June 14 – 21
A look at the headline-grabbing events this past week
România Internațional, 20.06.2020, 13:20
Coronavirus
and Relaxation
More than 23
thousand cases of coronavirus infection and 1,500 deaths is the toll of the
Covid-19 pandemic in Romania so far. President Klaus Iohannis has voiced
worries over the increase in the number of new cases in the past days and
called again on the population to observe sanitation rules, describing them as simple,
commonsensical and extremely important: wearing a protective face mask, social
distancing and hand hygiene.
After two months of state of emergency and one of
state of alert, the Government has decided to extend the latter, as of June
17th, for another 30 days, but against the background of further relaxation
measures. Therefore, fitness centers have reopened, just like shops in malls. Indoor
cinemas and playgrounds though remain closed. Also, religious masses inside the
church are now allowed. Private indoor events must not gather more than 20
participants, and the outdoor ones 50. Betting and gambling facilities have
also reopened. The list of countries where flights from and to Romania are
allowed will be updated on a weekly basis.
A Special Pension Story
A recurrent theme in public debates in Romania, the
taxation of the so called ‘special pensions’, which does not observe the contributive
principle, has grabbed the headlines again. Parliament has decided to tax the
difference between the special pension, benefiting also senators and deputies,
and the one obtained through contributions paid, periodically, to the pension fund,
during one’s active life. The difference from 2,000 lei, which is the equivalent
of some 400 Euro, up to the amount of 7,000 lei shall be taxed as before, by
10%, and for the amounts exceeding 7,000 lei, the tax will be 85%.
According to
data provided by the Public Pension House, the number of people receiving special
public service pensions stood at 9,500 at the end of last month. Out of them,
some 4,100 are benefiting from the provisions of the law on the status of prosecutors
and judges, and one of them gets the highest pension in Romania: 19,000 Lei, which
is approximately 3,900 Euro. Also receiving special pensions are some 150,000
former employees of the public order and national safety services.
Quite promptly, the High Court of Cassation and Justice
and the Ombudsman notified the Constitutional Court about the taxation of
special pensions in Romania. The supreme court criticizes the fact that
successive rulings on the matter have been ignored, that the Superior Council
of Magistracy has not been consulted and that the principles of fair taxation
and judges’ independence have been violated. Notified by the same institutions
last month, the Constitutional Court of Romania rejected a bill meant to
abrogate special pensions. Pundits are expecting a similar outcome, given that
six out of the nine Constitutional Court judges are beneficiaries of special
pensions, and some of them actually cumulate several such pensions.
Evaluation in the Time of Pandemic
Shut since March, when on-line classes started being
held in Romania because of the pandemic, schools have reopened this week for
the so called ‘National Evaluation’, which is a prerequisite for enrollment
into high school in Romania. The exams have been taken by some 160,000
graduates of secondary schools.
Because of the pandemic, special measures were
taken this week. Healthcare
personnel checked children’s temperature and every school was equipped with
decontamination mats, protective face masks and biocide substances to use on
floors, doorknobs, desks and chairs. Children were not allowed to bring any
bags or backpacks into the examination rooms and were seated 2 m from each
other during the exam. The students who are self-isolating, quarantined,
hospitalized, and those who had a temperature above 37.3 degrees Celsius on the
exam day and those suffering from conditions that may be worsened by the novel
coronavirus will take the exams in a special session between June 22 and July 4.
Sibiu International Theatre Festival Online
The Sibiu International Theatre Festival has been held
online this week, which is a first for the reputed festival. This year’s theme
is ‘The Power of Believing’. The agenda of the festival includes 138 events,
from 30 countries on 5 continents, presented on the official website of the
festival: www.sibfest.ro, and also on
Facebook and YouTube. Adding to that are 12 special conferences. According to
the organizers, the Sibiu Festival, the biggest theatre festival in Central and
Eastern Europe, has offered its audience 250 hours of theatrical performance,
dance, music, circus, conferences, debates, reading-shows and children’s
performances, all free of charge.
Whims of the Weather
Recently, all of Romania has been under a yellow code
for storms and meteorologists have successively issued red and orange codes, as
well as immediate warnings for torrential rain and hail storms. Hydrologists
have also issued codes yellow and orange on rivers, targeting river basins all
over the country. County and national roads have been blocked by alluvium
caused by heavy rainfall and trees blown by strong winds. Many villages were
left without electricity after electricity poles were knocked to the ground by
storms or fallen trees. In some areas, hail has also severely affected crops,
orchards in particular. It took the intervention of firefighters to remove the
flooded households and to clear some cars and electric cables from the road. (M.Ignatescu)
