January 5, 2023

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 05.01.2024, 19:09

Health. Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu has promised to solve the problem of resident doctors who took the specialty exam last year as quickly as possible. In the first government session of 2024, the Prime Minister said he doesnt want these physicians to leave searching for jobs abroad, and called on the relevant authorities to take action so as to hold vacancy-filling contests. Both USR in opposition and the Administration of Hospitals and Medical Services in Bucharest complained about medical personnel shortage, accusing the ruling coalition of having brought the medical system to the brink of imminent collapse by ignoring the crisis in the medical system or by operating draconic cuts to hospital budgets, thus endangering patients lives.

Inflation. The National Bank of Romania expects an annual inflation rate of over 6% for December, Central Bank spokesman Dan Suciu told Radio Romania. The inflation rate showed signs of slowing down in November, when it dropped from 8% the previous month to 6.7%. Dan Suciu believes early 2024 will determine an increase in the inflation rate as the new fiscal measures took effect starting January 1, but says it will go down at the end of the first quarter. External factors greatly impact prices, for instance tensions in the Middle East affect fuel prices, Dan Suciu also argues.

Parliament. The Bucharest Parliament has several legislative priorities on its agenda this year, and some of them are only awaiting the final vote in the Chamber of Deputies. The new salary law, assumed under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, is still to be analyzed by the governing coalition. The bill should have been adopted last year, but discussions with the stakeholders have continued.. A condition imposed by the NRRP is the limitation of increments to a maximum of 20% of the basic salary. The draft law by which drivers caught under the influence of alcohol or drugs will lose the right to regain their license for a period of 10 years awaits the debate and the final vote in the Chamber of Deputies. The initiative of the social democrat Robert Cazanciuc provides for severe sanctions, including aggravating circumstances for people involved in drug use. Another important bill also awaiting the final vote is the Urban Planning Code, which should clarify the way in which it will be possible to build on the national territory. The 3% bonus for companies that pay their business taxes quarterly, on time, has already been endorsed by senators. The initiative se forth by the President of the National Liberal Party, Nicolae Ciucă, stipulates that the facility for good paying taxpayers will be able to be used by the beneficiary exclusively for new investments and only in the year in which it is granted.

Employment. Romanian employers can bring 100 thousand foreign workers to the country this year, according to a Government Decision. It is a ceiling similar to that of last year, when more than 80 thousand employment or posting notices were issued, with another 10 thousand requests being resolved. Official data show that the number of vacant jobs in the first 8 months of last year exceeded 500 thousand, more than half of which were repeatedly declared by employers, because they were not filled.

Flu. The respiratory infections and flu season has settled in Romania. The number of cases is on the rise and hospitals and medical offices are getting more crowded by the day. The situation could worsen in the next period, because school resumes on Monday. Doctors say that it is especially children that are affected by acute, viral respiratory infections, but also adults and chronic patients with acute pathology. For example, respiratory viruses producing a cough that lasts several weeks, which is not normal. The number of covid cases has also increased.

Cooperation. Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey are expected to sign a joint agreement for demining operations in the Black Sea. Bulgarias Defense Minister Todor Tagarev said the agreement has long been in the making, and the parties have finally agreed on the final details. The agreement will be signed next week and provides for the creation of a trilateral demining task force in the Black Sea. Since the launch of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a lot of maritime mines have exploded in the Black Sea, the latest such incident involving a Greek vessel in December.

Agreement. Representatives of Romania and Ukraine have signed an agreement for developing relations in the field of digitization and cyber-security, the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitization reports. The agreement will serve as the foundation for a new mechanism whereby the European Union will fund technology and know-how transfer projects in Ukraine under Romanias coordination. The goals are to increase resilience and protect digital infrastructure in Ukraine and Romania, to consolidate the level of cyber-security for the infrastructure grids of Ukraine and Romania, to develop cloud infrastructures for electronic public services and to exchange know-how in terms of developing policies in the field of electronic communications and emerging technologies.