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| THE WEEK IN REVIEW 6-12/10/2008 |
| (2008-10-11) |
| Last updated: 2008-10-13 11:31 EET |
A token strike which over 100,000 civil servants in Romania participated in on Thursday paralyzed the activity of the local administration for two hours. Protesters claimed a 50% pay rise, an increase similar to the one for the teaching staff passed by Parliament, otherwise threatening to go on an all-out strike on October 16th. The MPs’ decision has triggered a wave of claims and has made the government, which says it does not have the necessary money for that, challenge the law at the Constitutional Court. In another move, education unionists have filed criminal complaints against Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu, Minister of Economy and Finance Varujan Vosganian and former Education Minister Cristian Adomnitei, the latter dismissed on Tuesday for having voted for the pay rise, in his capacity as an MP. Against the backdrop of that tense situation, president Traian Basescu has called on the government, Parliament and trade unions to show caution and responsibility .
Just like other stock exchanges across the world, Romanian stock exchanges are still highly volatile. On Wednesday, the trading session of the Bucharest Stock Exchange was suspended just one hour after its opening; during that period, the quotations of financial investment companies dropped by nearly 15%. The president of the Bucharest Stock Exchange, Stere Farmache explained why the Stock Exchange had been closed.
“We noted signs of a market that could no longer run smoothly. Actually, stock exchanges must provide an equitable and orderly trading. We estimate the high volatility to be normal on an emerging market, due to the high volatility and abrupt movements on the international financial markets.”
On Friday, it was decided at the Bucharest Stock Exchange that transactions should take place only later during the day. In exchange, this week, Romania’s national currency, the leu has followed the upward trend of currencies in the region, appreciating against the Euro.
President Traian Basescu’s request for the law of nationalized houses to be revised for certain unconstitutional elements to be done away with has been turned down by the deputies. The Romanian president believes that the former owners whose houses were abusively confiscated by the communist regime must be compensated in kind, even if the respective houses were sold by the state to the tenants. Following the deputies’ negative vote, tenants can further stay in the respective houses and their former owners are going to get compensations in lei, at the market price. Judges believe that the deputies’ decision is yet another legislative failure, similar to the ones for which Romania has been sued at the European Court of Human Rights for 15 years now.
In Rome, Romanian Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu and several ministers of his cabinet have attended a top level Romanian-Italian intergovernmental session, as part of Bucharest’s moves to restore the image of the large Romanian community in that country. Calin Popescu Tariceanu and his Italian counterpart Silvio Berlusconi have underscored that the relationship between Romania and Italy is a special one, that relevant ministries cooperate to solve the problems created in Italy, especially by the Roma community and that positive results have been obtained. Referring to the Romanian nationals working in the Peninsula, Calin Popescu Tariceanu said.
“ We believe that Romanian nationals, who are European citizens, must benefit from the legislation and treatment which any European citizen expects in an EU country.”
The Hidroelectrica Hidrosind Trade Union Federation has decided to challenge in court the Romanian government’s emergency ordinance setting up the National Energy Company. The latter brings together 50% of the electric power production capacities and three of the eight distribution companies that are still state-owned. According to the prime minister, without a powerful, self-financing company, some of the coal-based electricity companies would have run the risk of being closed down. The president of the Federation, Ilie Rosu upholds however that the government’s measure might spark off the dismantling of the company Hidroelectrica and an about 20% increase in the price of energy for the population in 2009, a statement rejected by the authorities.
The only Romanian Nobel prize winner, George Emil Palade, aged 96 died on Wednesday. In 1974, along with two other researchers, he was awarded the Nobel prize for clarifying the cell mechanism of protein production. George Emil Palace left Romania in 1946, settling in the USA, where he was a professor at the Universities of New York, Yale and San Diego. For his scientific merits, he became a member of the Romanian Academy and the American Academy of Science. He was also granted the highest distinction of Romania, the order Romania’s Star in Collar rank.
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