Press Review - July 23, 2018

07.23.2018 By Oana Gavrila

Dragnea Doubts Anti-Govt Rally Will Gather 1 Million Protesters

Social Democratic Party president Liviu Dragnea said he doesn't think the anti-government rally planned by the Romanian diaspora on August 10 will gather one million demonstrators.

He added he or the party would never stop anyone from protesting.

Bucharest mayor Gabriela Firea, a member of the ruling party, has denied authorization for the rally and called on protesters to come up with a “more reasonable” crowd estimate.

Firea called a meeting Monday with representatives of secret services, police and ambulance services to discuss security measures.

ALDE Says No Trouble in Ruling Coalition

Junior ruling coalition party ALDE said there is no tension within the coalition and relations with the Social Democratic Party are “very good”.

The party said on its Facebook page Sunday that rumors claiming there were problems within the ruling coalition were mere attempts to manipulate public opinion.

Dragnea Announces Plans for Further Pension Hikes

Social Democratic Party president Liviu Dragnea said on RomaniaTV a new pension law would introduce a calculation base that would raise all pensions.

“The new law will speed up the growth rate. We're introducing the principle of contributions. People working for employers that don't pay their social security could be in trouble,” said Dragnea.

The new calculation would multiply the number of pension points by the reference point value, which is the pension point value in 2020 indexed by 5%, he said, adding all pensions would grow and would be recalculated starting 2021.

Private Pension Assets Grow 21% in 1H, to over RON43B

Assets managed by private pension funds in Romania reached RON43.7 billion end-June, up 21.22% on the year, ASF data showed.

State bonds hold the biggest share in mandatory private pension fund assets, with RON26.58 billion, or 60.79%, followed by equity, which make up RON8 billion (18.31%). Bank deposits rank third among assets of private pension funds, with RON4.49 billion or 10.28%.

Mandatory private pension funds (Pillar II) had 7.146 million participants end-June.