June 16, 2014

News and current affairs from Romania

Bogdan Matei, 16.06.2014, 11:40

Romanian PM Victor Ponta said on Monday that Romania has enough natural gas reserves to cover its needs for the next six months. He said there should be no problems during this period of time in supplying individual and business customers. Ponta also said that a stable and predictable Romanian political stage is needed as the regional situation, especially the crisis in Ukraine, is worsening, with a risk of Russian gas supplies to Europe getting cut off.

Russian gas giant Gazprom announced on Monday it would put into place a system of advanced payments for gas delivered to Ukraine, cutting off supplies pending payment. The announcement came after the failure of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, mediated by the EU, and after the former gave an ultimatum to Kiev for the payment of 1.95 billion Euro owed for past gas deliveries. Gazprom sued Ukraine in the International Arbitration Court in Stockholm for the total payment of 4.5 billion dollars owed. The Russian group announced they would continue full deliveries to European consumers, calling on the Ukraine to provide transit. At the same time, Gazprom warned Brussels of what they called possible disruptions in the deliveries. Gazprom, the largest natural gas producer in the world, provides a third of the gas Europe uses, half of which transits Ukraine.

Romanian national power company Electrica goes public on Monday, as its state management put up for sale its majority shares. The IPO is valid until June 25th. The state announced it expected to make at least 435 million Euro from the sale of the 51% of shares in the national electricity utility.

The second edition of the Grand Prix Nova International Radio Theater Festival begins in Bucharest on Monday. Up until June 22, over 40 productions from 21 countries will be presented as part of the festival. Associated events include auditions and debates with members of the jury and competitors. The festival is organized by Radio Romania, under the high patronage of Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Margaret of Romania.

Romania’s national women’s handball team qualified to compete in the European Championships in December, after defeating Belarus, 32-20, at home on Sunday. In the first leg they won 30-28. Also on Sunday, Romania’s national men’s team missed qualification in next year’s world championships in Qatar.

The South African Republic’s embassy in Bucharest and the Lauder Reut Education Complex, together with Bucharest City Hall and the Bucharest School Board, celebrated for the first time in Romania the South African National Youth Day. This day is a commemoration of the young students who lost their lives in the Soweto uprisings of 1976, which paved the way for the fall of the Apartheid regime. Officials from 78 foreign embassies and Romanian officials will be in attendance.

Romanian anti-corruption prosecutors went on several searches at the Ministry of Health and three hospitals in Bucharest. The National Anti-Corruption Directorate, which coordinates these prosecutors, suspects irregularities in public acquisitions of medical equipment, occurring between 2008-2011, using public funds and foreign aid. The estimated losses are gauged at 7 million Euro. The prosecutors also had the assistance of the European Commission anti-fraud office and the Romanian Intelligence Service. Last month, the NAD ran two other investigations, one involving five physicians and one nurse accused of performing illegal operations, and another involving several physicians and other health personnel. The latter were placed under preventive arrest for falsifying prescriptions.