festival, the biggest theatre festival in Central and Eastern Europe, has offered its audience 250 hours of theatrical performance, dance, music, circus, conferences, debates, reading-shows and children's performances, all free of charge.
Whims of the Weather
Recently, all of Romania has been under a yellow code for storms and meteorologists have successively issued red and orange codes, as well as immediate warnings for torrential rain and hail storms. Hydrologists have also issued codes yellow and orange on rivers, targeting river basins all over the country. County and national roads have been blocked by alluvium caused by heavy rainfall and trees blown by strong winds. Many villages were left without electricity after electricity poles were knocked to the ground by storms or fallen trees. In some areas, hail has also severely affected crops, orchards in particular. It took the intervention of firefighters to remove the flooded households and to clear some cars and electric cables from the road. (M.Ignatescu)
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