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| The Week in Review 27/03/2011- 02/04/2011 |
| (2011-04-01) |
| Last updated: 2011-04-04 15:52 EET |
The IMF and Romania have signed a new loan agreement, worth around 3.5 billion Euro, which came into effect on March 31. This new accord is of the precautionary kind, with a two year deadline. During this time, Bucharest has at its disposal a total of five billion Euro, with the balance provided by the European Commission. The accord allows the money to be issued only in emergencies, and aims to support sustainable growth.
Its role, say the authorities, is to protect Romania in case unforeseen situations spring up, generated by regional instability. The authorities in Bucharest have committed to reducing salary and bonus expenditures, aiming to hold the budget deficit under 4.5% this year. The new program also requires deep reforms in energy and transportation. Romania has to pay its arrears, improve taxation, and give priority to institutional reforms that would improve European fund absorption.
Romania welcomed NATO’s announcement that the alliance would take over command of operations in Libya. In London, at the first meeting of a so-called contact group for that country, the Romanian foreign minister, Teodor Baconschi, said that Bucharest was willing to participate in the democratic reconstruction of Libya. The alliance promised it would be impartial, and that its mission is defined by the UN resolution as that of protecting areas inhabited by civilians threatened by Col. Gaddafi’s forces. In Bucharest, the national defense council decided to open the country’s airports to US aircraft on Libyan missions, mainly for facilitating air refueling.
Romanian MEP Adrian Severin announced on Monday he had resigned from his party, the Social Democratic Party, in the aftermath of the corruption scandal he was involved in, even though he continued to proclaim his innocence. Severin refused to retire from his position in the European Parliament, claiming there is no evidence against him. The British newspaper Sunday Times accused four members of the European Parliament, including the Romanian, of taking bribes for lobbying. Last week, the Socialist group in the European Parliament kicked the Romanian official out of the organization, while Romanian prosecutors opened a corruption investigation against Severin.
This week, President Traian Basescu endorsed the law modifying the Labor Code, the set of law regulating labor relations in Romania, after the Constitutional Court ruled that its provisions did not run counter to the Constitution. On March 8, the government took responsibility in Parliament for the bill, and the censure motion was voted down. According to the new code, which angered trade unionists and employer associations, employers can hire staff 45 days after the collective lay-offs, and can fire employees based on performance criteria. Also, employment contracts cannot have validity for more than three years, as opposed to the two years provided by the legislation in its previous form.
The Romanian senate held hearings with experts on the risk of having a Fukushima type disaster at the only nuclear plant in the country, in Cernavoda, in the south east. The conclusion was that the two operating Romanian reactors, built with Canadian CANDU technology, are safe. They were designed to withstand tremors measuring as high as 8 on the Richter scale, and, according to geologists, Romania has never had earthquakes measuring more than 7.5. In addition, the plant has the necessary cooling system, very large quantities of reserve water, as well as emergency power sources.
A new terminal was inaugurated at Bucharest’s main airport, with a surface of 16,000 square meters, and 24 boarding gates. This terminal was built in order to answer requirements for Schengen accession. The airport now has 14 instead of 5 jet bridges, as it previously had. Prime Minister Emil Boc said at the inauguration ceremony that the new terminal is further proof that Romania complies with the technical requirements for joining Schengen.
The film ‘If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle’, directed by Florin Serban, which last year won the Silver Bear and the Alfred Bauer Award at the Berlin Film Festival, was the grand winner at the 2011 Gopo Awards, which are Romania’s equivalent to the Oscars. The movie won awards in the most important categories: Best Film, Best Director, Best Supporting Actress, Best Debut Film, as well as the Audience Award for best earnings in the previous year. The Gopo Gala bears the name of Ion Popescu Gopo, who, back in 1957, won the Palm d’Or at Cannes for his short film ‘Short history’.
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