Press Review - December 9, 2015

12.09.2015 By Gabriela Stan

Romanian Government Extends Additional Taxes In Oil, Energy and Mineral Sectors

The government has extended the additional taxes applied in the oil, energy and mineral sectors, as the estimations related to these taxes were included in the budget draft, according to Profit.ro.

The taxes are a tax of 60% on additional revenue triggered by gas market liberalization, a tax of 0.5% on extraction and the tax on natural monopoly, mainly collected from electricity and natural gas distributors.

The three taxes were initially introduced in 2013 by the end of the year, when a new taxation system on resources was to be adopted. Nevertheless, the new taxation system was neither put up for public debate nor adopted.

For next year, the government estimates revenue worth RON872.93 million from the taxation of additional revenue obtained by producers following the deregulation of natural gas price, compared to RON881.04 million estimated for 2015. (Adevarul)

 

British PM David Cameron To Meet With Klaus Iohannis And Dacian Ciolos In Bucharest

British PM David Cameron will pay an official visit to Romania on Wednesday, meeting with President Klaus Iohannis and PM Dacian Ciolos.

The talks will not be followed by official statements and the agenda was not made public. Cameron also had talks with French President Francois Hollande and Bulgarian PM Boyko Borissov for the next European Council that will take place on December 17-18, trying to renegotiate the statute of Great Britain in the European Union. Cameron mainly wants to reduce welfare given to European citizens working the in UK.

In June, Cameron also had talks on the issue with Iohannis in Brussels.

Former President Traian Basescu said the decision to appoint PM Dacian Ciolos to participate in the talks about the so-called Brexit at the European Council is wrong. (Evenimentul Zilei)

 

Transport Minister Sacks Roads Authority Head Narcis Neaga

The new Transport Minister, Dan Costescu, on Tuesday dismissed the head of Romania’s Roads Authority (CNADNR), Narcis Neaga, and announced that the company will be reformed and will have a private management.

The responsibilities of the former general manager will be taken over by the interim manager of Metrorex, Catalin Homor.

“We are not satisfied with the activity of the company, it needs a restart.  There are shortcomings in terms of operations, too, not only as regards investments,” Costescu stated.

Although the company barely manages to construct several kilometers of highway every year, the Roads Authority proves to be “a slice of heaven” for some of its employees.  (Romania Libera)

 

SMEs Unsupportive Of Minimum Wage Hike On January 1, 2016

Over three quarters of the companies that participated in a survey conducted by the National Council of Romanian Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, or CNIPMMR, consider that an increase of the minimum wage as of January 1, 2016 would create difficulties for private companies.

Ana Bontea, head of CNIPMMR Legal and Social Dialog Department, told a conference Tuesday that 62% of the respondents believe that the minimum wage hike will mainly lead to layoffs and only 16% consider there would be no effects on the salary scale for all employees.

Finance Minister Anca Dragu said that the minimum wage will not increase on January 1 from RON1,050 to RON1,200, because such a step firstly requires an impact study on the competitiveness of Romania and the private sector. (Puterea)

 

World Vision Romania: Over 46% Of People In Rural Areas Don’t Work

Over 46% of the people aged between 18 and 60 and living in Romanian rural areas said they don’t work, according to a report released by World Vision Romania Foundation.

Of these, 29% say they have no stable income and only 4% are registered as unemployed. On the other hand, 5% of people in rural areas say they or a person in their household has a business and 22% want to start a business in the next two years, most of them in the agricultural sector (57%), that will be financed from non-reimbursable EU funds (40%) and savings or loans from family and friends (40%), according to the report.  (Puterea)