March 21, 2016 UPDATE

One Romanian among the Erasmus students killed in coach crash in Catalunia / Romania risks exceeding its target budget deficit of 3% of the GDP

Newsroom, 21.03.2016, 12:15

ACCIDENT — A Romanian student was killed in Sunday’s coach crash in the Catalonia region in Spain, the Romanian Foreign Ministry announced. At least 13 girls were killed in the accident, while another 30 wounded were taken to nearby hospitals. The coach was carrying 60 Erasmus students from 19 countries. The driver lost control of the wheel, crossing the median strip and colliding with an oncoming car, causing the coach to capsize. The University of Barcelona and regional authorities have declared two days of mourning.

BUDGET DEFICIT — Romania risks exceeding its target budget deficit of 3% of the GDP, alongside other 8 EU member states, Bloomberg reports. The EU has asked Governments to reduce their budget deficit below 3% of the GDP and cut their debt below 60% of the GDP. Failure to do so will entail fines, even if the EU has never resorted to such measures, despite the many infringements. Since the Stability and Growth Treaty was signed in 1998, 25 of the EU’s 28 Member States have exceeded their target deficits. Sweden, Estonia and Luxemburg are the only states that have always observed the set norms.

STRIKE ACTION — A large part of Romania’s medical staff went on a work-in pre-emptive strike on Monday, the last in a series of protests announced by trade unions in the healthcare sector. Protesters want the provisions of the single salary law to be applied in the healthcare sector as well, so as to reposition all staff with the national minimum gross salary of 280 euros. Doctors also want their benefits to be calculated based on their total salaries, and want their working and rest hours to be observed. Their list of demands also includes free-of-charge access to healthcare services for all the employees in the system. On Sunday, Health Minister Patriciu Achimas Cadariu said he supported the 25% salary increase for healthcare employees in 2016, after a similar increase enforced last year. The Minister will submit a new memorandum to the Government in an attempt to make more jobs available in this sector.

PRESIDENCY – Romanian President Klaus Iohannis is paying a three-day official visit to Turkey starting on Tuesday, to hold talks with his counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with PM Ahmet Davutoglu and with representatives of the Romanian community in this country. The visit is aimed at strengthening bilateral ties based on the Strategic Partnership between Romania and Turkey, signed in 2011. Official talks will focus on bilateral, regional and security issues, such as economic cooperation, the dialogue between Turkey and the EU with an emphasis on migration and also the collaboration within NATO.

FARMING — Romanian PM Dacian Ciolos said on Monday that he is against the selling of farmland to foreign citizens before having made everything possible for it to be capitalised on by local communities. Ciolos attended on Monday in Alba Iulia, central Romania, the launch of a support program for farmers. The Government wants farmers to be able to support their families using the income they get from farming activities. The program contains such measures as hiring members of the family, promoting farmers’ associations, selling or processing production and better access to development loans or co-financed projects. At present, of Romania’s 3 million farmers, nearly a third live off self-sufficiency farming, and only 1% are part of associations. Find out more about it after the news.

EXERCISE – Some 350 Romanian, Bulgarian, Slovenian and US military are as of Monday taking part in the Black Sea Rotational Force exercise under NATO auspices, carried out in Babadag, southeast Romania. Held every year for a week in the Black Sea area, the Balkans and the Caucasus region, the exercise is supervised by the US Marine Corps Forces Europe and Africa. The exercise is aimed at boosting the cooperation and combat power of NATO states with a view to responding to any crisis anywhere in the world.

VISIT TO CUBA — US President Barack Obama met on Monday in Havana with his Cuban counterpart, Raul Castro. This is the third meeting between Obama and Castro since 2014. The US President’s visit is seen as historic, as it comes after nearly a century of hostilities between Washington and the communist regime in Havana. Obama is also the first sitting US president to pay an official visit to Cuba after 1928. Political pundits see this visit as an attempt to normalize relations with Cuba, particularly at economic level, and to persuade communist leaders to give more liberties to the people.

ONE WORLD — The 9th edition of the One World Romania Documentary Film and Human Rights Festival kicked off on Monday in Bucharest. Over 60 films are screened as part of this year’s edition, dedicated to the global refugee crisis. Environmental NGOs will stage a debate on the Chernobyl disaster and the nuclear threats.

(Translated by Elena Enache)