The Week in Review, 17-23 June

A review of the most important events of last week.

Leyla Cheamil, 22.06.2013, 13:36

Romanian Railway Group wins the tender for the privatization of the Freight Division of the Romanian Railway Company.
The Romanian health-care staff is on the verge of starting protests, strikes and even collective resignations, because of the very low salaries in the system.
Early this week the Secretary of the Russian Federation’s Security Council, General Nikolai Patrusev and the CIA chief John Brennan came to Bucharest
And the relations between the Republic of Moldova and the separatist region of Transdniestr remain tense

Romanian Railway Group has won the tender for the privatization of the Freight Division of the Romanian Railway Company.

Romanian Railway Group (RRG) is the winner of the tender for the privatization of the Freight Division of the Romanian Railway Company, CFR Marfa, part of the plan of measures that the Romanian Government committed itself to, under a precautionary agreement concluded with the IMF, the EU and the World Bank. RRG is the second largest freight transporter in Romania, and one of the big players in Central and South-Eastern Europe. The Freight Division of the Romanian Railway Company, with 9,000 employees, registered huge losses. The Romanian Transport Minister, Relu Fenechiu, has stated that RRG promised investments of 900 million lei in its new acquisition.

Relu Fenechiu: “The transaction was worth 400 million Euros. The price offered by Romanian Railway Group for 51% of the shares is 904,980,000 lei, which means approximately 202 million Euros. Also, RRG committed itself to investing some 900 million lei in CFR Marfa, plus 1.5 million Euros worth of investment in environment-related measures”.

Prime Minister Victor Ponta said that the privatization was necessary both in order to observe the agreement with the IMF, and because the company was in a disastrous financial situation. Ponta also said the only solution the European Commission accepted was the conversion of debts into shares, because any other type of intervention by the government would have been state aid, and that was not admissible.

The Romanian health-care staff is on the verge of starting protests, strikes and even collective resignations, because of the very low salaries in the system.

Fed up with low salaries and poor working conditions, Romanian doctors and the rest of the health-care staff have announced they will start protests, strikes and even collective resignations in July. Doctors say it’s unacceptable for a resident to earn 200 Euros per month, and a specialist physician only 500 Euros. In turn, Romanian authorities say that they are already working on a new salary law, whose draft may be ready within a few weeks. The Romanian Health Minister, Eugen Nicolaescu, has stated that there is no money for pay rises this year, but such a measure is high on the Government’s next year agenda. The health care system in Romania has been weakened by the insufficient funding it has received in the past years, which triggered an exodus of some 14 thousand doctors since 2007, when Romania joined the EU.

The Secretary of the Russian Federation’s Security Council, General Nikolai Patrusev and the CIA chief John Brennan have been to Bucharest.

Early this week, the Secretary of the Russian Federation’s Security Council, General Nikolai Patrusev paid a visit to Bucharest, where he met the Romanian head of State, Traian Basescu. On the occasion, Romania’s Higher Defense Council signed a memorandum with the Russian Federation’s Security Council. Traian Basescu has stated that the document favors cooperation in several fields.

Traian Basescu: “This memorandum will definitely favour cooperation between the Romanian and the Russian police and security structures, in fields such as the fight against terrorism. This is extremely important to us, especially now that the ISAF mission in Afghanistan is drawing to an end, and cooperation with the Russian Federation will help us prevent any terrorist act originating in the Afghanistan — Pakistan area. Another cooperation objective is the fight against cross-border crime, as well as the fight against human and drug trafficking“.

In another move, Romanian President Traian Basescu and General Nikolai Patrusev discussed the missile –defense shield issue. The Romanian President said that Romania would never accept a foreign country’s offensive armament on its territory. In 2011, Bucharest and Washington agreed to deploy elements of the US missile defense shield in Romania, a process that must be completed by 2015. As a coincidence or not, just one day after the Russian officials’ visit, the CIA chief John Brennan also came to Bucharest. The strategic partnership between Romania and the US, the security issues triggered by the Arab Spring, the situation in the Middle East and Afghanistan were the issues approached in Bucharest by John Brennan during the talks he had with Traian Basecu and PM Victor Ponta. Traian Basescu told John Brennan that Romania’s main political target is boosting relations with the US. In turn, Brennan voiced his appreciation of the Romanian Intelligence Services.

Relations between the Republic of Moldova and the separatist region of Transdniestr remain tense

The Parliament of the Republic of Moldova, a former Soviet country with a predominantly Romanian-speaking population and Romania’s eastern neighbor, has not managed to adopt a declaration regarding the situation in Transdniestr, the breakaway region in the east of the Republic of Moldova. The conflict in the area has become worse in the past years, after the separatist leader in Tiraspol, Evgheni Shevciuc, promulgated a law, under which towns and villages controlled by Chisinau go under Transdniestr’s jurisdiction. The Romanian Foreign Minister has stated that this so-called law on the state border of Transdniestr is an act of defiance that should be condemned by the international community.