The Week in Review: April 9-15
A look at the main headline-grabbing events this past week
România Internațional, 15.04.2017, 12:00
The private pensions scandal -
measures and penalties
The Financial Supervisory
Authority in Romania on Thursday levelled penalties against NN, the country’s
biggest private pensions fund for spreading information meant to destabilise
the pensions system. On Wednesday, NN sent an email to all its clients warning
about possible measures to nationalise private pensions funds. The leader of
the Social Democratic Party and speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Liviu
Dragnea said Parliament would soon take steps to sack the entire management of
the Financial Supervisory Authority. The Finance Ministry has categorically
denied plans to nationalise the private pensions funds.
The Serbian police detain former
Romanian MP Sebastian Ghita in Belgrade
The former Romanian MP and
businessman Sebastian Ghita, who was on an international most wanted fugitives
list, was tracked and detained by the Serbian police on Thursday night in
Belgrade four months after his disappearance. The Romanian authorities are now taking
the necessary action to obtain his extradition. When asked for identification
by the police, he presented false EU ID. Sebastian Ghita disappeared on the 21st
of December 2016 and was first named on the country’s most wanted fugitives
list for breaking the conditions of his bail. On the 10th of
January, a Supreme Court panel issued a European arrest warrant for Ghita, who
was then also named on an international most wanted fugitives list through
Interpol. Ghita is facing trial in two corruption cases and is under criminal
investigation in two others.
The unitary pay law is yet to
be submitted to Parliament
The submission of the
much-awaited unitary pay law for public sector employees to Parliament for
debate and approval has been postponed. The leader of the ruling Social
Democratic Party and Chamber of Deputies speaker Liviu Dragnea said the bill
will also remain available for public input this week. The bill provides for an
increase in monthly incomes by more than 50% over the following five years. The
planned increases are estimated at more than 7 billion euros in total. Prime
minister Sorin Grindeanu says the talks with trade unions and the institutions
targeted by the bill will continue in Parliament to speed up the passing of the
law. The law, which is supposed to come into force on the 1st of
July, covers all public institutions with the exception of the National Bank of
Romania and the Financial Supervisory Authority. The army and police staff are
the first to benefit from the pay rises. The other categories of public sector
employees will see their salaries grow as of January next year. The president
will have the biggest salary in the public system, accounting for 12 minimum
wages per month. The salaries of the highest dignitaries will drop, while those
of parliamentarians, judges and prosecutors will go up.
Vaccination bill is made public
The Romanian healthcare ministry
on Tuesday published its new vaccination bill. This provides for the creation of
county vaccination commissions able to step in if parents refuse the compulsory
immunisation scheme. Healthcare minister Florian Bodog says a chapter
containing penalties will also be introduced into the bill after public and
parliamentary debate. He says his ministry will assume responsibility for the
treatment of the possible side effects of vaccination. According to the
ministry, 21 persons have died in Romania from measles. Since last September,
around 4,000 cases have been reported, according to the National Centre for the
Communicable Disease Surveillance and Control. To contain the spread of
measles, medical authorities continue a campaign to vaccinate children aged
between 9 months and 9 years.
Government adopts country’s
decentralisation strategy
The government adopted the
country’s decentralisation strategy on Wednesday. Deputy Prime Minister Sevil
Shhaideh says all ministries will carry out impact studies in the next three
months and that the sectoral laws regulating the decentralisation process will
be adopted within the next 7 months at the latest. The areas covered by the
process are agriculture, culture, tourism, the environment, healthcare,
education and extracurricular activities, youth and sport. The general goal of
the strategy is the transfer of new responsibilities, with the exception of
those relating to inspection and control, to local authorities, namely mayors
and local and county councils. Many of these responsibilities are currently
held by the ministries’ decentralised directorates.
Crowding at border check
points in Romania
Traffic is busy at Romania’s border crossing
points following the implementation, on the 7th of April, of a new
European regulation tightening border control ahead of the Easter holidays.
Waiting time at the border varies from one to six hours. The busiest
checkpoints are in the west of the country. The authorities are trying to
strike a balance between citizen security and traffic flow and recommend the
use of all border checkpoints. To support Romanian citizens travelling abroad
during the Easter holidays, the foreign ministry has made available a travel
guide containing useful recommendations, information about the most frequented
tourist destinations at this time of the year, as well as information that can
help Romanian citizens avoid possible unpleasant situations that may appear
during their stay abroad.
