Tariceanu’s Party To Discuss Merger With Conservatives
Senate chairman Calin Popescu Tariceanu said Tuesday his party is is talks with the Conservative Party in view of a merger.
“There haven’t been any negotiations. We’ve had some talks. PLR is fully open to a political construction that would become the third major force on the Romanian political scene . we are in a preliminary stage and haven’t started negotiations,” said Tariceanu. (Adevarul)
Romania Apologizes to Berlin for Germany/France Map Mix-Up
Romania apologized on Tuesday to German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who was handed a brochure featuring a map of France instead of Germany during his visit to Romania.
“A regrettable technical error, the brochure had a picture of the German flag, while it contained the map of Romania and France,” Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu said in a statement. (Puterea)
European Parliament Votes To Cap Interchange Fees On Card Payments
The European Parliament on Tuesday adopted a regulation capping interchange fees for payments using consumer debit and credit cards and improving competition for all card payments.
When implemented, the rules are estimated to lead to a reduction of about EUR6 billion annually in hidden fees for consumer cards.
As a general rule, the regulation will cap interchange fees at 0.2% of the transaction value for consumer debit cards and at 0.3% for consumer credit cards. (Adevarul)
Average Net Salary Down 6.8% In January
Romania’s average net salary stood at 1,740 lei (EUR395) in January, from RON1,866 a month earlier, a 7.2% decline in real terms, the statistics data showed.
The gross average salary was down 6.7% on the month to RON2,408, the data showed.
Staff in the oil and gas sectors received the biggest paychecks in January, of RON4,594, the data showed. At the opposite end, hotel and restaurant employees received the lowest monthly salaries, of RON1,005. (Romania Libera)
Nearly 1,000 Generics Could Disappear From Market
Generics manufacturers in Romania announced adjusting medicines prices coupled with the clawback tax will push nearly 1,000 generics off the local market.
“The clawback tax and price adjustments, considering generics are already doubly discriminated, will push market prices below production costs for nearly 1,000 generic drugs,” said the association of generics manufacturers
It added 80% of the most popular 50 generics on the market risk being taken off the market within the year. (Adevarul)