Press Review - March 1, 2018

03.01.2018 By Oana Gavrila

Labor Min Says Wage Raises for Doctors, Teachers Applicable as of March 1

Labor minister Lia Olguta Vasilescu announced Wednesday staff in healthcare and education will get the wage raises planned for 2022 starting March 1.

“As of March 1, doctors and nurses salaries grow according to the wage grid for 2022, and teaching staff gets a 20% raise,” said Vasilescu.

EC First Vice-President To Meet Romanian President, Prime Minister

European Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans will carry out an official visit to Romania on March 1 and he will meet with President Klaus Iohannis and Prime Minister Viorica Dancila.

Timmermans will also meet with Lower Chamber speaker Liviu Dragnea and Senate chairman Calin Popescu-Tariceanu, as well as the members of the Joint Special Committee of Chamber of Deputies and Senate.

Electricity Consumption Tops 10,000 MWh, Prices for Peak Hours Top RON400/MWh

Extremely low temperatures led to high electricity consumption Wednesday, exceeding 10,000 MWh, nearing historical highs, data from power grid operator Transelectrica showed.

Electricity prices for peak consumption hours (9-10 am and 6-8 pm) for March 1 exceeded RON400/MWh on the energy exchange OPCOM.

Electricity prices for March 2018 are estimated at an average RON192.03/MWh compared with an average of RON161.1/MWh in March 2017.

Anticorruption Agency Presents Annual Report, President Reaffirms Support For Chief Prosecutor

Romanian anticorruption agency DNA on Wednesday presented its 2017 performance report in the presence of President Klaus Iohannis, who reaffirmed his support for the agency’s chief prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi and said her dismissal was “increasingly farther away”.

Kovesi said that anticorruption prosecutors solved over 3,800 cases in 2017, a figure standing 16.5% higher compared with the one in 2016, and sent to trial 997 people, including 3 ministers, 6 lawmakers, 49 mayors and 23 state institutions managers.

Courtrooms handed definitive sentences to 713 people.

Kovesi presented the report a week after justice minister Tudorel Toader called for her dismissal citing excess of authority and “acts and facts intolerable to the rule of law”. Toader’s proposal led to thousands of Romanians protesting in support of Kovesi and Romania’s judicial watchdog has rejected his request by issuing a negative non-binding stance.

President Klaus Iohannis has the final say in Kovesi’s dismissal and he reaffirmed his support for her, congratulating the anticorruption agency for its 2017 results and saying that “we are witnessing attempts of manipulations aiming to discredit the DNA and to subordinate the justice system to politics”.

“DNA’s efficiency cannot be questioned,” said Iohannis said.