The Week in Review 7-13 December

A round-up of the main events of the week in Romania in politics, society, culture and sports.

Roxana Vasile, 13.12.2014, 14:02

Romania’s State Budget for 2015

The Government of Romania has finalised the draft state budget for 2015. It was designed on the basis of a 1.8% budget deficit, a macroeconomic indicator negotiated with the representatives of the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission and the World Bank, which early this week have completed a new assessment mission in Bucharest.

The Government also relies on a 2.2% inflation rate and a 2.5% economic growth rate. Under next year’s budget, the ministries of labour, finances, agriculture, European funds, transport and economy will have more money than in 2014. Conversely, the budgets of the healthcare, culture, administration and the interior ministry have been lowered. Prime Minister Victor Ponta explains:

“First of all, there will not be, and the budget bill does not include, any additional taxes or charges in 2015. Obviously the flat 16% tax remains in force. The charge on special construction projects will be lowered from 1.5% to 1% and this has been taken into account in calculating the state budget. It was a fundamental objective. All the current measures targeting economic development or social justice are covered by the draft budget.”

The 2015 budget also provides for increasing the national minimum wages in two stages. As of January the 1st, minimum wages will be 220 euros, to be further increased to 235 euros on July the 1st. Other social protection measures include a 5% increase of pension benefits and higher allowances for people with disabilities. A priority for next year is to encourage investments. Here is the minister delegate for budget, Darius Valcov:

“We chose to cut down those budgetary allocations that were excessive and to focus on investments. The budget for investment projects rose from 34 to 44 billion lei, that is by 23%, and the budget law will include a list of investment priorities. As far as the investments are concerned, I don’t believe there is any case of budget reduction.”

Another goal of the Romanian Government is to reduce the number of the unemployed by 20 thousand, to 465,000 people.

Romanian MPs reject postal voting bill

“The Romanian Parliament is a building haunted by Communists whose only care is to punish the Romanian citizens living abroad”. This is how MP Eugen Tomac harshly criticized the vote of the Chamber of Deputies, which on Tuesday rejected an older draft law on the introduction of postal voting for the parliamentary, presidential and European Parliament elections for the Romanians who live or reside abroad. The draft law had been rejected in February by the Senate as well.

The serious problems reported in the diaspora at the recent presidential election have once again pointed to the need to amend the election law. The two chambers of Romania’s Parliament have jointly decided that by June 30th 2015 a special parliamentary commission is to draft proposals to this end.

Several Romanians, of the thousands who queued for hours to cast their vote and failed to do so because of the flawed organisation of the voting process abroad this November, have filed criminal complaints. Dealt with by the General Prosecutor’s Office in a first stage, the case has been taken over by the National Anti-Corruption Directorate, which received, on Monday, from the Standing Electoral Authority, the documents it had requested for verification.

Is party switching unconstitutional?

Romania’s Constitutional Court will discuss on Wednesday, December 17th, a notification filed by the Liberal and Liberal Democrats MPs, according to which the law approving an emergency government ordinance on local elected officials switching parties comes against the Constitution.

Endorsed by the Chamber of Deputies, and also by the Senate this week, the law allows local elected officials to move from one party to another without losing their public office. The Opposition criticises the practice of party switching as one of the most damaging in Romanian politics. The leader of the National Liberal Party group in the Senate, Puiu Hasoti:

“After party switching altered voting majorities at local, county and national level, now this law further encourages it, which is unacceptable”.

The effects of winter flooding

Rivers and rivulets in the counties of Olt, Dolj, Teleorman, Mehedinti, Dambovita, Giurgiu and Ilfov have this week been under code red, orange and yellow alerts for flooding. Heavy rainfalls have affected 140 villages in the south of Romania, tens of roads and hundreds of hectares of farming land. Scores of people have been evacuated and landslides have been reported in several areas. The most affected of all counties is Teleorman in the south of Romania, where task forces have been mobilized to help the local authorities.

All Romanian football teams have been eliminated from the Europa League

Romania’s football champions Steaua Bucharest and vice-champions Astra from Giurgiu, in the south, ended their Europa League run after being defeated on Thursday. In their last Group J match, Steaua Bucharest lost to Ukraine’s Dinamo Kiev 0-2, and with only 7 points ranked 3rd in the standings. Astra Giurgiu lost 1-5 in an away match to FC Red Bull Salzburg from Austria, and ended on last position with only 4 points.