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| THE WEEK IN REVIEW 28/06-02/07/2010 |
| (2010-07-02) |
| Last updated: 2010-07-05 13:19 EET |
This week the government applied austerity legislation, after adjustments made by Parliament and the Constitutional Court. The supreme court had decided that cutting by 15% pensions, stipends for people taking care of the disabled, and the pensions of magistrates was unconstitutional. When the law went back to Parliament, these articles were removed. The court did not oppose the decision to cut state wages by 25%. The measure came into effect on July 1st. On the same date new measures were applied, such as: taxing food stamps, subsidies for day care, gift certificates and vacation vouchers, compensation payments, copyright income, income from bank deposit interest, and income from financial market transactions. Also, the VAT rate was raised to 24% from 19%. The government said it made these decisions in order to keep the budget deficit stable at 6.8%.
That figure was agreed upon with the IMF as a condition to release the other parts of the 20 billion Euro loan it contracted last spring. The market reacted promptly, prices went up, and the national currency slumped to its lowest level since the Euro was introduced, around 4.35 lei per Euro. Adrian Vasilescu, adviser to the governor of the National Bank of Romania, told Radio Romania that the leu depreciated mainly for psychological reasons. The president of the Romanian Association of Businessmen, Florin Pogonaru, said that this slump in the leu’s value is circumstantial. According to economic analysts, the situation will level out once the fifth portion of the IMF loan is dispensed.
Romania has initiated procedures to access the EU Solidarity Fund after the disastrous floods caused by heavy rains. More than 20 people have died, and that figure could have been a lot worse if a warning had not been issued for several counties in the north east of the country, in the most imperiled area. Tens of thousands of people were evacuated. Road and rail traffic was cut off over several areas. Many towns and villages were left without power. The government sent to the area drinking water, canned goods and basic items. Weathermen, however, do not yet have good news, and they are issuing new alerts every day. They say that rains will continue, causing the Danube in the south and the Siret River in the east and north east to swell to dangerous levels.
Romania’s Higher Defense Council on Monday met to discuss ways to reduce tax evasion and contraband, occurring in the food industry, alcohol and tobacco, construction, and energy products. The council issued a plan to form in each Romanian county a special body of police made up of officers and experts. The council also decided that in 2011 it will make available for foreign missions 319 less troops than before. Most Romanian troops operating abroad are deployed in Afghanistan, numbering over 1,400.
The controversial law regarding the functioning of the National Integrity Agency - an institution that was set up a few years ago, in order to keep in check the legality of dignitaries’ wealth – was passed by senators in a form that has left many people unhappy. The Agency’s secretary general, Horia Georgescu, has warned about a potential, extremely negative consequence on the fight against corruption, as well as on Romania’s commitments regarding European cooperation and judiciary verification mechanisms. The modification of the law merged after the constitutional court decided that some provisions of the old version were unconstitutional. MPs put forth amendments of non-constitutional articles, but president Traian Basescu was unhappy with the 8 articles and sent the bill back to parliament. The amended version sailed through the deputies Chamber, but senators failed to add its most important instruments.
They eliminated the wealth inquiry commissions, reduced from 3 years to one year the legal time to investigate the wealth of dignitaries who have completed their term in office and maintained the double wealth declaration system, which translates into a public declaration and a confidential one. The latter is only to be verified by inspectors of the National Integrity Agency. Justice minister Catalin Predoiu has voiced his discontent with the form the bill has acquired, saying that arguments according to which the National Integrity Agency has safeguard all its attributions are, in fact, pure mystifications.
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