August 18, 2015

Click here for a roundup of news from Romania

Newsroom, 18.08.2015, 12:00

HEALTHCARE- Representatives of the Romanian government and of the healthcare system are holding talks on the level of salaries of the medical staff. Doctors are discontent about their salaries and also about the fact that the employees in the public healthcare system will be assimilated to civil servants. Representatives of the medical staff claim a significant pay rise can solve some of the problems facing the system. The talks, which are being attended by Prime Minister Victor Ponta, finance minister Eugen Teodorovici, labour minister Rovana Plumb and the line minister Nicolae Banicioiu, are aimed at making a precise simulation of the sums of money to be allotted to the healthcare system. The Health Ministry has recently decided to increase the salaries of the medical staff by 10%, an increase which takes effect as of October. The decision was made after thousands of doctors warned they would go on strike, being dissatisfied with their inclusion into the category of civil servants.

CORRUPTION- Former Romanian presidential advisor and former interior minister, Gabriel Berca, was sent to court and taken into custody, pending trial for influence peddling. The same measure was taken in the case of former MP Mihai Banu, a deputy of the Liberal Democratic Party, at the time he committed the incriminated facts, and also in the case of his son. According to the prosecutors, between 2010 and 2012, Gabriel Berca requested and received, through the intermediary of Mihai Banu the sum of 185,000 Euros. The sum was requested to his own benefit and to the benefit of the party he was a member of, the National Liberal Party, from a businessman. In exchange for the money, he pledged to use his influence for a sum of money to be allotted by the government to a town hall. In another move, the National Fiscal Administration Agency, has started this month, to check on the natural persons with high incomes and who run a fiscal risk, that is all those whose wealth cant be justified by their declared incomes. Of a total of 14.3 million people who obtain taxable incomes, the National Fiscal Administration Agency has selected some 300,000, to be included in the sample which makes the object of the risk analysis. Of these, some 8,000 have been proposed for thorough analysis. Many of them are criminals, show-biz stars or rich owners of poor firms.

FESTIVAL- The 12th “Anonymous Festival, devoted to independent films, is unfolding in Sfantu Gheorghe, the Danube Delta, in south-eastern Romania, until August 23rd. Yesterday, the festival opened with the screening of the film The Lobster by Greek director Yorgos Lanthims, which won the jurys prize at the Cannes Film Festival in spring. The festival includes the “Romanian Off selection and an already classical competition devoted to actors who chose to direct films. The “Romanian Off section presents Romanian films such as “The Treasure and “Aferim, as well as Bucharest Non-stop and “Youtube Bazaar both directed by Dan Chisu, “Vera by Dorian Boguta, “Chuck Norris versus Communism by Ilinca Calugareanu and “Why me? by Tudor Giurgiu. Such films as “Respire by Melanie Laurent and “La Mano Visible by Gael Garcia Bernal will be screened in the section devoted to actors who chose to direct films.

BACCALAUREATE- The autumn session of the baccalaureate continues in Romania today with the oral tests for the Romanian language and the mother tongue, respectively. Linguistic competences of communication in the Romanian language or the mother tongue, in the case of pupils belonging to ethnic minorities, were tested yesterday. This week, candidates will also take other tests evaluating their linguistic competences in a language of international circulation as well as their computer skills. Written tests start next week. Some 55,000 high school graduates in Romania take part in the second session of the 2015 Baccalaureate. In the first session, held in June-July, over 66% of the candidates, some 106,000 young people, passed the school-leaving examination. The passing rate increased by 7% as compared to the same session held in 2014.

WEATHER- A code yellow alert against storms and bad weather is valid for almost all regions of Romania until Wednesday evening. Rain showers, thunderstorms and gusty wind are reported in places. Rain is reported after the longest period of drought in the past 50 years, which destroyed crops on hundreds of thousands of hectares, in almost all regions of the country. The total volume of losses exceeds 2 billion Euros. The highs of the day range from 18 to 29 degrees Celsius. The noon reading in Bucharest was 27 degrees.

SYRIA- The UN Security Council has drafted a political plan on the Syrian conflict which has been agreed upon, for the first time in the past two years, by Russia and the other 14 members, FP reports. The initiative, which is to be started in September, allows for the setting up of four working groups on security and protection, counter-terrorism, political and legal issues as well as reconstruction. The Security Council launches an appeal for the cessation of war, by launching a political process led by Syria, a country ravaged by the 5th year of conflict, towards a political transition, bringing together the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people. The only state which showed reservation is Venezuela, which claims that the text of the document supports a transition which infringes the Syrians rights. The Security Council issued the communiqué just a day after the Syrian army bombarded a rebel-controlled locality near the capital, Damascus, an attack which made some 100 victims.