January 17, 2024 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 17.01.2024, 20:00

PROTESTS Family
doctors in many cities in Romania Wednesday protested against the amounts
proposed by the authorities for the reimbursement of services. They say that
the cuts in the budgets of family medicine practices will have negative
effects, both for patients, and for the healthcare system as a whole. A bill
posted for public review on the website of the National Health Insurance
Agency, provides, among other things, that the funding granted to family
doctors will be over 30% smaller in 2024, and the bonuses granted to practices
in rural areas will be discarded. Meanwhile, the Sanitas trade union demands a
20% raise of all salaries in public healthcare and the scrapping of all salary inconsistencies
between various categories in the healthcare sector. On Thursday union leaders
are to present their requests to the Finance Ministry, and threaten to go on strike
unless their demands are met. The staff of some of the 9 government agencies
for small and medium-sized enterprises in the country also went on a
spontaneous 2-hour strike, demanding pay raises up to the average salary in the
Economy Ministry. The protests of farmers and transporters also continue across
the country, although employers in the field claim that they reached an
agreement with minister Sorin Grindeanu and a protocol with clear deadlines was
signed, benefiting passenger and freight carriers. The agriculture minister
Florin Barbu has also held talks with trade associations, and says that at this
moment all claims presented by farmers are solved.

PRICES On
Wednesday the Romanian agriculture minister Florin Barbu had a meeting with
retailer representatives, with the talks mainly focusing on extending the
cap on the basic food markup for another three months. Major retail chains
suggested a mechanism targeting specific products for which significant price
variations are still reported, instead of extending the overall markup cap.
Minister Florin Barbu said the topic will also be discussed with PM Marcel
Ciolacu, as retailers had requested. An emergency order introducing a temporary
measure to curb excessive price increases for some agricultural and food
products came into force on August 1st, 2023, and targeted 14 groups of food
products, including bread, cow milk, cottage cheese, eggs, sunflower oil, fresh
chicken and pork.

AUTOMOTIVE Over the past 12 years Romania has
doubled the number of cars and lorries, to become the EU member country with
the highest increase of the vehicle per capita ratio, according to a report
made public by the EU statistics office, Eurostat. Romania is still among the
countries with the smallest number of automobiles per capita in the EU. The
highest ratio is reported by Italy (684 cars per capita), followed by Luxembourg,
Finland and Cyprus, with Latvia, Romania and Hungary at the opposite pole (417 cars
per capita in Romania).

JUDICIARY People
who leave the country in order to avoid criminal prosecution, trial or
execution of punishment may have to pay the expenses incurred by the State for their
repatriation. The minister of justice, Alina Gorghiu, has announced that a
draft law in this respect has been posted on the website of the ministry for
public review. She says repatriating a fugitive criminal can cost the state up
to EUR 25,000. Last year alone, Romania spent around EUR 2 mln of taxpayer
money for the repatriation of some 600 fugitives.

SCHENGEN The Schengen
accession of Romania and Bulgaria, although partial, is a good sign, said the
Belgian PM, Alexander De Croo, whose country has taken over the rotating
presidency of the Council of the European Union. He applauded the efforts made
by both countries to address Schengen concerns and stressed that, if things
continued to go according to plan, the next steps would be taken. On March 31,
Romania and Bulgaria will lift controls at air and maritime borders with EU
member states.

CITIZENSHIP The
number of applications for Moldovan citizenship has increased significantly as
of late, which is why Chisinau is asking for the review period to be extended
to up to 6 months. According to official data, 70% of the applicants are
Russian citizens, and 20% are Ukrainian. The increase in the number of
citizenship applications made by Russians indicates attempts to avoid enlisting
in the army – says the analyst Anatol Ţaranu, a former ambassador of the
Republic of Moldova to the Russian Federation, quoted by Radio Chisinau.
According to experts, Russia could begin a full mobilisation after the
presidential elections due in March 2024. Kyiv claims that Moscow loses about
1,000 soldiers every day on the front in invaded Ukraine. (AMP)