Press Review - July 3, 2015

07.03.2015 By Gabriela Stan

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg Pays Visit To Romania

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who is paying an official visit to Romania, praised the country for increasing expenses in the defense sector, adding that Romania is an example for the other allies.

In his turn, President Klaus Iohannis talked about the importance of an intense presence of the NATO on the Romanian territory.

Iohannis said that the NATO Force Integration Unit in Bucharest will officially become operational in September and will be the first concrete presence of the Alliance on Romanian territory.

The President added that the unit is a proof of NATO’s support and solidarity towards Romania’s security, adding that the Alliance “thus keeps its promises and proves its determination and capacity of responding to the challenges and instability generated by Russia’s actions in Ukraine.”  (Adevarul)

PNL Co-Chair Vasile Blaga Won’t Vote For Government Led By Gabriel Oprea

Vasile Blaga, co-chair of the National Liberal Party, told Realitatea TV Wednesday that he won’t vote for a government led by the current interim Prime Minister Gabriel Oprea.

”I will not vote for a government with Gabriel Oprea as PM, as there will not be such a situation. I believe that PNL will become the governing party and we will have a liberal prime minister,” Blaga stated.

 „Vasile Blaga: Nu voi vota un Guvern condus de Gabriel Oprea” (Romania Libera)

Romanian Banks Grant New Loans Worth RON5.1B In May

Romanian banks granted new loans totaling nearly RON5.1 billion in May, according to the data released by the National Bank of Romania (BNR).

According to the data available, this is the highest loan volume granted in one month since the beginning of the financial crisis back in 2008.

New loans volume rose by over 55% on the month, from RON3.27 billion in April. In May 2014, the volume of new loans stood at RON3.15 billion.

On the other hand, new deposits in Romanian banks totaled over RON18 billion in May, down 6.88% from RON19.6 billion in April and down 7.3% from RON19.7 billion in the corresponding period a year earlier.(Evenimentul Zilei)

20% Richest Romanians Earn 6.6-Fold More Than 20% Poorest Romanians

According to a report of the National College of Social Workers in Romania (CNASR), 20% of the richest Romanians are earning 6.6 times more than 20% of the poorest Romanians.

Thus, the inequality rate is the highest in EU (similar to Greece and Bulgaria).

About 4.8 million Romanians are affected by poverty, out of which 1.85 million Roma people, 1.4 million children and over 725,000 old persons.

At the same time, one in three youngsters aged 18 to 24 lives in poverty and 33% of the children aged 0 to 6 suffer from severe financial deprivation (threefold higher than the EU average), meaning they have no access to heating, regular meat consumption, washing machine, telephone. (Jurnalul National)

Romanians Replace Toothbrush Every 1.5 Years

This year, Romanians got a free toothbrush in exchange for their old one within “Smile Romania” campaign, developed for the third year in a row, as, according to statistic data, Romanians are replacing their toothbrush every 1.5 years.

This year, the campaign was available in six cities, where almost 10.000 toothbrushes have been replaced with new ones, according to a press statement of the campaign.

The message of the action was that the toothbrush needs to be replaced every three months. According to the latest data, Romanians replace their toothbrush every 1.5 years, while 77% of the Germans change it every 3 months. In Romanian rural areas, people replace their toothbrush every 10 years. (Adevarul)