EU Guarantees For Innovative SMEs And Mid-Caps In Eight Countries, Including Romania
The European Investment Fund (EIF) and UniCredit have signed an InnovFin SME guarantee agreement to enhance access to finance for innovative small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and mid-caps in eight countries, including Romania.
This transaction benefits from the support of Horizon 2020, the EU’s Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, and the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the heart of the Investment Plan for Europe.
The agreement will allow UniCredit, via its banks, to offer additional financing worth EUR 160 million to innovative companies in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Serbia. The guarantee agreements with the banks in Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania will be backed by the Investment Plan for Europe. (mediafax.ro)
Romanian Government To Reach 110 Ministers And State Secretaries, Highest Number In EU
MEP from PMP party, Siegfried Muresan, said that the new ”Dragnea – Grindeanu” government is setting up numerous state secretaries positions, thus reaching approximately 110 ministers and state secretaries, the highest number among the 28 EU member states.
”The new Dragnea – Grindeanu government is setting up numerous positions of minister and state secretaries to feed PSD and ALDE political clientele, which hungers for warm government positions,” Muresan posted on his Facebook page.
According to Muresan, France, whose population is over three-fold higher than Romania’s population, has 17 ministers plus one PM and 21 state secretaries, totaling 39, while Germany, whose population is fourfold higher than Romania’s population, has 15 ministers, a chancellor, 4 state ministers and 55 state secretaries, totaling 75. (mediafax.ro)
ALDE Vice-President: Wednesday’s Protests, Nazi-Type Demonstrations Attended By “Idiots”
ALDE vice-president, Catalin Beciu, posted on his Facebook page that Wednesday’s protests in Bucharest against the pardon law were Nazi-type demonstrations attended by ”idiots” and ”animals” which make him sick.
He said that ”Romania has extermination camps instead of prisons”, where prisoners are tortured without the observing of the Constitution.
Over two thousand people have protested on Wednesday evening in Bucharest against the emergency ordinances on pardon and the amending of the Criminal Codes. People also organized protests in the cities of Cluj Napoca, Iasi, Sibiu, Timisoara and Craiova. (mediafax.ro)
ANP: Romania Prison Occupancy Rate At 145.16%
The representatives of the National Administration of Penitentiaries (ANP) said that the occupancy rate in Romanian prisons currently stands at 145.16%, while 1,625 people have sentences under 5 years, in the context of the bills related to pardon and the amending of the Criminal Codes.
“As for a normative act on pardon, we consider that it could contribute to the reducing of overcrowding in penitentiaries, as well as to the improvement of the detention conditions and the reduction of the budgetary expenses,” ANP said in a statement.
The budget for the National Administration of Penitentiaries will be reduced in 2017, as last year, ANP returned nearly EUR30 million to the budget, as unspent amounts. (mediafax.ro)