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| THE WEEK IN REVIEW 15-21/09/2008 |
| (2008-09-19) |
| Last updated: 2008-09-22 15:43 EET |
With two months and a half to go to the parliamentary elections in Romania, judging by the statements made by political parties it seems that the election campaign has already started. As expected, the opposition highlights the mistakes made by the government and emphasizes its own contribution to solving problems important for voters. From his position as leader of the government, the Liberal Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu says he is happy with the performance of his cabinet. He presented this week a 4-year activity report according to which 95% of the pledges assumed by his team have been carried out:
“On January 1st 2007 we joined the European Union after almost 2 years of hard work, and after another two years of more hard work we have become the country with the biggest growth in terms of GDP in Europe. As far as the people is concerned, we have made efforts to improve their standard of living by means of salary increases. For the first time since the anti-communist revolution we have succeeded in establishing decent pensions; in fact, we doubled their amount. As of the 1st of October, the government will seek a new increase in pensions.”
Another area seen as a priority by the Tariceanu government is infrastructure. The Prime Minister recalls that a programme of modernising and expanding the road network is currently being implemented. The journalist Ovidiu Nahoi:
“Of course things look much better than in past years, but we should consider how much is the merit of the current administration and how much is the merit of real economy. Some years have passed, Romanians have learnt a few things about capitalism, about black holes in the economy, and the infamous loss making communist factory have been closed down in the meantime or have been privatised. So these losses no longer exist. Romania is a member of the European Union, and certain trade barriers have been eliminated as a result. Everything travels faster and better between Romania and the European Union, this country’s biggest partner. So, this economic growth was to be expected, as it was only natural for Romania to grow, having started from very low.”
Against harsh criticism relating to the quality of the Romanian education system, 3 million pupils from primary and secondary schools started school on the 15th of September. A third of all schools, however, especially in rural areas, had not obtained their sanitary permits in time for the start of the new school year. The Social Democrats in opposition took the opportunity to file a motion of censure on education, which got the necessary votes in parliament. Reacting fast, the Prime Minister announced a 9% salary increase for teachers starting on 1st of October. With the elections looming large, the government also decided to implement a new pension increase one month earlier, so at the start of October, pensions will grow by 20%. Under the circumstances, the Social Democrats have given up their plans to file a motion of censure relating to pensions.
This week, the government has made a third budget correction amounting to 6 billion lei. Most of the money goes to the Public Ministry and the Justice Ministry to cover the salaries claimed and won in court by judges and prosecutors. A lot of money will also go to the Agriculture Ministry and the Ministry of the Interior and Public Administration. The Transport Ministry will also receive additional funds under the new budget correction to finance a number of infrastructure projects.
The bankruptcy of the American investment bank Lehman Brothers and the serious financial problems of the AIG group have continued to send shock waves on the international stock exchange markets. Wall Street has seen its darkest moments since the attacks of September 11th, while the stock exchanges in Paris, Frankfurt and London dropped for three days in a row. The Bucharest stock exchange saw the biggest decline of the shares of BRD Groupe Societe Generale and the five financial investment companies. The joint efforts of the world’s leading central banks to reduce the shortage of liquidities in dollars have fortunately resulted in growths at the main stock exchanges in the world.
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2025-04-03
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