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RADOR: News from Romania, 99-04-19The Press Agency of the Romanian Radio (RADOR Society) Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: RADOR Press Agency <http://indis.ici.ro/romania/news/rador.html>April 19, 1999Main political, economic and financial events of the day CONTENTS Political life <UL>CONTENTS
[01] Valeriu Stoica forwards solutions for blocking access to power of PDSR - Party for Social Democracy of- RomaniaLef wing political forces are not yet mature enough to take over power in Romania at the future elections and they are not able to administer further the reform started by the right wing coalition- said at a press conference at Constanta Valeriu Stoica first vicepresident of the PNL-National Liberal Party. The coming back to power of the left in the present context seeing structural reform efficiently being strengthened in all sectors would make the poor life and renunciations of the people in this country useless and we would return to the starting point -said Valeriu Stoica. He added that it was necessary for the right wing political forces, represented by the CDR-the Romanian Democratic Convention- to win the future elections for another term in order to consolidate irriversibly both reform and democracy. In this context, said further Valeriu Stoica, it was absolutely necessary for the National Liberal Party to continue membership of the Democratic Convention-quotes RADIO ROMANIA ACTUALITATI. RADORPD-the Democratic Party wishes that the Solidarity Fund be created The General Secretary of the Democratic Party, Vasile Blaga, warned last Sunday that salaries of employees in the local public administration will cease to be paid in two months time at the most if in the mean time the proposasl to set up the solidarity fund as suggested by the PD - the Democratic Party- and the opposition is not carried out. During a press conference at Oradea, senator Blaga, quoted by RADIO ROMANIA ACTUALITATI also spoke of the initative of the Socialist Internationale regarding a peace plan in Yugoslavia by political talks with representatives of all Yugoslav and Albanian parties in Kosovo. Mr. Blaga added that the withdrawal of the Serbian troops from that province should not be followed by altering present borders as this would lead to most serious problems in Europe RADOR [02] NATO bombing protested at IasiAbout 2oo people attended a meeting at Iasi last Sunday to protest NATO bombing of Yugoslavia,Antena l TV reports. That action was organized by the Serbian community in Romania. Rally participants gathered in front of the Palace of Culture of Iasi where they attended a religious service for the victims of the war in Kosovo. After the service protesters gathered near the statue of Stephen the Great where they chanted anti-NATO and pro- Yugoslav slogans.The rally organized by the Serbians living in Iasi was also joined by Greek higher education students. RADOR<HR SIZE=3> International relations [03] Petre Roman, leader of the Democratic Party - PD- attended the meeting of the Socialist InternationaleMr. Petre Roman came back to Bucharest after his trip to Rome where he attended a meeting of the Socialist Internationale. Upon his arrival he made a statement to RADIO ROMANIA ACTUALITATI. Among others he said that he presented "the lines of a peace initiative for a lasting solution" and that his points of view were included in the final resolution of the meeting. Mr. Roman added that it was necessary for "all socialist and social- democratic parties to start cooperating with personalities of the civil society and democratic political structures of Serbia". President of the PD - Democratic Party- is of the opinion that "it was absolutely out of the ordinary that NATO and the international community, rightfully condemning Milosevic, are asking the same person to carry out negociations and put his signature on a peace accord". One of the main conclusions of the Rome meeting was that the peace solution "must be reached under the supervision of the United Nations". RADOR[04] General rehearsal before the United States world festival of folk traditionsThe Dumbrava Sibiului open air ethno folklore museum saw the unfolding of the general rehearsal of the programme which Romania will present in Washington at the most comprehensive world folk traditions festival where our country is a guest of honour. The festival takes place between 23 June - 4 July. The programme includes demonstrations of some traditional skills, folklore music and dance shows, ethnopop concerts and demonstrations of Romanian traditional cuisine. The organizers which are the Smithsonian Institute and the Romanian Cultural Foundation have also been conducting, on this occasion, a selection of the more than loo participants in the festival who to represent Romania in the United States world festival, RADIO ROMANIA ACTUALITATI reports. RADOR<HR SIZE=3> Economic life [05] The present excise system has led to financial losses in the Romanian industryThe Romanian Ministry of Finance wished to bring more money to the state budget by the present excise system. However the measure has proved to be detrimental to a number of industrial sectors as it generated financial losses to the economy of Romania, Antena l TV informs. One of the most affected branches is the tobacco industry. Last year the excise increased from four to eight ECU for one thousand cigarettes while the now famous ordinance 5o resulted in the decrease of sales from 37 per cent in the period July-Sept. l998 to 28 per cent in January-February of this year. The percentage should be judged in relation to the total volume of the market.Some companies that have invested in Romania cannot boast a better financial position, for instance British American Tobacco, Reynolds and Philip Morris lowered sales from 49 to 33 per cent for the same time spans despite the fact that the three enriched the state budget with l72 million USD in l998. Fiscal measures have led to the increase of cigarette smuggling,doubly increased official prices on the market and brought about investments withdrawal among which the stoppage of building a new cigarette factory worth 25 million USD.[06] Financial losses of the NAVROM-Galati river transport companyThe money value of international contracts which the river transport company NAVROM of Galati is loosing following destruction of bridges over the river Danube in Yugoslavia amounts to l5 million USD said Mr. Iordache Panait, manager of the company, quoted by RADIO ROMANIA ACTUALITATI.The interviewee also added that river transport cannot be resumed as long as bombing continues in Yugoslavia and nobody is concerned with ensuring proper river faring on the Danube. In these conditions sailors living in Galati whose number is of 2loo are extremely worried as they do not get paid while ashore. RADOR[07] THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA HOPES TO SIGN A LOAN AGREEMENT WITH THE WORLD BANK AS SOON AS POSSIBLEThe Government of the Republic of Moldova anticipates the innitialing this week of a loan agreement with the World Bank which will contribute to the strengthening of the currency reserve of the country-said vicepremier Alexandru Muravski quoted by Radio Free Europe. Mr. Muravski is now in London attending the convention of the governors of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The speaker did not mention the amount of money negociated. Currency reserves of the Central Bank of the Republic of Moldova went down from 366 million to about l43 million towards the end of last year in the aftermath of the financial crisis of Russia. The vice governor of the Moldavian Central Bank, Mrs. Veronica Bacalu said that since last December the Central Bank has been buying hard currency so now the reserve reaches l92 million USD. We recall that the Finance Ministry of the Republic of Moldova is presently negociating with the IMF and continues talks for restructuring paying back debts to Russia. Mr. Muravski also added that close to 7o per cent of the budget this year is destined to paying back foreign debts which total one thousannd two hundred million USD. RADORThe Press Agency of the Romanian Radio (RADOR Society) Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |