Bucharest People Urged To Donate Blood During December 1 Mini-Vacation
The Health Ministry launched on Thursday, on Romania’s National Day, along with the Bucharest Blood Transfusion Center, a call to all Bucharest people, urging them to donate blood during the December 1 mini-vacation.
According to a Facebook post of the Health Ministry, the National Day means solidarity and this can turn into something palpable, into blood units.
The ministry said the need for blood in hospitals is very high during the holidays, while the number of donors is plunging. (Adevarul)
Romania’s Defence Sector Costs Top $3B For First Time
Romania ranks fourth in Europe by expenses in the defence sector allocated this year, after Russia, Turkey and Poland, which are expected to exceed the $3 billion-mark, for the first time.
The Defence Ministry’s initial budget for 2016 was set at RON11.2 billion (some $2.8 billion), but it also includes, since last year, the costs with special pensions of the military staff.
The budget revisions operated in August and November reduced the ministry’s budget, but the Government increased the ceiling of commitment appropriations by RON5 billion ($1.17 billion) and raised the ceilings on military endowment.
In 2016, the highest budgets for the defence sector in the eastern part of Europe, excluding Russia and Turkey, were allocated by Poland ($9.2 billion), Romania ($3.08 billion), Greece ($2.7 billion), Ukraine ($2.4 billion), the Czech Republic ($1.8 billion) and Hungary ($1.1billion). (Adevarul)
Public Sector Wage Bill: Smallest Wage In Public Sector 1,625 RON; Biggest 22,000RON
The bill regulating wages for staff paid from public funds proposes 116 wage classes, the smallest wage in the budgetary sector to be 1,625 RON (approximately 359 EUR), with the largest to be 22,000 RON (approximately 4,870 EUR).
As per the bill, distributed on Wednesday by the labor union federations, in the public sector, the largest base wage is 13 times larger than the smallest base wage. The law’s enforcement could start as early as July 1, 2017 and could extend until 2021, yet the draft law does not mention the annual percentage of increase.
The bill also stipulates that if the base wage for June 2017 is larger than those mentioned in the annexes to the current bill, the base wages had in June 2017 will remain in effect. (Evenimentul Zilei)
Romanians Spend A Quarter Of Income On Utility Bills
The amount of money spent by Romanian households on utility bills has increased over the last years.
Thus, households in Romania allotted in 2015 nearly 22% of total consumption expenses for ‘home, water supply, electricity, natural gas and other fuels’, compared with 21% in 2005, according to the latest data published by the European Union’s statistical office Eurostat.
At EU level, households allotted a quarter of income for these expenses, with the total amount of nearly EUR2,000 billion (in current prices) representing the largest category of household expenses in EU member states. (Puterea)
Senate Chairman Says President Iohannis Doesn’t Know His Constitutional Role
Senate Chairman Calin Popescu Tariceanu, co-president of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE), said on Thursday evening at private TV station Romania TV, that President Klaus Iohannis does not know his constitutional role.
“The president, instead of showing that he understands the real values and the symbol of the National Day, which should be an homage to our predecessors, (…) namely, a message of solidarity and unity, proves, through his actions, that he did not understand any of these things, for two reasons: one strictly political and another which probably is as important as the first one— he did not understand the purpose of his constitutional role,” said Tariceanu. (Puterea)