November 29, 2023 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 29.11.2023, 20:00

PENSIONS – President
Klaus Iohannis has ratified the public pension law, which increases the pension
point by 13.8%, from 360 EUR at present to some 410 EUR starting January 1, 2024. Starting September
1 next year, pensions will also go up after recalcuations that will observe a
new formula. The retirement age for men and women will be brought to the same
level gradually until 2035. In other news, the Constitutional Court on Tuesday
ruled that former Romanian MPs are to keep their special pensions, while
Parliament is allowed to eliminate them in the future. In June, Parliament
eliminated special pensions awarded to deputies and senators, as Romania
pledged to eliminate them as part of its Recovery and Resilience Plan.

PROSECUTION – The
Senate has greenlit the prosecution of former Liberal Prime Minister Florin
Cîțu, whom anti-corruption prosecutors accuse of abuse of office in an
investigation into the abusive purchase of anti-COVID-19 vaccines. Targeted in
the same case are also former USR Health Minister Vlad Voiculescu and Ioana Mihăilă, whose immunity was lifted after Klaus Iohannis
signed the anti-prosecutors’ request.

CORRUPTION – The mayor of the
city of Baia Mare (north-west), Cătălin Cherecheş, who fled the country after
being sentenced to 5 years in prison in a corruption case, was apprehended in
Germany, the Romanian Police announced. He was identified and taken into
custody by the police in Bavaria based on the information provided by the
Romanian authorities. Sources close to the investigation say the former mayor
was aided by an aunt and was attempting to leave Germany when he was caught.
Cherecheş had left the country on Friday, using the ID of a family member, and
the procedures for returning him to the country are under way.

NATIONAL DAY – The
Romanian Cultural Institute (ICR) is organizing over 30 events abroad marking
the National Day of Romania on December 1, including concerts, exhibitions,
film screenings, debates, theatre performances and literary events. Among the
highlights are the Madrigal Choir tour of the USA, plays staged by the National
Theatre of Sibiu in Paris, a recital by soprano Teodora Gheorghiu and
bass-baritone Sorin Coliban in London, or performances by violinist Alexandru
Tomescu and pianist Sînziana Mircea in Beijing, Budapest and Vienna.
A number of concerts, film screenings, photo exhibitions are also planned in
Spain, while the Institute’s agenda in Italy includes a series of folk-inspired
carol concerts.

MEETING – The
president of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, on Wednesday met Eastern-Catholic priests
at the Blaj Bishopric as part of an event marking 75 years since the communist
authorities banned the Eastern-Catholic Church of Romania. Defined as an
official Church of Romania under the Constitution in the interwar period, the
Eastern-Catholic Church was outlawed after the war by the puppet regime
installed by Soviet occupation troops. Countless Eastern-Catholic bishops,
priests and churchgoers were imprisoned, many of them dying in communist
detention. The Eastern-Catholic Church was reinstated after the 1989 anti-communist
revolution. (AMP & VP)