September 7, 2016 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 07.09.2016, 12:15

INTERIOR MINISTER – Dragos Tudorache, the new Interior Minister, was sworn in on Wednesday before president Klaus Iohannis. Dragos Tudorache also announced the priorities of his term in office. The first is preparing the December 11 elections in Romania. Tudorache said he would set up a command cell at Ministry level, to cooperate with the Election Authority, which is in charge of organizing the elections. Another priority is the streamlining of the Department for Intelligence and Domestic Protection, whose former leadership is being investigated for corruption. A former chief of the Government Chancellery, Tudorache is replacing Petre Toba, currently investigated by anti-corruption prosecutors for favoring the offender. According to prosecutors, Toba refused to declassify certain documents necessary to the investigation, involving several Minsitry officials, also accused of embezzlement.

PHONE TALK – Romanian president Klaus Iohannis has talked with the president of the European Council Donald Tusk about the summit in Bratislava, which has on the agenda, among other things, the EUs future after the Brexit. In the phone call, Iohannis said the EU countries must remain united and committed to winning the citizens trust in the European project adding that for Romania, the consolidation of the EU is a strategic objective. President Iohannis will be having talks in Berlin on Friday with German chancellor Angela Merkel about the preparations for the summit in Bratislava due on September 16th.

PROCEDURES – The Chamber of Deputies has simplified travel procedures for Romanian minors. The main provision amending the law on the free travel of Romanian citizens is the introduction of a single parental consent for several travels over a period of up to three years, without the stipulation of the destinations. Additionally, exempted from presenting the parental consent are all minors who reside or live in the country of destination. Moreover, the amendment also eliminates the superlegalization or authentication of documents issued by foreign states.

SCULPTURE – Romanians have been left only this month to raise donations for Constantin Brancusis statue ‘Wisdom of the Earth. The funds raised so far amount to 700 thousand euros. Under these circumstances an amendment has been recently voted on in the Chamber of Deputies in Bucharest obliging the government to find money to buy the sculpture irrespective of the sum raised by October 1st. The final vote is to be given by the Chamber of Deputies in Bucharest. Currently part of a private collection, the ‘Wisdom of the Earth is estimated at 11 million euros, out of which the government pledged 5 million. The rest of the money was supposed to come from donations. ‘Wisdom of the earth together with ‘The Kiss and “The Prayer belongs to the artists best period of creation.

TAX CUT – The Senate in Bucharest has passed a draft law on amending the Fiscal Code so that pensions above 235 euros will be exempted from the 16% tax, while health insurances are to be paid from the state budget. The document is to be submitted to the decision-making Chamber of Deputies shortly. Discussions on the document have been marked by heated debates between the Liberals and the Social Democrats. The latter say the law has been expected by many pensioners and blamed the Liberals for having cut incomes when they were in power. The Liberals response was that the law would favor those with big pensions while the budget impact would be a significant one. The initiative has been frowned upon by the government.

HOLIDAY – 24th January, a day marking the unification of the Romanian principalities, has been declared a state holiday in Romania, under a decision by the Chamber of Deputies in Bucharest. The unification of the Romanian principalities on January 24th took place in 1859, after ruler Alexandru Ioan Cuza had been elected in two of Romanias historical provinces, Wallachia and Moldavia.

RANKING – Romania is 4th-placed in a ranking of states in the Central and Eastern Europe, with 46 companies exceeding 46 billion dollars in sales in 2015, according to data under the 10th CE Top 500 Deloitte Report made public on Wednesday. Romanian companies in the field of consumer goods reported an 18% growth last year as compared to 2014, with sales standing at 15 billion euros. Dacia is the best-selling Romanian company, ranking 25th, followed by OMV Petrom in 27th place and Rompetrol in 52nd place. The energy and resources industry is best represented in the ranking, with revenues of 17 billion euros. Deloitte CE Top 500 officials have warned that Romania must continue developing its infrastructure, education and health care systems, to be able to provide better services and attract more investments in production.

(Translated by C. Mateescu and V. Palcu)