The Week in Review, August 21-27

A review of the week's most important events.

Newsroom, 27.08.2016, 13:56

Romanians count among the victims of the earthquake in Italy

Romanians count among the dead, injured or missing in the aftermath of the earthquake in Italy, which measured 6 degrees on the Richter scale. Bucharest sent a consular team from Bologna to the affected areas, keeping in touch with Italian authorities. At the same time, two teams from the Romanian Embassy and the Consular Section in Rome are ready to issue temporary travel documents for Romanian citizens who lost their IDs or need other consular services quickly. The Romanian Foreign Ministry has sent condolences to the families affected by the quake, expressing solidarity with the Italian people. The towns of Amatrice, Accumoli and Pescara del Tronto were destroyed almost completely. According to the authorities, hundreds were left dead or injured. In Bucharest, President Klaus Iohannis has sent his Italian counterpart, Sergio Mattarella, a message of condolence, on behalf of all Romanians. The message from Romanian PM Dacian Ciolos read in part: Our thoughts go out to the people who suffer, both Romanian and Italian, as well as to the rescuers and the people helping out victims.

The first visit to Moldova by Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos

During his first official visit to the Republic of Moldova, Romanian PM Dacian Ciolos met his Moldovan counterpart, Pavel Filip. The head of the Romanian government, which supports the reforms that the authorities in Chisinau have decided to undertake, said Romanias objective was to improve the situation of Moldovan citizens. On Wednesday, Romania disbursed the first tranche of its loan to Moldova, worth 60 million Euro. Here is what the PM said:

TRACK VM: “We expect and support the continuation of the reform process. This is the aim of this loan, and we have released the first tranche of it to the Republic of Moldova. We have supported, and continue to support, the idea that this government has committed to implementing certain reforms, and that they will go through with it.”

Pavel Filip emphasized the fact that Romania is a close and committed ally to the Republic of Moldova, proven by the fact that it has signed the Strategic Bilateral Partnership for European Integration. According to the head of the Moldovan government, the major priority in bilateral relations is energy cooperation, the most important project being the Ungheni-Chisinau gas pipeline.

One more case of corruption in Romania

The vice-president of the National Medical Drug Authority, Lazar Iordachescu, was taken into custody for bribe giving and influence peddling. The person who turned him in to the authorities is the official who was offered the bribe, according to a press release by the Health Ministry. According to anti-corruption prosecutors, Lazar Iordache offered the accuser 5% of the money earmarked to two hospitals. The investigators have found that in April Lazar Iordache gave the public servant 126,000 lei, around 28,000 Euro. In exchange for this sum of money, the latter was supposed to exercise influence over other people in the ministry responsible with the earmarking.

Romanian freight truckers and farmers hold protests

Unhappy with the recent hike in mandatory vehicle insurance fee, Romanian freight truckers joined in protest farmers, who are unhappy because certain subsidies were not issued in full for last year. Hundreds of truckers took their vehicles to the road, driving at reduced speed in order to hinder traffic on several national roads, threatening a national protest on September 15 if their demands are not met. The protest could be joined by as many as 40,000 vehicles. Farmers, some of whom went on hunger strike last week, continued protests in front of the government building. Subsidies total 360 million Euro, and protesters said that the Ministry of Agriculture should have issued the money by August 15. The Agency for Payments and Intervention in Agriculture said that it had paid out over 61% of the subsidies by mid August, the equivalent of 193 million Euro. The head of the agency, Nicolae Horumba, announced that most of the applications for payment submitted by farmers have been authorized, and that the other farmers will get payed by the end of the month.

Modest results for Romanian athletes in the Olympic games in Rio

Romania had a lukewarm performance at the Olympic games in Rio, bringing home only 5 medals. As a result, it ranks 47th in terms of medals won, with one gold, reaped by the womens epee team in fencing, one silver, won by the tennis pair Florin Mergea and Horia Tecau, and three bronzes, one by weightlifter Gabriel Sincraian, one by the coxed eight womens rowing team, and one by Albert Saritov in wrestling. The next city to host the Olympics, in 2020, is Tokyo.