The Week November 23-29

A review of the most important events that have taken place in Romania this past week

Mihai Pelin, 28.11.2015, 13:51

The 2016 state budget to be ready in two weeks’ time

In Romania, the
state budget for 2016 aims to clarify issues related to fiscal stability and to
include all legislative changes in terms of salaries. The draft budget should
be completed by December 15 and then sent to Parliament to be debated by the
expert committees, before being submitted to the plenary sitting for approval.
In the meantime, the document will also be subjected to public debate. According to President Klaus Iohannis, Romania’s 2016 state budget
should consider a long-term strategy for development, so that reforms could
begin in critical domains in the following months. Prime minister Dacian Cioloş has said Romania
will be able to keep the budget deficit below the 3% target and has given
assurances that it plans to include all measures stipulated by the new Fiscal
Code in next year’s budget.

Klaus Iohannis signs into law bill to raise
public sector salaries

Under a
new bill signed into law by the Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, public
sector salaries will grow by 10% as of December 1st, while salaries in the
healthcare sector will be increased retroactively by 25%, as of October 1st.
The Romanian prime minister Dacian Cioloş has said that, to
avoid cutting down on investments, the government would focus on attracting
European funds. The prime minister has also pointed out that, besides these pay
rises, which are important and justified, Romania should also work out a programme
for investments, so that the country’s economic growth should not be based on
consumption alone.

Parliament passes bill to allow Romanians to give up
their houses to clear mortgage debts

The nightmare of defaulting
on the mortgage payment may soon come to an end for a lot of Romanians
thanks to a bill allowing them to give the mortgaged house to the
bank so as to get rid of loan payments. The bill has been recently passed by
the Romanian Chamber of Deputies. In order to come into force President Klaus
Iohannis needs to sign it into law. The bill was initiated by the Liberal MP
Daniel Zamfir, who
says that it is meant to correct the risk sharing between banks and customers
taking out loans. Even as a draft, this law has triggered a lot of controversy, as bankers
say it is tailor-made for real estate speculators, it endangers the real estate
market and violates the Romanian Constitution, the European law and the civil
code.

President Klaus
Iohannis signs into law bill to ban public activity in spaces at risk

Given that
Bucharest is the European capital running the highest risk of being affected by
earthquakes, cinema and theatre halls, some of them with a national reputation,
as well as restaurants and bars have been forced to suspend their activity, as last
week, Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis promulgated the law banning any kind
of public activity in spaces at risk. The structure of hundreds of buildings
was affected in particular by the big earthquake of 1977, measuring 7.2 on the
Richter scale, which killed some 1,600 people. Only a few of these buildings
have been consolidated. The situation is high on the agenda of Prime Minister
Dacian Cioloş and Culture Minister Vlad Alexandrescu, who will hold a meeting
to find solutions, with the participation of the Bucharest municipality.

US
Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Euroasian Affairs Hoyt Yee praises
Romania for progress made in combating corruption

The
United States is expecting Romania’s new government to increase the number of
cooperation fields between the two countries, from the economic and military
fields to energy security, the US Deputy Assistant Secretary
for European and Euroasian Affairs, Hoyt Yee, has said. Attending the 4th
meeting of the Task Force on the implementation of the Joint
Declaration on the Strategic Partnership for the 21st Century between Romania
and the USA, the American official highlighted the significant results
Romania obtained in the fight against corruption.

In
another development, the National Anti-Corruption Directorate in Romania on
Thursday called on the Senate to green light the pre-trial detention and arrest
of Senator Dan Sova in a new corruption case for influence peddling.
Prosecutors say in the 2011-2014 period, Sova, a former Transport Minister in
the Victor Ponta Cabinet, demanded and received 100,000 euros in bribe for
striking a deal between CET Govora and a law firm. CET Govora Director Mihai
Balan was also arrested on Thursday by anti-corruption prosecutors. We recall
that in March the Directorate had called on the Senate to green light the
detention and arrest of Sova in a corruption investigation involving the
Turceni and Rovinari energy companies. Sova was indicted for corruption
alongside former Prime Minister Victor Ponta.

Also
under investigation is the Liberal MP Ion Oltean, accused of abuse of power and
influence peddling in a case of overrated compensations. The former chief of Romania’s
National Authority for Property Restitution (ANRP),
Crinuta Dumitrean has been detained for involvement in the same case.