Press Review - May 27, 2016

05.27.2016 By Gabriela Stan

Finance Ministry To Launch Bond Sale To Public in July

The Romanian Finance Ministry will launch in July a government bond issue for individual investors, worth RON100 million, with a two- year maturity, Finance Minister Anca Dragu said.

This would be the second bond issue of this type in the past years, after the bond sale for individual investors launched in June 2015, worth RON100 million, which only gathered RON65 million.

“We reduced the value of a bond from RON1,000 (value of the previous bond sale) to RON100, to make the bond sale more attractive. No interest tax will be paid for these bonds. The yield will be established at the launch, as it will be based on the market interest at that moment,” Dragu added. (Evenimentul Zilei)

Notaries Public Mull Halving Fees For Debt Discharge Law

The National Union of Notaries Public in Romania (UNNPR) has decided to cut by 50% the fees charged for retail mortgage borrowers who resort to the provisions of the law on debt discharge.

The law on debt discharge, allowing retail mortgage borrowers to return real estate collateral to banks in exchange for writing off their loans, came into force on May 13, after it was signed into law by Romanian President Klaus Iohannis and published in the Official Gazette.

According to the law, the government-backed mortgage lending First Home program will not remain subject to the provisions of the law, while the maximum ceiling considered when enforcing the law is EUR250,000. (Adevarul)

Agriculture Ministry: EU Funds For Romanian Farmers Still Available By June 6

Viorica Dancila, vice president of the European Parliament Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, said that Romania did not use the EUR11.2 million assigned by EC for the support of milk and meat sector in the context of the Russian embargo and the elimination of milk quotas and could lose all the funds.

In their turn, the Agriculture Ministry representatives stated that they have not reached the deadline yet, so that farmers could still file the financing applications.

“In the government meeting on May 18, they adopted a decision on granting exceptional temporary aid to farmers in animal breeding sector. The applications can be submitted between May 30 and June 6, 2016,” the representatives of the Agriculture Ministry said. (Puterea)

Calin Popescu Tariceanu, Against Suspending The President

The chairman of the Senate, Calin Popescu Tariceanu, said he will dispute a hypothetical suspension of the President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, "as long as the president respects the Constitution".

"I declare that I have no intention in this respect and I haven’t heard the other persons mentioned – Mr. Dragnea and, I think, Mr. Ponta – talking about such an intention. In the hypothetical case of such discussions, I will be against the suspension of the president and, as long as the president respects the Constitution and constitutional provisions, I will oppose any suspension attempt," said Tariceanu, ALDE president.

Tariceanu added that PNL president, Alina Gorghiu, is making irresponsible statements. (Adevarul)

Over 4,000 Missing Children Last Year In Romania - Save The Children Organization

According to the latest report of Save the Children organization, 4,200 Romanian children disappeared from home or public institutions for child protection in 2015.

According to the data provided by the General Police Inspectorate for May 2015 - May 2016, 132 of the missing children were younger than 10 years old, 1,277 children were aged between 10 and 14, while 2,791 were over 14 years old. Meanwhile, most of the children have been found, so that, on May 15, just 38 children were still missing.

In 97% of the cases, children left voluntarily.

Most of the missing children cases were registered in the cities of Bucharest, Iasi and Constanta. (Adevarul)