24-29 March, 2014

A look at the headline-making events this past week

România Internațional, 29.03.2014, 12:10

Romanian candidates to Mays elections for the European Parliament

15 political parties in Romania have submitted their lists of candidates for the European Parliament Elections scheduled for May 25th, alongside 11 independents. The election campaign is due to start on April 25th. Romania will hold 32 seats in the next European Parliament, one less than in the outgoing one. The ruling left wing alliance made up of the Social Democratic Party, the National Union for the Progress of Romania and the Conservative Party, its partner the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, as well as the liberal and the liberal-democrat opposition have kept on the lists people who have met expectations while holding their current offices. Pre-election polls have shown that the alliance headed by the Social Democratic Party might get half of the available seats. The rest would be shared among the National Liberal Party, the Liberal Democratic Party, the Popular Movement Party and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians.

The IMF approves the first two assessments of the precautionary agreement with Romania

The IMF leadership has approved the first two assessments of the precautionary agreement concluded with Romania last autumn. The fund has placed at Romania’s disposal another 440 million Euros, and the total amount that Romania has access to, under the agreement, exceeds 650 million Euros. The agreement with the IMF and the EU is worth 4 billion dollars. Romanian authorities say they have no intention of accessing the money, as the aim of the agreement is to protect Romania from potential shocks on the financial markets and to reduce financing costs.

Some Romanian pensioners will get more money this month

Over 230 thousand Romanians who retired after January 1st 2011 will get higher pensions by the end of the month. Pensions went up by 14 Euro in March, after a correction index was applied, the Labour Minister Rovana Plumb has announced. She has stated that the addition is the difference that should have been paid in November and December 2013. The opposition says this is no pension increase, as the Government should have operated the correction as early as last November, when the Constitutional Court ruled that the executive had used a wrong index.

Recommendations made by the Venice Commission regarding the draft law on the revision of Romania’s Constitution

The Venice Commission, which is an advisory body of the Council of Europe, has made an assessment of the draft law regarding the revision of Romania’s Constitution. In a report made public on Thursday, the Commission states that the form of government that Romania will have under the new Constitution is unclear, and insists on a clear delimitation of prerogatives between the President and the Prime Minister. Other recommendations regard the procedural framework for emergency ordinances and improving the legal conditions for the Higher Council of the Magistracy to be able to carry out its mission as warrantor of the magistrates’ independence. The Vice-President of the Romanian Senate, the Social-Democrat Ioan Chelaru, has stated that talks on the revision of the Constitution will continue, including with the participation of the Higher Council of the Magistracy and civil society. He has said that the referendum on the revision of the Constitution will not be held earlier than 2015.

The situation in Ukraine and its effects at regional and global level are high on the Romanian authorities’ agenda

Russia’s annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and the major regional and global implications of that decision were high on the agenda of Romania’s Higher Defense Council meeting on Thursday, headed by President Traian Basescu. Previously, at the meeting where the Romanian Defense Ministry presented its activity report, the head of state had stated that against the background of the recent developments in the region, the Romanian army must set for itself a new goal, namely to gradually increase its capacity of reaction. Traian Basescu:

“ We can no longer regard the incidents in 2008, when the Russian Federation occupied Abkhazia and South Ossetia as separated incidents. There followed Ukraine and any politician or military should ask themselves who or what is next. Is it going to be Transdniestr, is the Republic of Moldova next? These are legitimate questions, and the Romanian Army must have a new objective, that of boosting its capacity of reaction.”

Measures adopted by the Romanian Government in the gas and energy sectors

The Romanian Government has adopted a set of measures to curb the price rise of natural gas and electricity, meant to stimulate industrial users and to protect the domestic ones. For the industrial consumers on the free market, the price of gas will be the one set on January 1st, 2014, namely 230 dollar per one thousand cubic meters. For domestic and industrial consumers the fee will increase starting April 1st, by 2% and 5% respectively. The Government has decided to maintain the market share for electricity produced from renewable resources at the level of 2013, namely 11.1%. The measures have triggered disputes between the big industrial consumers and the producers of green energy. The first are unhappy with the fact that the price of gas and the market share for green certificates have been maintained. On the other hand, producers of renewable energy are discontent with the fact that the state has not met its commitment to increase the green certificate quota at 15% in 2014, and say they run the risk of going bankrupt, because they have drawn up their business plan based on that quota.