Press Review - November 21, 2017

11.21.2017 By Oana Gavrila

Patriot Missile Acquisition Moves to Lower Chamber for Approval

Romania's Chamber of Deputies is expected to vote Tuesday on Romania's acquisition of Patriot missile systems from the United States.

The Senate approved the bill on Monday.

The Chamber of Deputies is the decision-maker on the bill.

The government on November 8 approved the bill on the acquisition of seven surface-to-air missile PATRIOT systems worth an estimated $3.9 billion net of VAT.

The purchase will be made pending approval from the Romanian parliament and is part of Romania's essential endowment program called “Long-range surface-to-air missile system”. The first of the seven systems has an estimated value of $764.78 million before VAT and will be acquired by yearend.

Liberals Warn Ruling Coalition Seeks to Impeach President

Opposition Liberal Party president Ludovic Orban warned Monday the ruling coalition is seeking to impeach the head of state and pass the justice bills in the interim.

Should the president be suspended from office, the Senate chairman would serve as acting president. Romania's Senate chairman is Calin Tariceanu, head of the ruling coalition junior member ALDE.

“We have serious signals that in their desperate bid to save Dragnea, Tariceanu and other social democrat senior members from the consequences of their actions, the PSD-ALDE coalition is looking to impeach President Iohannis,” said Orban.

Senate Rejects Bill Banning People With Criminal Record from Running for President

Romanian senators on Monday rejected a bill pushed by liberals that would have banned people with criminal records from running for head of state.

The bill was rejected 60 to 30 votes.

The bill will be further debated and put to the vote in the Chamber of Deputies.

Nearly 40% Of Romanians At Risk Of Poverty And Social Exclusion - Eurostat

Nearly 40% of Romanians were at risk of poverty and social exclusion and around 24% of the country’s citizens report a decline in living conditions in 2016, according to a Eurostat report released Monday.

The report shows 38.8% of Romania’s population was at risk of poverty and social exclusion in 2016, an increase compared with 2015, when 37.4% of Romanians were at risk. By comparison, the European Union average value stood at 23.5% in 2016 and 23.8% in 2015.

Last year 23.8% of Romanians reported a decline in living conditions. This means they were unable to afford sudden expenses, a one-week holiday away from home, a daily meal that would include meat and durable goods such as a washing machine, a color television, a phone or a car.

Romanians also had issues with heating their homes and lacked basic amenities. According to Eurostat, 14% of Romanians were unable to keep their homes sufficiently warm, more than 13% had issues with their home’s walls or roofs and 30% of Romanians did not have a shower, bathtub or restroom. The EU average figure for the latter stood at 1.9% in 2016.

Tarom Appoints Fourth General Manager in Less Than Three Months

Werner Wolf, former head of the BMW Timisoara-Arad office, was appointed general manager of state-run airline Tarom Monday.

He is the fourth general manager at Tarom in less than three months, after interim general manager Daniela Dragne resigned last week citing personal reasons.

Tarom expects a loss of RON206.79 million this year.

Thousands Of Liberals Rally Against Romanian Government

Thousands of Romanian liberals on Monday rallied against the Government over tax changes and bills that overhaul the justice system.

Party members, liberal mayors and county council presidents and supporters attended the rallies. Mayors complained the overhauling of the tax system will result in millions of euros that will be lost instead of being used for local investments.

People shouted against the Government and the ruling coalition and read the no-confidence motion the party had tabled on Friday. They also demanded support to oust the Government.

The Government on November 8 passed an emergency decree that overhauls Romania’s tax system and which includes, among others, the transfer of social security taxes from employers to employees and cutting the income tax to 10% from 16%. The move received widespread criticism from analysts, the business environment, trade unions and President Klaus Iohannis himself, as it is considered bound to cause chaos and hinder economic growth.

Romania’s ruling PSD – ALDE coalition had tabled three bills as legislative initiatives which bring modifications to the justice laws. These amend the law on the Superior Council of Magistracy (CSM), the country’s top watchdog that safeguards judicial independence, establish the new status of the Judiciary Inspection, a special unit within CSM, which would become autonomous and whose leadership will be appointed and dismissed by a National Council for the Integrity of Judges and Prosecutors and amend the statute of judges and prosecutors.

The legislative measures have received widespread criticism from prosecutors, associations of magistrates and both Romanian and foreign officials, as they said the bill would lead to political interference in the justice system and would wipe out Romania’s efforts in the past decade regarding the fight against corruption.