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| THE WEEK IN REVIEW (5-11.11.2007) |
| (2007-11-09) |
| Last updated: 2007-11-09 17:01 EET |
An ethnic Roma of Romanian nationality is accused of having robbed and murdered an Italian woman. The incident sent commotion through public opinion in Italy and Romania. The death of the Italian woman entailed tough measures taken by the authorities, an aggressive rhetoric from Italian politicians and the media as well as xenophobic acts; the Italian Government issued an emergency decree-law under which foreigners who pose a threat to public safety may be expelled immediately from the country. Dozens of Romanians have been sent back home, others have returned willingly, scared that they might fall victim to retaliatory acts. To appease the Italians' rage and to protect the almost 1.5 million Romanians who are honestly working in that country, PM Calin Popescu Tariceanu, accompanied by the foreign and interior ministers, went to Rome to try to work out a common solution meant to defuse the crisis. PM Tariceanu also talked to Pope Benedict XVI who said it was not fair for a entire people to be “labelled” for what one single individual did. Prime Minister Tariceanu and his counterpart Romano Prodi have agreed that the Roma issue is not only an issue of Romania but also of the whole Europe and have called for the support of the European Commission in the social integration of immigrants. The European Commission Vice-President, Franco Frattini, has urged Romania and Italy to draft a common strategy in this respect saying that Brussels was ready to support it from the European social fund. Until the strategy is completed, the Romanian and Italian authorities have decided to strengthen bilateral co-operation at the police, judicial and consular levels. A Human Rights Watch Organisation warns that the campaign mounted in Italy against Romanians infringes Rome's international human rights obligations. The UN High Commission for Refugees denounced the “climate of intolerance” and “Xenophobia” in Italy while the Council of Europe stood up against any form of “persecution” of Romanians, especially ethnic Roma, calling for calm and prudence.
While the Romanian PM was trying to ease the tension in Rome, President Traian Basescu made a two day visit to Norway. He met King Harald 5th of Norway and PM Jens Stoltenberg. The main topics approached focused on NATO enlargement and the Alliance summit due in 2008 in Bucharest, the situation in Afghanistan and the Balkans, especially in Kosovo. On the occasion of the visit a funding memorandum was signed under which Norway will give almost 100 million euro to Romania for healthcare, industry and child protection. The Romanian president also met a group of Romanian students in Norway. He told them that after graduation, they are more than welcome to return to work in Romania.
The governor of the National Bank of Romania, Mugur Isarescu, has confirmed, this week, the forecasts of international experts, according to which inflation rate in Romania will exceed the initial estimates of 3.9% made by the Romanian authorities. Isarescu has announced that by the end of the year the inflation rate will reach 5.7%. He mentioned the causes that led to that situation: this summer's drought, that led to a rise in the food price, significant price rises on the international markets at agricultural and oil products as well as the financial fluctuations. Other causes mentioned were: the salary increases that did not take into account labour productivity, the rise in pensions and also higher government expenses. The National Bank of Romania warned of the danger of a drop in the country rating which might lead to a reduction of foreign investments and a difficult access to external credits. The Standar&Poor's financial rating agency was the first to negatively review Romania rating from “stable” to “ negative”.
The new agriculture minister, Dacian Ciolos, sent a letter to the European Commission, one day before the expiry of the November 9th deadline, announcing that Bucharest has remedied the deficiencies signalled by the Community experts regarding the functioning of the Agency of Payments and Intervention in Agriculture (APIA).
Brussels gave Romania one month to deal with the situation, warning that otherwise the country risks the activation of the safeguard clause. This would mean a 25% reduction of subsidies for agricultural fields and losing 110 million euros from the total 440 million euros allocated by the EU in 2007. In its letter, the Agriculture Ministry informs that the program calculating payments from community funds to farmers is functional and gives assurances that payments will not be made until the information given by farmers in their application is verified on the ground. Delays in land measurements, occurred because of difficult weather conditions and difficult access to remote areas. According to minister Ciolos the problems will be solved within 2 weeks.
Romania’s football vice champion team, Steaua Bucharest, lost its forth game in Group H of the European Champions’ League and missed on qualifying in the eighths finals of the most prestigious football competition. On Wednesday Steaua Bucharest was defeated at home by the Spanish team F.C. Sevilla - 2 nil. Totalling zero points, Steaua Bucharest ranks last in a group led by Arsenal London with 10 points.
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