The Week in Review April 20-24

A look at the headline-making events this past week

Roxana Vasile, 25.04.2015, 13:53

EU Summit on Illegal Migration

European leaders met in Brussels for an emergency meeting to address the phenomenon of illegal migration. They decided to triple funding of rescue operations in the Mediterranean Sea, also calling on the UN to impose military sanctions on Libya in an attempt to hit people-smuggling networks in that country. Representing Romania at the Summit, president Klaus Iohannis voiced solidarity with Mediterranean riparian states, which are the most affected by this phenomenon. The president also called for increasing the budget of Frontex, the European Agency for the Management of External Borders, for any actions undertaken in the area. Additionally, Bucharest is willing to dispatch several experts on the ground. The medium and long-term growing concern is to address some of the root causes of migration, namely poverty in African countries. The EU summit was called in the wake of the latest shipwreck in the Mediterranean, which killed 800 African migrants.

Romania and Cooperation with the Europol

One in five cyber defense experts working for Europol is Romanian, Europol director Rob Wainwright said in Bucharest. The Romanian Police Service is rated as one of the most involved European law-enforcement agencies, ranking 6th in a top of 12 countries in terms of data exchanges with Europol, Interior Minister Gabriel Oprea has said. Here is what the Minister said in relation to Romania’s Schengen accession:

“Romania has the responsibility of stopping the flow of illegal migrants on the EU’s eastern borders. We can notice that measures taken so far ensure a secure, free and legal migration. We have a state-of-the-art integrated border security system and one of the most significant contributions to Frontex actions. For this reason, I believe Romania’s accession to Schengen would entail clear benefits for the security of the EU and its members”.

CIA Detention Center in Romania

Former Romanian president Ion Iliescu told German weekly “Der Spiegel” that in the wake of the devastating terrorist attacks of September 11 Romania provided the Central Intelligence Agency in the US with a secret facility to carry out operations in Romania. Ion Iliescu explained this was meant as a gesture of goodwill towards the US ahead of Romania’s joining NATO in 2004. The former president also said that Romanian authorities were unaware of the activity of the Agency in that facility. German commentators say Ion Iliescu is the second head of state, after Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski, to admit to the existence of CIA secret detention facilities in Europe. Despite repeated investigations, these detentions in East-European states, including Romania, remain shrouded in mystery 10 years after their existence surfaced in the media. “Had we known what was going to happen there, the answer would have surely been negative”, Iliescu said, responding to allegations key members of Al-Qaeda were purportedly tortured in these CIA secret centres.

Healthcare Pact

The Romanian PM Victor Ponta has this week proposed a healthcare pact to be signed by all political parties in the country. The head of government believes a guarantee for steady funding in the system, the improvement of working conditions and a salary increase could put an end to the massive outflow of healthcare specialists from the country. Victor Ponta:

“To say that starting tomorrow we will double or triple doctors’ salaries would be unrealistic. We need 2, 3 up to 4 years in which to gradually increase wages and we also need to give them the opportunity to make incomes in the private sector. If there are no good prospects for doctors, the European competition is sure to leave us without the best doctors.”

Previously the healthcare minister Nicolae Banicioiu had said that, without a substantial salary increase within three years, the system would collapse. Other factors contributing to the migration of Romanian doctors to western European countries is the lack of new jobs in the system, the insufficient number of hospitals and the growing number of patients.

Tax on Tips

The Government of Romania has passed an emergency order that makes all incomes including tips, subject to taxation. According to the new legislation, the extra money paid by customers for goods delivered or services provided by business operators will be registered on separate receipts. Here is Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici:

“First of all, when they come to work employees will have to declare the cash they have on them and register the amount in separate records kept by employers.”

Tips will be subject to a 16% tax, and employers are free to either keep the amounts or give them to the employees.

No Visas for Canada

On Wednesday the government of Canada announced having decided to include Romania in the list of countries for which the Electronic Travel Authorisation (eTA) will apply as of 2016. Romanian citizens having had a Canadian visa for the past 10 years or who have a temporary USA visa will thus be able to enter Canada without a visa, following electronic registration in the eTA system. According to the Romanian Foreign Ministry, this decision, a major step in the process of full visa lifting, reconfirms the constant dialogue between the Romanian and Canadian authorities towards solving this issue. It is also a signal of the political will to have Romanian citizens enjoy visa-free travel to Canada, just like the other EU citizens.