April 14, 2016 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 14.04.2016, 12:15

The Romanian labour minister, Ana Costea, resigned her office on Thursday, in the context in which early this week the trade unions in the state system expressed discontent with the draft emergency ordinance regarding state employees’ salaries. The PM Dacian Ciolos accepted the minister’s resignation and announced he would made a proposal for labour minister to President Klaus Iohannis soon. Also on Thursday the PM said talks would start next week with the trade union representatives regarding state employees’ salaries to work out a solution that should be both convenient for state employees and feasible from a budgetary and legal point of view.

The Romanian foreign ministry has expressed disappointment after the talks on the visa waiver program for the Romanian citizens who want to visit Canada have ended with no results. The Romanian foreign ministry says maintaining visas for the Romanian citizens create evident and unjustified disadvantages in comparison with other European citizens. The Romanian diplomacy recalls that the Canadian authorities have repeatedly promised, since 2008, to relax the visa requirements for the Romanian citizens, so as to ensure freedom of movement for all European citizens without discrimination. In another development, the European Commission has called on the European Council and Parliament to start urgent debates and adopt, by July 12 at the latest, a stand on the introduction of visas for the American and Canadian citizens. The EC’s reaction comes against the backdrop of the USs and Canada’s refusal to lift the visa requirements for the citizens of some EU states, Romania included.

In Romania the most frequent human rights infringements are related to the systematic discrimination of the Roma population, to ill-treatment of inmates who are forced to live in conditions ibelow the international standards. The conclusion was mentioned in the report issued by the American Department of State on the observance of human rights across the world. Also related to Romania, the report mentions certain anti-Semitic declarations and articles carried by the press or the racist, Xenophobic and nationalist opinions expressed on the Internet. The report also refers to cases of pressure exerted on the private or public media by employers or politicians. On the other hand, the report shows that the National Anti-Corruption Directorate continued to investigate the cases of high-level corruption. Although the Romanian laws guarantee the observance of human rights, the authorities don’t always enforce the laws efficiently, the report concludes.

The number of Romanian immigrants officially registered in Great Britain has increased significantly- shows a study made by the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, as quoted by news agencies. There are more than 220 thousand Romanian immigrants, as compared to 2011, when almost 80 thousand Romanians were reported in Britain. The report writes that, on an average, salaries in Great Britain are 4.2 times bigger than salaries in Romania. The authors of the study add that, in general, the number of citizens from the south and east European states who work in Great Britain has increased significantly especially thanks to the opportunities provided by the British labour market.

The films “Baccalaureate” by Cristian Mungiu and “Sierra-Nevada” by Cristi Puiu have been singled out for the official competition of the Cannes Film Festival to take place between May 11 and 22, the festival organizers announced on Thursday. Cristian Mungiu received the Palme d’Or in 2007 for his film “4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days”. In 2012 he also participated in the festival with the film “Beyond the Hills” for which he won the prizes for best screenplay and best performance. Cristi Puiu received in 2005, also at the Cannes Film Festival, the grand prize of the Un Certain Regard section for his film “The death of Mr. Lazarescu”. The movie “Dogs” by Bogdan Mirica has been selected for the Un Certain Regard section in this year’s Cannes festival. Adding to that are two shorts “4.15 P.M. The End of the World” directed by Catalin Rotaru and Gabi Virginia Sarga and “All Rivers Run to the Sea” by Alexandru Badea.

The EU foreign affairs chief, Federica Mogherini, promised on Thursday that the EU would support the new Ukrainian government after West-leaning Volodimir Groismans was appointed PM. She urged Kiev authorities to implement fundamental reforms. The Ukrainian Parliament approved Thursday Groisman’s candidacy to the PM position as well as the resignation of the former PM Arseni Iateniuk, who was criticized for the slow pace of reforms and the corruption scandals. According to analysts, the changes at the top of the Ukrainian political class occur against the backdrop of an economic crisis that delays the payment of salaries to state employees and prolongs Ukraine’s dependence on Russian gas. Also the ruling power has been discredited by recent disclosures regarding Ukrainian president Poroshenko’s offshore accounts and his incapacity to re-establish Kiev’s authority over the pro-Russian eastern part of the country.

A new American investment was inaugurated on Thursday near Ploiesti (in southern Romania) in the presence of the American ambassador to Bucharest, Hans Klemm. The Americans invested in a plant producing car parts, thus creating more than 300 jobs. The new plant will provide car parts to carmakers in Europe, such as ensembles and components for windshield wipers.

The tennis pair made up of the Romanian Horia Tecău and the Dutch Jean-Julien Rojer was defeated Thursday by the pair Henri Kontinen (Finland) / John Peers (Australia), in the eighth finals of the Monte Carlo tournament. The competition offers prizes worth 3.8 million dollars. In the same contest, the pair made up of the Romanian Florin Mergea and the Indian Rohan Bopanna qualified in the quarter finals after defeating 7-5, 7-5 the pair Robert Lindstedt (Sweden) / Alexander Peya (Austria). In the quarterfinals Mergea and Bopanna will meet, on Friday, the pair made up of Jamie Murray (Great Britain) and Bruno Soares (Brazil).

The European Parliament voted Thursday the Directive on a common passenger name record (PNR) plan, a law related to fighting terrorism which has been expected for many years. Voting the law was insistently requested especially after the terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels. According to the directive, airlines will have to share passenger data with the national authorities of the EU states. According to Radio Romania’s correspondent to Brussels, the EU countries can choose to collect and process the data through the PNR also from travel agencies and tour operators. The data will be kept for 5 years.

(news translated by Lacramioara Simion)