Labor Minister Ana Costea has resigned
Romania’s Labor Minister Ana Costea has resigned today following issues with trade unions regarding an emergency ordinance project on budget sector wage policy. The minister had withdrawn her support for the document. Prime Minister Dacian Cioloş has accepted the resignation and announced he is going to nominate a new minister shortly and present the proposal to President Klaus Iohannis, Radio Romania reports.
Romania registers most significant drop in prices at European level
Romania has registered the most significant drop in prices in March at EU level, with the annual inflation rate reaching minus 2.4 percent. In average, prices in all other member states have remained almost unchanged, according to Eurostat data published earlier today. Romania is one of 15 countries with negative inflation. The 2.4% drop in prices has been highly influenced by the VAT cut on food products last year.
Annual inflation rate in the European Union was 0 % in March, rising from minus 0.1% in February. Central European Bank has struggled over the last few years to stop prices from going down by unusual measures like monthly purchases of bonds worth tens of billions of Euros. Among the largest economies, only UK and Germany have registered a modest growth in prices over the last year. Prices are kept very low by deductions in energy sector, especially in natural gas prices and transport fuels, Radio Romania reported.
World renowned violinist Andre Rieu donated 150.000 euros to Colectiv fire survivors and families
World renowned violinist Andre Rieu has donated 150.000 euros to survivors and families of people killed in Colectiv club fire last year, money collected from sales of his „Live in Bucharest” DVD comprising images from all concerts that the artist performed last year in Constitution Square. He had a meeting today with some of the members of „Colectiv” Association and declared his love for Romania, reminding the public that he flew to Bucharest the moment he found out about the fire and started to analyze possibilities to help the victims. The DVD is still available in Carrefour supermarkets and money collected from sales will go exclusively to Colectiv victims and families, Radio Romania reported.
Three quarters of all vehicles sold in Romania are second-hand
Three quarters of all vehicles sold in Romania are second-hand with an average age of registered cars rising from less than 8 years in 2008 to almost 13 years in 2016, according to a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers Romania.
The age of the national vehicle fleet is triggering traffic safety issues as well as environment pollution. 5 million cars were registered last year in Romania. Experts recommend that authorities should stimulate renewal of the national fleet by lower taxes for owners of efficient and less polluting cars, Radio Romania reported.
Pollution and emissions taxes collected between 2007-2013 to be refunded by the Government
The Government is going to refund the vehicle tax collected between 2007 and 2013, ruled incompatibile with European regulations, namely the special pollution and emissions taxes. So far, citizens who wanted to reclaim these taxes had to go to court, but they are now going to simply put in an application at fiscal administration units, according to the environment minister Cristiana Paşca Palmer.
Cristiana Paşca Palmer: The amounts to be refunded are going to be calculated with related interest rates starting with the day the payment was made up to the day of the total refund, updated with the consumer price index. Refunds will be spread over five years time. Practically, we are going to pay 20% of the amount owed to each citizen every year.
„Alcohol doesn”t make you a grown-up” – a campaign launched by the Romanian Police
The Romanian Police has relaunched today a campaign called „Alcohol doesn’t make you a grown-up” dedicated to teenagers, which is trying to raise awareness of alcohol consumption. The information campaign will take place in nearly 30 high-schools in Bucharest but it will also target owners of small shops situated in their areas which are going to be reminded not to sell alcoholic beverages to minors. Psychologists say that teenagers have to be aware about the harming effects of alcohol consumption at a young age, when the brain is still developing and it can be affected for the rest of one’s life. Alcoholic coma in teenagers can trigger difficulties in movement coordination, Radio Romania reported.
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