THE WEEK IN REVIEW
August 7-11, 2023
Daniela Budu, 11.08.2023, 17:58
August 10 five years after
Civic associations in Romania organized, on Thursday, a protest in front of the government headquarters to demand the urgent trial of the gendarmes guilty of the violence at the anti-government rally of August 10, 2018, considering that there are only three years left until the statute of limitations runs out, and the guilty could get away without punishment. On Tuesday, the General Prosecutor’s Office announced, five years after the day of the violence, the indictment of 16 gendarme officers and non-commissioned officers, including the heads of the intervention corps at the time at the protest in Bucharest. According to the indictment drawn up by the military prosecutors, the forceful intervention of the gendarmes against the entire mass of protesters in front of the government headquarters was illegal and unjustified. At the same time, the use by law enforcement of some devices can be considered inhumane and degrading treatment. The document notes that there were several incidents between some protesters and the law enforcement forces as a result of which military gendarmes and demonstrators were injured, suffering various injuries, some of which required medical attention, but the situation on the ground did not at any time justify the forceful intervention on the entire mass of protesters. The military prosecutors state that the vast majority of protesters were demonstrating peacefully, among them women, children and elderly people.
BNR report on inflation
The National Bank of Romania announces that it expects a slightly higher inflation towards the end of this year than it anticipated a few months before – 7.5%, compared to 7.1%. The governor of the National Bank of Romania, Mugur Isărescu, said that both economic growth and consumption show signs of slowing down. Mugur Isărescu:
‘We have economic growth, but significantly weakened for this year, compared to what we thought would happen at the beginning of the year. We have an increase in the annual rate of consumption by the population in the first quarter. This slightly surprised us too. We had an increase in consumption coming from incomes, but we are observing a softening of consumption. This attenuation is extremely visible, it is probably also related to term deposits by the population. They increased significantly during this period, categorically also due to higher interest rates, therefore, lower consumption, higher savings.’
Mugur Isărescu also said that Romania should have an economic growth based less on consumption and more on investments, and attracting European funds is essential from this point of view. However, the NBR official adds, the central bank’s forecast is influenced by uncertainties, and one of them is the tax program that the PSD-PNL governing coalition is considering. It mainly announces spending cuts in the budget, and excise duties on vices and assures that it will not come up with new taxes.
Energy price – capped
Energy prices will be capped this winter, as happened last season – the Romanian Prime Minister, Marcel Ciolacu, assured on Thursday. He asked the relevant ministries to prepare in time for the coming winter and, above all, to ensure that they will supply the population with energy at capped prices. The Ministry of Energy must draw up, as soon as possible, the program for the winter, and submit it to the executive. In addition, in Thursday’s government meeting, a normative act was adopted that settles some payments to energy suppliers, so that the system continues to function well. We recall that the pressures that appeared on the energy market in 2021 and 2022, mainly as a result of Russia’s war against Ukraine, generated an accelerated increase in prices, and led to the implementation of specific measures in most European countries, mainly for consumer protection. In Romania, an emergency ordinance adopted by the government announces capped prices between January 1, 2023 and March 31, 2025, as well as partial compensation by the state for electricity and natural gas bills. It should also be noted that, also on Thursday, the executive in Bucharest adopted a normative act that provides that the holders of foreign driving licenses will be able to exchange these documents with the Romanian equivalent directly, after taking the exam in Romania, without the need for the hours of driving school, as it was planned until now.
The Romanian kidnapped in Africa in 2015 is in the country
Iulian Gherguţ, the Romanian kidnapped in Burkina Faso in 2015, has been released and is now safe in the country, announced the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was the oldest hostage in the Sahel, in Africa. He was 39, and a security officer at a manganese mine in northern Burkina Faso, close to the border with Niger and Mali, when he was kidnapped in April 2015 by a terrorist group. The MFA then created a crisis cell, but communicated very little about the progress made towards his release. According to the French publication La Croix, his kidnapping was the first terrorist act committed on the territory of Burkina Faso, marking the country’s entry into a long cycle of violence and jihadist attacks that have now spread over most of the territory.
A win and two draws for Romanian football teams
Romania’s football champion, Farul Constanța (south-east), won 3-0 the match played on Thursday evening, at home, against Flora Tallinn from Estonia, in the first leg of the third preliminary round of the UEFA Conference League. In the same phase of the competition, vice-champions FCSB ended the match played in Bucharest with the Danes from FC Nordsjaelland in a draw, 0-0, and the winner of the Romanian Cup, Sepsi OSK Sfântu Gheorghe (center), ended the game 1-1 on the field own against FC Aktobe from Kazakhstan. The decisive games will take place next week.
