Press Review - April 11, 2016

04.11.2016 By Gabriela Stan

Chemical Plant Oltchim At Risk Of Bankruptcy

Oltchim, one of the largest petrochemical companies in Romania and in southeastern Europe, could go bankrupt.

The European Commission opened an in-depth probe to verify whether debt write-offs by the Romanian state and continued supplies by state-owned enterprises in favor of Oltchim despite its deteriorating financial situation, were in line with EU state aid rules.

EC said will mainly investigate the accumulation of debts to privatization authority AAAS and the debt cancellations by AAAS and state-owned enterprises under the insolvency administrator's reorganization plan for Oltchim, and the support granted to Oltchim by two state-owned companies, CET Govora and Salrom which continued supplies of electricity, steam and saline solutions to Oltchim despite the deteriorating financial situation of Oltchim.

Sources in the Economy Ministry, the majority shareholder of Oltchim, stated that, if EC decides state aid was illegal, then the chemical plant will have to pay back all the money, triggering its bankruptcy.

Oltchim, which has been under insolvency since January 2013, reported a preliminary net profit of RON2.308 billion in 2015, due to debt write-offs, versus losses of RON459.32 million in 2014. (Puterea)

Romania Posts One Of The Lowest Unemployment Rates In EU - Eurostat

Romania reported one of the lowest unemployment rate among European Union states, according to Eurostat data.

In EU, the average unemployment rate stood at 8.9% in February. The highest unemployment rates were registered by Spain (20.4%), Croatia (15.1%), Cyprus (12.3%) and Portugal (12.3%), while the lowest unemployment rates in February were registered by Germany (4.3%) and the Czech Republic (4.5%).

Nevertheless, the low unemployment rate for a number of employees which do not even cover a quarter of Romania’s population raises questions about the statistics. There are only 4.57 million employees in Romania, at a population of 20 million inhabitants, while the unemployment rate stands at 6.5%.  (Adevarul)

BPCE: Outlook On European Banks, More Uncertain Than in 2009

The outlook for the European banking industry is more uncertain in some respects than in 2009 as negative interest rates squeeze margins and digitalization changes the model, Groupe BPCE Chairman Francois Perol was cited by Bloomberg as saying.

”Chinese growth is decreasing, oil prices are down with unexpected consequences, geopolitical risk is in a lot of areas. Banks also have to deal with (…) digitalization, (…) negative interest rates and a changing regulatory landscape,” Perol said.

European banks have suffered from record-low interest rates, slumping commodity prices and cooling emerging-market growth, according to BPCE Chairman. (Romania Libera)

PND President Daniel Fenechiu To Run For Bucharest Mayor

The president of the National Democratic Party (PND), Daniel Fenechiu, on Saturday stated he will run for mayor of Bucharest.

"Definitely, yes. Next week, I will have a press conference and I will announce the five priorities of my electoral campaign," Fenechiu stated.

On the other hand, PND president said he might no longer run for mayor if they find a better PND member to replace him.

As for potential alliances ahead of local elections, Fenechiu said that the party organizations are free to act in this respect, mentioning PNL and PSD as examples. (Romania Libera)

Health Ministry To Launch National Comprehensive Cancer Control Program
 

Romanian Health Minister, Patriciu Achimas Cadariu, stated that the Health Ministry will launch the national comprehensive integrated plan for cancer control on Wednesday.

“Next Wednesday, in the presence of the Prime Minister and the representatives of European Commission’s Health Department, we will launch the national integrated comprehensive plan for cancer control. As for breast cancer screening, we target a pilot program in the three centers in Iasi, Bucharest and Cluj, financed from EU funds, hopefully. We will also organize a pilot project screening for colorectal cancer, as we don’t have screening for colorectal cancer at the moment in Romania,” Patriciu Achimas Cadariu said.

Cadariu added that Romania already has a screening system for cervical cancer launched in 2012, which is “kind of fragile, depending on the active networks”. (Puterea)

According to the health minister, prevention is the medicine of the future. (Puterea)