THE WEEK IN REVIEW

December 18-22, 2023

Leyla Cheamil, 23.12.2023, 14:00

34 years since the Anti-Communist Revolution of December 1989

Wednesday, December 20, marked 34 years since Timişoara (west) declared itself the first city free of communism in Romania. To celebrate the day of victory against communism, a series of events took place, including screenings of short films and documentaries. 34 years ago, after the bloody repression of the uprising that started on December 17, the big factories went on strike, and the workers lined up and gathered in the center of the city. Faced with the crowd, the army retreated to barracks, the people who had been arrested were released, and the Romanian Democratic Front was established. Breaking out in Timisoara, the popular revolt against the regime led by the dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu spread to several cities of the country, including the capital Bucharest. In the evening of December 21, 1989, the first Bucharesters who had the courage to take to the streets and demand the removal of the dictatorial regime died in the center of the capital. The first victims were at the Intercontinental Barricade and Dalles Gallery. The revolution culminated, on December 22, with the flight of Ceausescu from the headquarters of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. Captured and tried summarily, Ceausescu and his wife, Elena, were executed on December 25. Romania was the only communist country in Europe where the regime change involved bloodshed. In the violence that took place, over 1,000 people lost their lives, and around 3,000 were injured. Young people must know that the freedom they have today was paid for with the lives of thousands of heroes, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu sent in a message. He emphasized that the Romanian Revolution of December 1989 was the moment when the ideal of freedom defeated the terror strongly established among the population.

The Bucharest Parliament adopted the state budget law and the law on social insurance for 2024

The Romanian Parliament adopted the state budget law and the social insurance law for next year. The 2024 budget is focused on an economic growth of 3.4%. Social-democratic Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu declared, after its adoption, that this is a budget built for Romanians, and not for politicians, and added that the document is focused on development and investments. Starting on January 1, 2024, pensions will increase by 13.8%, and, starting in September, some of them will increase as a result of the recalculation. The budgets allocated to education and health are expected to have record increases, and investments will represent 7% of GDP next year. After three days of marathon debates in Parliament, the budgets of the main credit takers were approved in the form provided by the Government. Several amendments proposed by both the government and the opposition were also accepted, amendments that will be financed by redistribution of funds. From the opposition, USR criticized the document and claimed that the budget for next year is built on lies, with overestimated revenues and underestimated expenses.

Measures to combat tax evasion

The Bucharest Chamber of Deputies adopted, on Tuesday, the project initiated by PSD and PNL leaders, Marcel Ciolacu and Nicolae Ciucă, respectively, regarding some measures to strengthen the capacity to combat tax evasion. According to the new provisions, failure to withhold taxes and/or contributions will constitute a crime and will be punished with imprisonment from 1 year to 5 years, or by a fine. What also will constitute tax evasion crimes, punishable with imprisonment from 3 to 10 years and the privation of certain rights, or with a fine, will be the alteration, destruction, or concealment of accounting documents, memories of POS machines or other devices for data storage, including electronic ones. There is a possibility that the deed will not be punished, for example, if the damage does not exceed one million euros, and is effectively and fully paid, with a 15% penalty, to which interest and other penalties are added. In the opposition, USR and Forța Dreptei filed a notification to the Constitutional Court regarding the unconstitutionality of this bill, which, according to USR deputy, Stelian Ion, ‘does nothing but help the big evasionists in Romania’.

Tragedy in Odorheiu Secuiesc (centre)

Romania was marked, this year, by a series of tragedies that caused reactions among public opinion. Among them is the one in Odorheiu Secuiesc (center), where a 17-year-old student died and three were injured, after the wall of a boarding school whose foundation was being worked on collapsed. The manager of the construction company is being investigated for committing the crimes of manslaughter and culpable bodily harm. He is accused of having made excavations right next to the wall of the building, work that was not authorized and which would have led to its collapse. The Târgu Mureş Court ordered judicial control for 60 days against him. For their part, the Prefecture and the Ministry of Education ordered the start of several investigations in the case of the building that housed almost 100 students, owned by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Alba Iulia, and rented by the local public authority.

Romanian citizens and their family members, evacuated from the Gaza Strip, have arrived in Romania

14 Romanian citizens and their family members, evacuated from the Gaza Strip, arrived in Romania on Monday morning, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bucharest. They had entered the territory of Egypt through the Rafah border point, where they were taken charge of by the representatives of the Romanian Embassy in the Arab country. So far, over 300 people, Romanian citizens and their family members, have been evacuated from the Gaza Strip. On the other hand, among the people held hostage by terrorists in the Gaza Strip, there is only one Romanian with dual citizenship. The Romanian Embassy in Tel Aviv maintains contact with the Israeli authorities regarding this issue.