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| THE WEEK IN REVIEW 28/07-3/08/08 |
| (2008-08-01) |
| Last updated: 2008-08-04 14:42 EET |
For several years now, except for the droughty 2007, Romania has been ravaged by floods that left behind many victims and material damage worth millions of euros. 2008 was no exception to the rule: floods have once again hit hard at the counties in northern and north-eastern Romania, affecting over 150 villages. Floods also wreaked havoc in neighbouring Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Hungary. The flood toll in Romania is rather bleak: 5 dead, thousands of people evacuated from their homes, hundreds of households destroyed, and tens of thousands of hectares of crops marred. The government sent the army, police and gendarmes to help the flood victims, consolidate dykes and distribute first aid. Waters started to recede after one week and people are now returning to their villages, while the authorities are assessing the damage. PM Calin Popescu Tariceanu announced the priorities for the coming period: reconstructing the infrastructure and the damaged houses and ensuring power and drinking water are provided. The church, NGOs, radio and TV stations, private companies or common people joined in the government’s effort and started to raise money, collect foodstuffs, clothes and medicines for their fellows. In turn the European Commission has activated the Civil Protection Mechanism to help the flood victims in Romania.
Romanian President Traian Basescu on Thursday visited Italy while Friday he was in Serbia. In Italy he talked about the controversial set of security measures taken by the Italian government to stop illegal immigration, which Italians view as the main source of crime. He also raised the issue of Roma ethnics with Romanian citizenship who live in nomad camps on the outskirts of Rome and other major Italian cities. Before meeting with Italian officials, President Basescu visited a Roma camp and asked them to behave like European Community citizens. He assured them that, while the Romanian state would defend their rights, it would not protect Romanian criminals. The Romanian President also met with the representatives of the Romanian community in Italy which numbers about 1 million people. After official talks, Basescu emphasized the fact that Bucharest did not agree with all the measures taken by the Italian government and underlined that Romanians, irrespective of their ethnicity, should be treated like EU citizens.
The Romanian president admitted the “partial failure” of the Romanian authorities’ efforts to integrate the Roma. He believes this minority should be given a chance, and Romania and Italy must take measures, in the interest of both states, to solve this situation. Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi gave assurances that Rome did not have a negative attitude towards the Romanians in the peninsula.
In Serbia, Basescu met with his Serb counterpart, Boris Tadic, to talk about strengthening bilateral relations, mainly economic ones. They also talked about international political issues, including Kosovo. The Romanian President participated in the events organised on the occasion of “Romania’s Day” that also featured a folk group of ethnic Romanian children from the Serbian Banat and Timoc Valley, areas with large Romanian ethnic populations.
In an attempt to keep inflation under control and limit Romanians’ appetite for loans, the National Bank of Romania on Thursday decided to raise the monetary policy interest rate, for the 7th consecutive time. With the new 0.25% rise, the key interest rate went beyond the 10% threshold. The measure took effect on August 1st. The president of the Romanian Banking Association, Radu Gratian Ghetea, said commercial banks might in their turn increase interest rates on both loans and deposits.
On August 1st Radio Free Europe and the BBC ceased their broadcasts in Romanian after almost 60 years of uninterrupted transmission. Radio Free Europe will continue broadcasting to the Republic of Moldova and the break away region of Transdniester. The BBC frequencies will be used by the public radio station: Radio Romania. On Wednesday, President Traian Basescu awarded the “Cultural Merit” Order in rank of Grand Officer to the editors of these two radio stations, in sign of appreciation for their professionalism, impartiality, efforts to safeguard freedom of expression and their “heroic” activity during the communist regime.
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