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| THE WEEK IN REVIEW 13-19/07/2009 |
| (2009-07-17) |
| Last updated: 2009-07-21 14:12 EET |
Early this week, Romania, together with Turkey, Bulgaria, Hungary and Austria have signed a government level agreement on the construction of the Nabucco gas pipeline, which is supposed to convey Caspian gas to Central Europe, via Turkey. Energy security is a top priority for the European Union. The Nabucco project is part of the European attempt to diversify their sources of energy and to reduce their dependence on Russian gas. Prime Minister Emil Boc, one of the signatories to the document, explained that this is not a project that was meant to be against somebody, but it is part of a policy meant to find alternative resources and routes to the benefit of all European citizens,.
”Nabucco is more efficient and less expensive than other similar initiatives promoted in the region. It has all the necessary ingredients to attract investors and to function on a commercial basis, on the principles of market economy. Nabucco is an efficient project which enjoys political support and is viable from an economic point of view. “
Some 460 km of the 3,300 kilometers of the gas pipeline will be built on Romania’s territory. Romania will annually get 2.58 billion cubic meters of gas, of the total amount conveyed by the Nabucco pipeline, accounting for 15% of Romania’s national consumption at the moment. The total value of the project amounts to 7.9 billion Euros, 70% of which will be covered by loans, to be contracted by the “Nabucco International” Company , and the rest of 30% will be covered by the participating countries.
The new European Parliament has started its activity this week, by electing its leadership. It is for the first time that a East European politician has become president of this legislative body in Strasbourg. Jerzy Buzek, former rightist prime minister of Poland has been elected president of the European parliament for a term of 2 years and a half. Romania is represented in the European Parliament by 33 deputies, elected on June the 7th for a complete term in office: 14 MPs, members of the Liberal Democratic Party and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania are affiliated to the European People’s party, 11 MPs, members of the Social Democratic part are affiliated to the European Socialists, 5 MPs members of the National Liberal Party are affiliated to the Liberal Democrats and 3 representatives of the populist Greater Romania Party, which are not affiliated.
There has been a change in the Ministry of Youth and Sports. Before it was established what happened to nearly 700,000 Euro spent on Youth Day, Liberal Democrat Monica Iacob-Ridzi resigned, being replaced by a fellow party member, Sorina Placinta. Monica Ridzi is now under investigation for misuse of public funds. A parliament committee recommended she be indicted for her behavior.
Minister of Finance Gheorghe Pogea was fined by the Court of Appeals for cancelling a 50% bonus for the staff of the High Court of Justice. for more than a week, magistrates and auxiliary court staff have been protesting the cancellation of their bonus for stressful working conditions, and stopped working morning hours. Penitentiary system employees also protested by stopping work and picketing the Ministry of Justice, in protest towards hard working conditions and low pay.
The government announced new austerity measures, and the need to restructure government agencies. Here is premier Emil Boc. :
‘Restructuring government agencies will be accomplished by dismantling and consolidating to the extent of 50% with the exception of those agencies that exist in the EU, and are a part of, in the case of many of them, EU directives and laws”.
The government also decided to cut 20% of official staff, but also to delay paying vacation bonuses for state employees.
The Ministry of Education in Bucharest announced it would print diplomas for the Spiru Haret private university, the largest in Romania, only for the accredited specialities. The Ministry of Education said that it did not grant accreditation to the part time and distance learning courses at the private university, since it deemed its facilities unfit for a proper education. According to the ministry, this university runs courses that have not been evaluated since 2007. Spiru Haret university will be able to hold admission exams only if it comes within compliance with legal requirements within a week.
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