October 11, 2017 UPDATE

Deputy Prime Minister of Romania heard by anti-corruption prosecutors/ Protests in the healthcare system/ Vishegrad countries meeting in Budapest

Newsroom, 11.10.2017, 19:58

Anti-corruption — The Romanian deputy prime minister Sevil Shhaideh, minister of Regional Development, was again heard by the anti-corruption prosecutors on Wednesday, in a corruption file in which she is prosecuted alongside the minister delegate for European Funds, Rovana Plumb. The names of the two ministers are among those most frequently mentioned by the media, relative to a prospective government reshuffle, announced on Tuesday by PM Mihai Tudose. The Premier held talks on this issue with both President Klaus Iohannis and the Social-Democrat leader, Liviu Dragnea. The leadership of the Social Democratic Party will gather on Thursday to decide on what ministers will be replaced.

Motion — The Chamber of Deputies in the Romanian Parliament on Wednesday rejected a simple motion on the situation of the Romanian healthcare system, filed by MPs in the right-wing Opposition made up of the National Liberal Party, the Save Romania Union and the People’s Movement Party. The document was debated on Tuesday in a plenary session of Parliament, with the signatories calling for the resignation of the line minister, Florian Bodog, and for finding solutions to the problems in the healthcare system. Liviu Dragnea. The leadership of the Social Democratic Party will gather on Thursday to decide on what ministers will be replaced.

Protests – Trade unionists with the “Ambulance” National Trade Union Federation on Wednesday picketed the headquarters of the Labor, Health and Finance Ministries in Bucharest. They are calling, among other things, for ending the drop in monthly incomes of healthcare personnel, namely of the ambulance service employees, starting on January 1, 2018 following the application of new regulations regarding benefits. They also ask for the authorities to give up transferring the payment of social security contributions from employers to employees, a controversial measure pushed by the government, and for the allocation of funds for speeding up the purchase, next year, of new ambulances. In another development, also on Wednesday, transporters threatened with protests as they are discontented with the supplementary excise duties for fuels. Moreover, Romanian carriers claim that, unless they receive support from the government, they will be unable to keep up the pace with competing companies in Western Europe.

Budapest — The Romanian foreign minister Teodor Melescanu on Wednesday participated in Budapest alongside his counterparts from Bulgaria, Slovenia and Estonia, as guests, in the meeting of the foreign ministers of the Vishegrad Group and the Western Balkans states. In his speech, minister Melescanu underlined the strategic importance of the Western Balkans and reiterated Romania’s support for the continuation of the EU enlargement process. He also gave assurances that Romania would give priority to the region when it is scheduled to hold the presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2019.

Strasbourg — The Ukrainian President Petro Porosenko on Wednesday said in Strasbourg before the plenum of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe that the authorities in Kiev would introduce all the conclusions of the Venice Commission into the controversial Ukrainian education law. Poroshenko also promised that Ukraine would respect the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Romania’s delegation, alongside 5 other national delegations have managed to obtain the emergency inclusion on the meeting’s agenda of the situation created by the new Ukrainian education law. At the end of September President Poroshenko promulgated the education law, which strengthens the status of the Ukrainian language in schools and high schools to the detriment of national minorities’ languages. will be unable to keep up the pace with competing companies in Western Europe.

Vaccination law — The legal committee of the Romanian Senate on Wednesday approved the draft Vaccination Law. The committee also passed an amendment according to which the people who can prove that they are immune to a certain type of virus shall not be vaccinated. According to the government’s timetable the draft law will come into force on January 1, 2018. The draft vaccination law was proposed against the backdrop of the measles epidemics that Romania has been faced with. According to the National Center for Monitoring and Control of Communicable Diseases, the number of confirmed measles cases exceeded 9,400. 34 people have so far died of measles.

PwC — In Romania, salaries in the private sector have increased this year by an average of 5.1%, shows a study made by the PricewaterhouseCoopers company. According to categories of employees, the smallest growth was reported at the level of top management, while the biggest increase was reported in the unqualified personnel category. For 2017, companies had planned an average salary growth of 4.8%, the growth being slightly higher than initially estimated. The PricewaterhouseCoopers survey was made on a number of almost 100 companies operating in such sectors as finances, banking, pharmaceutical industry, industry and hospitality.