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RADOR: News from Romania, 98-07-28
July 28, 1998
CONTENTS
[01] Senate Speaker Petre Roman on a Visit to Hunedoara County;
[02] Radu Berceanu Criticises Finance Ministry's Working Style;
[03] Report on Government's Legal Performances;
[04] Underground Strikers' Demands;
[05] Earthquake;
[06] Romanian Defence Minister on a Visit to FYROM;
[07] Recent Reports of SFOR 98 Batallion Activity;
[08] Irish Military Delegation on a Visit to Romania.
[01] Senate speaker Petre Roman on a visit to Hunedoara county
While visiting the county of Hunedoara on Monday, the speaker of the
Romanian Senate, Mr Petre Roman, had talks with businessmen, politicians
and representatives of commercial companies and autonomous utilities in the
region. The talks focused on the restructuring of RENEL, ROMGAZ and SNCFR
(ed.n. Romania's national energy and gas suppliers and Romanian Railways)
and ways of breaking down their monopoly. While on a visit to the SC
Siderurgica SA Hunedoara, Mr Roman has admitted that there was no concrete
restructuring programme of the industry but, on the other hand, he said
there was no need to declare the whole county as special area. Such special
areas should be created only in the mining regions needing special
programmes of labour force reconversion and social assistance, Mr Roman
said. RADOR
[02] Radu Berceanu criticises Finance Ministry's working style
While in Targu Jiu on Monday, Romanian Industry and Trade Minister Radu
Berceanu met representatives of the local administration and trade union
leaders of the Ramnicu Valcea Autonomous Utility of Salt, Oltenia National
Company of Brown Coal, Rovinari coal mining area as well as managers of
RENEL, PETROM and other commercial companies in the county of Gorj. Mr
Berceanu has criticised the Finance Ministry's working style because, as he
put it, the ministry reacted to things as it was a "mere assistant" without
proving any efficiency in seeking ways to avoid financial blockage. RADOR
[03] Report on government's legal performances
The Romanian Minister for the Government's Relations with Parliament,
Alexandru Sassu has presented journalists with a report of the Government's
legal performances. He said that Prime Minister Radu Vasile kept the
promise he made on the occasion of his inauguration and this was why he
signed only four government ordinances. Mr Sassu has warned about the
delays in the parliamentary proceedings that prevented the adoption of
important laws such as the law on the legal framework of public property,
on concessions, privatisation and local public finances. He complained
about the long way a law should follow before being subject of
parliamentary debates; he said that the MPs did not take into account the
importance of the law as they were interested only in their working hours.
Mr Sassu said that sessions of special commissions should be called
permanently, along with the plenum. RADOR
[04] Underground strikers' demands
No incidents have occured during the Monday's two-hour (4-6 PM) strike
initiated by the Underground Free Trade Unions. The Bucharest Underground
trade unionists' demands refer to issues concerning their working contract.
The negotiations are blocked because the new working contract does not take
into account the professional deseases and disputes over the issue are
still unsolved. After his meeting with government officials, trade union
leader Ioan Radoi has expressed scepticism and discontent as there was
little chance of an answer to trade unionists' demands. He was mainly upset
because the prime minister failed to attend the meeting with the leaders of
the National Trade Union Block (BNS). "No concrete solution was found
during discussions. A programme is to be decided next Wednesday (in two
days time actually) while the National College of Transporters is expected
to meet next Tuesday (in a week and a day) and make a decision concerning
our next moves", Mr Radoi announced. He said the METROREX strike did not
cause any damage because 30 trains were already prepared to ensure the
underground traffic anyway. According to Mr Radoi, the METROREX was badly
administrated, foreign credits were not used and merely a half of the 400
billion lei subvention went to the Bucharest Underground. A solution to end
recent underground and railway workers' protests may be found next week.
RADOR
[05] Earthquake
An earthquake of 4.5 degrees on Richter scale (4 degrees on Mercali scale)
was reported on Monday (6.02 PM) in the Vrancea area. According to sources
belonging to the National Institute for Research-Development of Earth
Physics, the earthquake was felt in some Bucharest areas. RADOR
[06] Romanian defence minister on a visit to FYROM
The Romanian National Defence Minister, Victor Babiuc, is on a visit to
FYROM following an invitation by his Macedonian counterpart Lazar
Kitanovski. The two ministers have signed a cooperation agreement between
the two countries. Minister Kitanovski said that, for the time being, the
UNPREDEP should include only the four countries already taking part in the
mission. The UNPREDEP countries include the US, Norway, Finland and Sweden.
In a letter to the UN Security Council, Romania offered to participate in
the mission and send a 300-troop unit to FYROM, but no answer was reported
yet. RADOR
[07] Recent reports of SFOR 98 Batallion activity
According to a communique issued by Romania's National Defence Ministry
(MApN) on Monday, the Romanian troops in the 96 Batallion of the SFOR peace-
keeping mission took part in major operations aimed at ensuring the free
movement of SFOR troops and reconstruction efforts in Bosnia and
Herzegovina. Such operations included the building of a sewrage system for
SFOR helicopter landing platforms around barracks in Ilica Sarajevo,
improvements of the route around Zepce and dismantling operations of metal
military bridges in Hadic and Zepce. A civilian-military cooperation
project is to be achieved near the village of Tresneva Glava where the
access route to the small mountain mainly Muslim village should be
improved. RADOR
[08] Irish military delegation on a visit to Romania
As the RRA reports, an Irish military delegation led by gen. lt. GJ McMahon,
the Irish Republic Army's Chief of Staff, is on a visit to Romania
following an invitation by his Romanian counterpart Constantin Degeratu.
The talks are expected to focus on current military relations between the
two countries and new ways of developing their military cooperation. Mr
Degeratu and his Irish counterpart have examined new methods for growing
efficiency of peace-keeping missions. RADOR
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