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RADOR: News from Romania, 98-01-23
January 23, 1998
CONTENTS
[01] The Reduction of the Tax on Salaries
[02] The Bank Law
[03] The Romanian Foreign Minister's Activity
[04] The Social Protection of Romanian Performers
[05] Romania's Foreign Debt
[06] Investigation in Carlos' Case
[07] Sports News
[01] The Reduction of the Tax on Salaries
On Thursday, the Executive in Bucharest approved the Ordinance regarding
the reduction of the tax on salaries. According to this ordinance, the tax
will drop from 60% down to 45%. The ordinance also provides for an
untaxable amount of 250,000 lei for each employee. Through the easing of
the tax policy, the Finance Ministry will lose about 2% of the GDP from
revenues coming from direct and indirect taxes. This 'gap' will be
counterbalanced by the Ministry, through additional returns coming from the
increase of the VAT. The Government in Bucharest has decided to increase
the VAT from 18% to 22%, an about 3% price rise being estimated. Also in
Thursday's session, Minister for Reform, Ilie Serbanescu, handed Sn his
resignation to Prime Minister, Victor Ciorbea, in the contest of a proposal
made by the Christian Democratic National Peasant Party to the Democratic
Party, namely, the Democratic Party's taking over the office of first
deputy prime minister to coordinate the economic ministries. At the
Premier's request, on Friday, the latter is going to have a talk with the
minister for reform, to clear up the issue. RADOR
[02] The Bank Law
On Thursday, the Romanian Senate passed the bank law. The law, the first in
the package of economic laws submitted to this chamber of the Parliament,
regulates the banking activities taking place through the Romanian National
Bank and other banks, which have been set up as commercial companies. Under
the new bank law, the representative offices of some foreign banks have a
limited activity. At the same time, the directors of the foreign banks must
be Romanian residents and, at least, one of them must have Romanian
citizenship. The law had previously ben pSssed by the Chamber of Deputies.
RADOR
[03] The Romanian Foreign Minister's Activity
On Thursday, the Romanian Foreign Minister, Andrei Plesu, received the
President of the German-Romanian parliamentary friendship group, Klaus
Franke, now on a fact-finding visit to Romania. The discussion approached
issues of mutual interest for the bilateral relationship, which have been
following an upward course, especially after the official visit to Germany
paid last year by the Romanian President, Emil Constantinescu. Also on
Thursday, Klaus Franke was received by the chaairman of the Senate, Petre
Roman. On this occasion, the German official said that Germany would
continue to support Romania's efforts for joining the Euro-Atlantic
structures. RADOR
[04] The Social Protection of Romanian Performers
The setting up of a system for the social protection of Romanian performers,
as well as the violation of the unionist rights of this social category
were the issues approached in the press confeSence held in Bucharest by the
Romanian National Trade-Union Block, on Thursday. The general secretary of
the International Federation of Musicians (MIF), Mr.Jean Vincent, and the
general secretary of the International Federation of Actors (IFA),
Mrs.Katherin Sand, also attended the event. IFA includes 250,000 artists
from 50 countries, among whom the well-known actors: Sharon Stone, Sean
Connery and Tom Cruise. RADOR
[05] Romania's Foreign Debt
Romania's foreign debt on a medium and long term, at the end of October
1997, was 8.3 billion USD, the National Bank has announced. The largest
sums are owed to international financial bodies, such as the International
Monetary Fund and the European Union, as well as to some private banks of
Germany, Switzerland, France, Great Britain and Japan. RADOR
[06] Investigation in Carlos' Case
The Swiss investigators who came to Bucharest to examine the evidence in
the file of terrorist Ilici Ramirez Sanchez, also known as Carlos, have
left RomaniaS The two Swiss investigators studied the documents gathered by
the Romanian military magistrates, referring to the connection between
Carlos and the Romanian Securitate in the '8os and heard several witnesses.
The Swiss investigators are going to come back to Romania to continue their
investigations on the terrorist acts perpetrated by Carlos, upon the order
of the Romanian Securitate and of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. RADOR
[07] Sports News
On Thursday, in Bucharest, the Romanian women's volleyball vicechampion
Rapid beat 3-1 the Dutch team, Oldenzaal, in a match in the second round of
the eighth finals of the European Volleyball Federation. Having defeated
the Romanian team 3-0 in the first round, the Dutch team qualified for the
quarter finals of the competition. RADOR
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