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RADOR: News from Romania, 99-04-19
April 19, 1999
Main political, economic and financial events of the day CONTENTS
Political life <UL>
CONTENTS
[01] Valeriu Stoica forwards solutions for blocking access of PDSR - Party
for Social Democracy-to power
[02] PD-Democratic Party- wishes the creation of the Solidarity Fund
[03] NATO bombing protested at Iasi </UL> International relations <UL>
[04] Petre Roman, PD- Democratic Party- leader participates in the meeting
of the Socialist Internationale
[05] General rehearsal before the United States Folk traditions World
Festival
[06] The present excise system has led to losses in the Romanian industry
[07] Financial losses of the NAVROM-Galati river transport company
[08] The Government of the Republic of Moldova hopes to sign a loan accord
with the World Bank as soon as possible </UL>
Political Life
[01] Valeriu Stoica forwards solutions for blocking access to power of PDSR
- Party for Social Democracy of- Romania
Lef 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. RADOR
PD-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 Iasi
About 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
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International relations
[03] Petre Roman, leader of the Democratic Party - PD- attended the meeting
of the Socialist Internationale
Mr. 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
traditions
The 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
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Economic life
[05] The present excise system has led to financial losses in the Romanian
industry
The 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 company
The 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 POSSIBLE
The 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. RADOR
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