Press Review - March 23, 2016

03.23.2016 By Gabriela Stan

 

Liviu Dragnea Says PSD Won’t Support Simple Motion Against Justice Minister

The president of the Social Democratic Party, Liviu Dragnea, stated that the party would not support the simple motion announced by Calin Popescu Tariceanu against Justice Minister Raluca Pruna

“We can’t see the purpose of the simple motion. We decided not to play with the simple or non-confidence motion.

When we submit or support a simple motion, we will have one or more serious arguments and we will know its purpose. We can’t just play games of image,“ Dragnea stated.

ALDE announced a simple motion against Justice Minister Raluca Pruna, as she allegedly claimed that human rights are luxury goods.

Pruna said that the ordinance on wiretapping does not restrict rights, but makes them effective. “With a weak prosecution and crime fight, the talk about rights is a luxury in theory,“ Pruna said. (Adevarul)

 

Non-Performing Loan Ratio Still High In Romania

The non-performing loan ratio is still rather high in Romania as there are certain counties where one in five loans never returns to banks, while in the majority of the counties, the ratios stand at around 10%.

Vaslui county is on top of the counties facing loan issues. Banks granted loans in local currency exceeding RON1 billion (RON1.089 million), while the non-performing loan ratio is 20.3%. As for loans in foreign currency, the non-performing loan ratio is below 10%. (Evenimentul Zilei)

 

Households, Thermal Plants To Use Only Local Natural Gas By March 2017

Population and power plants which supply heating to household consumers will only use natural gas from the local production between April 1, 2016 and March 31, 2017.

The total amount of gas to be used by households and power plants during this period is estimated at 42.3 million MWh, of which 34.8 million MWh in the winter and 7.5 million MWh in the summer.

The price of gas imported from Russia stood at RON89.92/MWh in December 2015, up by 18% compared with the price of domestic gas on the centralized market, of RON75.37/MWh.

The crude oil crisis triggers the lowering of the price for the natural gas imported from Russia but the time lag for the price cut is between 6 and 9 months.(Adevarul)

 

Bucharest Could Lose Mobile Phone Signal Due To Legislative Project

Capital Bucharest could lose its mobile phone signal due to a legislative project approved by the Senate.

According to the legislative project, GSM antennas should be placed at minimum 500 meters distance from education units, hospitals, foster cares and retirement homes.

 The Chamber of Deputies is the decisional body but Communications Ministry warned that, if the legislative project is implemented, Bucharest would no longer be able to get mobile phone coverage, according to B365.ro. (Puterea)

 

Bottled Water Sold In Bucharest Hypermarkets, Subject To Scandal

Still bottled water is currently subject to a scandal after Consumer Protection Authority has found that microbiological indicators were highly exceeded in the case of five types of products sold in capital Bucharest.

According to the Consumer Protection representatives, the microbiological indicators stipulated by the law were highly exceeded in the case of the own brands of bottled water of some of the most popular hypermarkets in Bucharest.

Food specialists and doctors say that the companies should be subject to more monitoring and control so that products consumed by Romanians would not jeopardize their health.

The RON50,000 fines received by the hypermarkets selling the improper bottled water are low compared with the potential consequences of the water consumption over the health of the consumer, according to professor Nastasia Belc, manager of the Institute for Food Bioresources. (Adevarul)