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| THE WEEK IN REVIEW 24-30/05/2010 |
| (2010-05-28) |
| Last updated: 2010-05-31 15:10 EET |
On Wednesday the Romanian government passed the letter of intent to the IMF in order to receive the next payment worth 850 million euros of the loan agreed upon with this financial body in 2009. The PM, Emil Boc, has announced he will ask Parliament for a vote of confidence on two draft laws: one regarding the reduction of budget expenses and the other regulating special pensions. Implementing the austerity plan will reduce the budget deficit to 6.8% of the GDP until the end of the year.
The austerity measures aim at slashing salaries in the public sector by 25% and pensions, unemployment benefits and maternity leave payments by 15%.
However, the government has decided to leave small incomes untouched, in order to protect the most vulnerable social categories. Emil Boc:
“These reductions do not affect minimum salaries. Nobody in Romania will get a salary smaller than 600 lei. We have maintained the minimum guaranteed social pension at 350 lei. And the austerity measures will not affect child allowances”.
PM Boc explained that he opted for these measures instead of increasing the VAT so as to prevent the inflation rate from skyrocketing. The money saved in this way will be used for the payment of the state’s debts to various companies, for modernising 400 kms of national roads, for finalising 4 thousand houses and carrying on with the car fleet renewal programmes.
The announced austerity measures are vehemently contested by trade unions and opposition. The latter has announced it will lodge a censure motion after the government asks Parliament for a vote of confidence on its austerity measures.
The opposition claims that Romania is being pushed towards a solution that will deepen poverty, will make the economy shrink and does not actually tackle the essence of the problem.
Trade unions will start an indefinite all-out strike next week. On May 31st teachers, part of the public servants and the medical staff working on ambulances will go on strike; they will be joined one day later by workers from other public sectors. In Bucharest trade unionists from the underground and ground transportation systems will go on strike in show of solidarity.
Cooperation between Romania and the Republic of Moldova has strengthened over the past months after a pro-western coalition came to power in Chisinau in the autumn 2009. Bucharest gave Chisinau a non-reimbursable loan of 100 million euros and the two sides concluded an agreement on small scale cross-border trade which benefits over one million people. This week, the economy ministers of the two countries, Adriean Videanu and Valeriu Lazar, signed in Chisinau an accord that provides for interconnecting natural gas conveyance systems by building a gas pipeline that will cross the common border. Economy minister Adriean Videanu has details:
“We have discussed in concrete terms about projects related to interconnecting the energy infrastructure, be it electricity or natural gas; they are a very important prerequisite for the Republic of Moldova’s integration into the EU”.
Minister Videanu also announced that Romania would open a business centre in Chisinau in order to strengthen bilateral trade relations.
The city of Cluj-Napoca, central Romania, will be playing host to the 9th edition of the Transylvania International Film Festival, scheduled between May 28th and June 6th. 240 films from 47 countries will be screened throughout the festival's duration, while the special guest will be German director and producer Wim Wenders, president of the European Film Academy. Around that same time, Sibiu, another Transylvanian city that was the 2007 European Capital of Culture, will host the 17th International Theatre Festival. 350 plays from Romania and 70 other countries will be staged here, along with light, music and pantomime shows.
This year, the Romanian football team CFR Cluj have won the second title of Romanian champions in the club's 103-year-old history, along with their third consecutive Romanian Cup trophy. The final match was held in the city of Iasi, and saw CFR outplaying Sporting Vaslui in the penalty shootout with the score 5-4.
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2025-04-03
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