The Government of Romania this week has asked Parliament for a vote of confidence on the Law on the restitution of buildings seized by the communist regime. Prime Minister Victor Ponta apologised, before Parliament, to all those who stood to suffer from the communist nationalisation. Under the law, all applications will be solved until 2017, and priority will be given to those cases where restitution in kind is possible. Where this is not possible, compensations will be given, and litigious rights will be subject to taxation. In the case of school and hospital buildings, the owners will have to maintain their destination for 10 years. So far Romania has paid 5 billion euros in damages and compensations to former owners, and it has to pay another 8 billion. The Liberal Democrats in opposition did not manage to gather enough votes to submit a censure motion, but announced they would take the matter to the Constitutional Court.

The new Statute of Romanian MPs has been passed

The Romanian legislative body Wednesday passed the new Statute of MPs, after, a day before, the judicial committees of the two chambers operated the modifications requested by the Constitutional Court. The MPs passed the Law on the Statute of Senators and Deputies with an amendment stipulating fines of 10% of the parliamentarians’ allowance for maximum 3 months, in the case of MPs found in a conflict of interests. According to the initial text, MPs found in conflicts of interests were banned from Parliament meetings for 30 days, but this provision was dismissed as unconstitutional.

The Convergence programme and new unemployment data in Romania

The Government of Romania maintains its euro adoption goal, but did not specify a target date in the 2013-2016 convergence programme. The document, which was passed by the Government and will be submitted to the European Commission, is based on an estimated 1.6% economic growth rate this year and 2.2% in 2014. The inflation rate is expected to gradually drop from 4.3% in 2013 to 2.3% in 2016. On the other hand, in Romania, the employment rate of working age population was 59.5% in 2012, and the unemployment rate was 7%, down from the 7.4% rate in the previous year, the National Statistics Institute announced. According to the Institute, unemployment has particularly affected secondary and high school graduates.

Plans and Compensation Wages for Oltchim

The employees fired from Oltchim Rm Valcea chemical complex will have monthly revenues worth around 400 to 445 Euros for two years in compensation, according to Minister of the Economy Varujan Vosganian. The government passed in January the memorandum on the procedure of insolvency for the complex, which failed the attempt to privatise last autumn. The approximately one thousand employees who are on the verge of losing their jobs will be the first beneficiaries of the emergency executive order setting social protection measures for employees in restructured state companies. Oltchim is just weathering a long period of uncertainty, when it amassed debts around 800 million Euros. The said executive order also grants benefits to employees of other debt burdened state companies which will undergo restructuring. Among them are the national freight railway division, the national airline TAROM, as well as Transgaz and NuclearElectrica energy companies.

European Report on Fraudulent Labelling of Meat

The European Commission confirmed that the horsemeat scandal was an issue of fraud, not of food security, and announced tough measures to avoid a recurrence, in an attempt to regain public confidence. In February, the EU decided to run DNA tests on meat products, also checking for phenilbutasone, an anti-inflammatory substance deleterious to human health. Recently published data reveal that 4.5% of products tested positive for horsemeat, even though they were labelled beef. Also, phenilbutasone was identified in 16 cases, less than 1% of tested products. In Romania, only 3 of the 100 samples were found to contain horsemeat, but none contained phenilbutasone.

Romania has a new minister of justice

Romania has a new minister of justice. The interim position so far has been held by PM Victor Ponta, after Mona Pivniceru vacated the position to sit on the Constitutional Court. The new appointee, Robert Cazanciuc, used to be a prosecutor with the High Court of Cassation and Justice, and has a difficult job in store. He will have to handle a difficult relationship with the Superior Council of Magistracy, and the implementation of the new criminal and criminal procedure codes, as well as a difficult financial situation. The new minister said he would try to boost the credibility of the justice system and would attempt to hasten the legal process.