THE WEEK IN REVIEW
January 15-19, 2024
Corina Cristea, 20.01.2024, 14:00
Week full of protests in Romania
The Bucharest government adopted measures that solve some of the problems of farmers and transporters, who have been protesting for more than a week, causing traffic disruptions in the vicinity of some large cities, including the capital, and blockages at border crossing points with Ukraine. The list of demands with which the protesters went to the talks with the governors is a long one, the common denominator of the grievances being the high cost of diesel, insurance rates, but also the pressures on the domestic market generated by imported Ukrainian agricultural products. The protesters demanded, among other things, a moratorium on loan repayments, faster subsidy payments, and separate lanes at border crossings and the Black Sea port of Constanţa for EU and non-EU trucks respectively, including from Ukraine. Following the discussions, aspects related to the weighing of trucks, the periodic technical inspection of vehicles and the professional attestation of drivers were regulated further. There is also progress regarding the new rules for RCA insurance policies, with the Financial Supervisory Authority announcing that it is considering several measures aimed at reducing the financial effort for the mandatory insurance of cargo vehicles. In the agricultural field, it was about financial aid and changes in the rules regarding the use of machinery. The measures include compensation of 100 euros per hectare, up to 280,000 euros, to be given out to farmers for losses suffered due to the war in Ukraine. The executive also analyzed the proposal to temporarily postpone the payment of installments on the loans of agricultural producers affected by the drought of 2023. The protests of farmers from all over Europe were, on Wednesday, also on the agenda of the MEPs gathered in Strasbourg. They asked for additional financial sources from the European Commission and a new common agricultural policy.
Family physicians and outpatients freeze their protests
This week, family physicians and those from specialized outpatient clinics throughout the country protested to show that they do not want payments to be reduced for the reimbursement of medical services, as proposed by the authorities in the new framework contract. At Thursdays negotiations with the representatives of the National Health Insurance House, it was decided that the current budget provided for them will be maintained until June 30, 2024, and that by then solutions will be identified for supplementing the funds, so that the money will be sufficient until the end of the year . The protesters claim that if, starting July 1, solutions are not found for the proper financing of the health insurance system, this system will no longer exist, there will be no more contracts for either family medicine, or specialized outpatient clinics. The authorities are also discussing raising the salaries of personnel in the health system, under the threat of a strike launched by the Sanitas Federation, the largest union in the healthcare system.
Pfizer sues Romania
The Pfizer company sued Romania to force the Government to pay for tens of millions of vaccine doses contracted during the pandemic. Minister Alexandru Rafila says that the complaint was registered at a court in Brussels, and concerns a contract violated by the state, through which the government requested tens of millions of doses of the anti-Covid vaccine, then refused to receive and pay for them. The minister of health explained that, in the context of low interest in vaccination, Romania had nowhere to store and then destroy such a large amount of vaccines. He also stated for Radio Romania that he expected Pfizers action, considering that the same thing happened in the case of two other European states, Hungary and Poland, countries, which did not agree to sign the amendments proposed by the pharmaceutical company. In the case of the anti-Covid vaccine doses, at the end of last year, the anti-corruption directorate started a criminal investigation against former prime minister Florin Cîţu, former ministers of health Vlad Voiculescu and Ioana Mihăilă, as well as former undersecretary in the Ministry of Health Andrei Baciu. They are accused of abuse of office and complicity in abuse of office, because they allegedly ordered much larger quantities of vaccine than needed. The prosecutors calculated that damages to the budget are estimated to amount to over 1 billion euros.
January 15 – National Culture Day in Romania and the Republic of Moldova
Eminescu was a visionary, who created in the spirit of his people, but also knew the harmony of the peoples of the world. He did not write for a specific place and time. Eminescu wrote endlessly. Thats why the birthday of the child frolicking on the hills of Ipotesti is a celebration day for the destiny of this people, wisely proclaimed in the two Romanian states and in the souls of Romanians everywhere as the Day of National Culture. These are the statements of the president of the Romanian Academy, Ioan-Aurel Pop, made at the joint festive session organized, in a hybrid format, by the Romanian Academy, in collaboration with the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Moldova, on January 15, the National Culture Day of the two countries. In Romania, dozens of museums, libraries, concert and performance halls, cultural centers or institutes have carried out activities to mark this celebration. The Day of National Culture was also celebrated abroad, through the Romanian Cultural Institute, which organized, on this occasion, dozens of events, inviting the public to concerts, exhibitions, theater and ballet performances, as well as poetry recitals.
