The Week in Review 8-14.07.2019
A roundup of the week's main stories
Mihai Pelin, 13.07.2019, 11:00
The pension law has been promulgated by the Romanian President Klaus
Iohannis
President Klaus Iohannis has promulgated
a new pension law which provides, among other things, for a pensions’ increase
and the recalculation of millions of pensions that are now in payment process.
The bill was voted by Parliament in June after the first version had been
returned to the legislative by the Constitutional Court. The law stipulates the
increase in the pension point, which will be implemented gradually as of
September 2019 until 2022.
Also, under the new law, all
remuneration rights for which contributions to the state budget have been paid,
such as benefits, 13th salary, overtime, bonuses, etc will be
capitalized on. Under the law, women who have completed the minimum
contribution period of 15 years and have given birth to 3 children whom they
have raised up to the age of 16 will benefit from a reduction of the retirement
age by 6 years. Starting with the 4th child, one year will be added
for each child at the initial 6 years. The survivors’ benefits are maintained
with a new amendment: aid for the surviving spouse amounting to 25% of the
pension of the deceased spouse. The standard retirement age for men is 65 and
for women 63. The minimum contribution period is 15 years for both women and
men while the complete contribution period is 35 years.
GRECO will continue to monitor Romania
The latest GRECO report on Romania
published by Brussels officials is a new red card for the PSD-ALDE ruling, says
Romanian president Klaus Iohannis who has also called for dismantling the
special section for the investigation of offences in the judiciary through a
government initiative. Iohannis has also called on the executive to come up
quickly with a draft law in order to bring justice legislation back in line
with the will of the people and the recommendations from European institutions.
GRECO, the Council of Europe
anti-corruption body, believes Romania has made very little progress in putting in place measures to prevent
corruption among parliamentarians, judges and prosecutors and to address the
concerns raised by its controversial reform of the judicial system. Greco is
particularly critical of the lack of action to address the need for objective
selection criteria when appointing and dismissing prosecutors, which is posing
serious threats to the independence of the judiciary. GRECO decided to continue
evaluating Romania’s compliance with the pending recommendations contained in
the two reports and has requested that the Romanian authorities report back on
progress achieved by 30th June 2020.
Former MEP,
Social-Democrat Ioan Mircea Pascu has been designated interim European
commissioner without portfolio
Social Democrat Ioan Mircea Pascu, a former MEP proposed by the PSD-ALDE
government in Bucharest for the position of interim European Commissioner for
Regional Policy, has been designated member of the community executive but
without portfolio. In the same situation is the Estonian candidate Kadri
Simson. The decision has been made by the president of the European Commission
Jean Claude Juncker who didn’t bestow specific portfolios on the two candidates
due to their short mandate, which is due to end on October 31st,
when a fresh European Commission is expected to begin its mandate.
They will participate
in the Commission’s activities and in the team project. Under the regulations,
the European Commission president has interviewed the two candidates and
confirmed their competences. Ioan Mircea Pascu and Kadri Simson are to be
interviewed on Wednesday by commission presidents in the European Parliament and
the MEPs are to cast their votes on the two candidates in Strasbourg on
Thursday.
A veteran left-wing politician, Pascu, 70, got involved in politics
shortly after the anti-communist revolution of 1989. He was the country’s
Defence Minister in 2004 when Romania entered NATO and an MEP since the country
joined the European Union in 2007 until this year. Before 2014 and 2019 he was
one of the 14 vice-presidents of the European Parliament.
According to data
provided by the National Institute for Statistics, Romania’s inflation rate
went down to 3.4%
Romania’s economic growth of 4%
last year remained robust though being mainly based on consumption and less on
investment, the country’s central bank governor Mugur Isarescu said during the
presentation of the institution’s annual report. However, Romania is among the
countries with the lowest public debt, 35% of its GDP, Isarescu went on to say.
Referring to the 3.84% inflation rate, the governor explained that inflation
went down because of the slight drops in food and non-food prices.
In mid-May the central bank revised
its inflation forecast up to 4.2% this year, and a 3.3% inflation rate for 2020.
Also in May, the European Commission estimated that Romania’s inflation rate
would stay around 3.6% in 2019 and 3% in 2020. Mugur Isarescu, who has been
governor of Romania’s central bank since 1990, has again been confirmed by
Parliament for a fresh mandate.
Four Romanian football sides are playing in the European cups
Romania’s vice-champions FCSB,
formerly known as Steaua Bucharest, on Thursday secured a 2-0 win against
Milsami Orhei from the neighboring Republic of Moldova in the first round of
the Europa League’s first preliminary stage. Also on Thursday, CSU Craiova,
from south-western Romania clinched a 3-2 away win against FK Sabail of
Azerbaijan.
On Tuesday, Romania’s champions CFR
Cluj conceded a 0-1 defeat in an away game against Kazakh side FC Astana in the
Champions League. The return games will be taking place next week. Romanian Cup
holder, Viitorul Constanta will play directly in the competition’s second
preliminary round against Belgian side FC Anvers, coached by former Romanian
international Ladislau Boloni.
(translated by bill)
