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RADOR: News from Romania, 98-02-13
February 13, 1998
CONTENTS
[01] Romanian Parliament: New Laws Passed
[02] Senators Accuse Government
[03] New Transport Minister Starts His Job
[04] BCCC Warnings for Senator George Pruteanu and Deputy Paul Alecu
[05] PD Vicepresident Traian Basescu About Early Elections
[06] On Liberal Unification
[07] "Morality and Ruling in Times of Transition"
[08] Sanitas Federation Strike
[09] Visit of the Chief of the Romanian Foreign Minister to Bonn
[10] Second Round of Talks for Concluding the Basic Political Treaty
between Romania and the Republic of Moldova
[11] Premier Victor Ciorbea Met Mrs. Monika Wulf Mathies
[01] Romanian Parliament: New Laws Passed
During its session on Thursday, the Senate has passed the draft law on the
protection of invention patents and the draft law aimed at approving the
Emergency Ordinance #81/1997 on regulations concerning the pay of annual
bonuses, the 13-th salary and other payments out of salary fund. Senators
also debated legal proposals on organising craftsmanshSp associations. The
House of Deputies has passed the Emergency Ordinance #1/1998 to amend art.
9 of the land fund law. Under the new amendment, applications for
additional land can be now submitted by April 3. The deputies have also
passed the first three articles of the ordinance concerning the 1998
certificate system for farmers. Due to a proposal made by expert
commissioners in the House of Deputies, the budget for such certificates
raised from 2,800 to 3,200 billion lei. RADOR, February 13
[02] Senators Accuse Government
Opening the Thursday session in the Romanian Senate, the president of the
Economic Commission Viorel Catarama has presented a declaration signed by
all members in the commission. Viorel Catarama has announced that his
commission will not submit any report on draft laws in the field to the
Permanent Bureau of the Senate. If the current situation cannot be solved,
then the Economic Commission will ask the Senate to open an inquiery aimed
at establishing why the cooSeration between the Senate and the Government
is getting on so badly. The Speaker of the Senate Petre Roman warned that
the opinions in the declaration should be seen as belonging to the Senate.
RADOR, February 13
[03] New Transport Minister Starts His Job
Thursday morning, Mr Anton Ionescu started his work as the new transport
minister. Firstly, he had one hour of talks with the outgoing minister
Traian Basescu. Traian Basescu said he will support the ministry if its
activity will fit his own views. Otherwise, he will denounce it. In his
turn, the new transport minister has praised the activity of the National
Routes Administration and he promised to continue all the good things his
predecessor has started. This is why he will not cancel the famous Basescu
tax, on the contrary, he will adjust it according to the inflation rate of
the day. At the same time, he stressed he will accelerate the Romanian
Railways (SNCFR) restructuring programme as SNCFR is to be divided into
three departments: passenger transport, goods transport and infrastructure.
RADOR, February 13
[04] BCCC Warnings for Senator George Pruteanu and Deputy Paul Alecu
Referring to relations between his party and former governing Democratic
Party (PD), Ion Diaconescu, the President of the governing Christian-
Democrat National Peasant Party (PNTCD) said "their relationship is rather
stable". After the meeting of PNTCD Bureau of Coordination and Control
(BCCC), Mr Diaconescu informed that some warnings were delivered to
sanction those PNTCD members whose attitude did not fit the party
discipline. In this respect, he named Senator George Pruteanu and Deputy
Paul Alecu. In an interview with "Ziua" newspaper on Tuesday, Mr Alecu said
that keeping Victor Ciorbea as prime minister was "a suicidal act" for the
coalition while Senator Pruteanu has shared the opposition PDSR party
opinion demanding that the new ministers should be voted one by one, and
not as a group. RADOR, February 13
[05] PD Vicepresident Traian Basescu About Early Elections
PD Vicepresident Traian Basescu says there is a monarchist wing within the
PNTCD party and this wing is expecting to win the virtual early elections
and then name the king as head of state. At a PD press conference, Mr
Basescu said that when President Constantinescu has asked politicians to
give up the idea of early elections it was this monarchist wing whom he
wanted to warn. The PD vicepresident stressed that the early elections
could be welcomed by the Civic Alliance (AC), a group which seems to have
little power in decision-making though it included representatives in all
governing structures as well as lots of advisers. "The supporters of early
elections are blocking the reform, and the AC is one of those involved",
Traian Basescu said. RADOR, February 13
[06] On Liberal Unification
The president of the Liberal Party (PL) Nicolae Cerveni said the Liberal
unification could not be achieved too soon. For some reasons, the Liberals
are not prepared Sor it, and the legal procedures take too much time and
could block the process. In his turn, PL leader Dinu Patriciu said a
Liberal federation could be the first step to the final unification. At the
same time, he presented a five point economic programme which is actually
similar to the one presented by PNL Vicepresident Viorel Catarama some days
ago. RADOR, February 13
[07] "Morality and Ruling in Times of Transition"
Under the auspices of the National Council for fight against corruption and
organised crime, the Legal Commission for discipline and imunities and the
Republican International Institute, a seminar on "Morality and Ruling in
Times of Transition" has opened at the Parliament Palace in Bucharest.
Participants included Romanian President Emil Constantinescu who said that
"Romania is seen today as a country where the state corruption does not
exist" and added that those who did not share this opinion should explain
their reasons. Opening the seminar, Romanian Interior MinisSer Gavril Dejeu
and Brad Minnick, programme director for Romania of the Republican
International Institute, explained the task of the meeting: analyse of the
specific way the corruption operates in a period of transition and the
negative effects of the phenomenon, the official attitude towards
corruption, etc. US ambassador to Bucharest James Rosapepe said he strongly
supports the Romanian Government and stressed that a moral Government can
attract more foreign investments. RADOR, February 13
[08] Sanitas Federation Strike
The Sanitas Federation of health trade unions started a general strike
yesterday at 10 AM. Participants include some 150 000 health workers
throughout the country and, as trade union leader Marius Petcu said, the
call on strike proved to be efficient. According to the same source, Mr
Petcu informed that the strike will go on until the Government will give up
its current position. During a press conference organised at Victoria
Palace in Bucharest, Romanian Health Sinister Ioan Bruckner admitted that
the situation of medical services was very serious and salaries were very
law. He asked the Government to draw up a document establishing a 50% raise
in the salaries of health workers though the trade unionists claim the
salaries should be 100% higher in some health departments. RADOR, February
13
[09] Visit of the Chief of the Romanian Foreign Minister to Bonn
The visit of the Romanian Foreign Minister Andrei Plesu is the first step
of the "Germany Year" in the Romanian diplomacy's agenda. Right after his
arrival to Bonn Mr. Andrei Plesu had a meeting with Professor Karl Heinz
Honhurst, the President of the foreign policy commission of the Bundestag.
Mr. Honhurst called for new ways of parliamentary co-operation and for
creating a Romanian-German group for supporting Romania in its Euro-
Atlantic integration process. Mr. Pleu has also met the state parliamentary
Secretary in the Federal Minister of Economy Heinrich Kolb. Mr. Kolb said
about the GerSan-Romanian problems which have not yet been solved: "From
the German perspective we said that privatization was too slow and the
investment law now in preparation did not comply with the German investors'
expectations. We agree to to give you assistance in finalizing this
investment law. I must also tell you that we had many achievements in other
fields." RADOR, February 13
[10] Second Round of Talks for Concluding the Basic Political Treaty
between Romania and the Republic of Moldova
A second round of talks between experts from Romania and the Republic of
Moldova began on Thursday in Kishinew over the basic political treaty
between the two countries. They are due to start drawing up the text of the
treaty. The draft treaty is to be discussed during the next meeting between
representatives of the two foreign ministers. The first round of talks was
held in Bucharest, on December and then they reviewed the way to approach
this matter. RADOR, February 13
[11] Premier Victor Ciorbea Met MrsS Monika Wulf Mathies
The Romanian Prime Minister met Mrs. Monika Wulf Mathies at the Victoria
Palace on Thursday. Mrs. Wulf Mathies is member of the European Commission
and she came to Romania for discussing with Romanian authorities over the
regional development policy within the actual strategy of pre-accession to
the EU. Mrs. Wulf Mathies stressed that this strategy was aimed at helping
Romania to override difficulties of the moment and to comply with European
standards. Prime-Minister Victor Ciorbea presented the main issues of the
reform programme and the draft laws for supporting the local
administrations. RADOR, February 13
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