PM Ponta Wants Recovery Program For People Injured In Bucharest Nightclub Fire
Prime Minister Victor Ponta said he expects the Health Ministry to come up by the end of the year with a draft program targeting the recovery of people injured in a fire which broke up Friday night at the Colectiv nightclub in Bucharest’s 4th district.
Ponta said there will be a special program which will help the injured recover after being released from hospital.
He said he learned from specialists summoned at the government within a work group that the treatment for severe burns is very expensive and that costs for a single patient range between EUR500,000 and EUR1 million during the hospitalization period. The prime minster added that doctors currently have at disposal all the necessary medicines and resources and that the government will use its reserve fund if the case may be. (Jurnalul National)
International Agency for Research on Cancer Ranks Processed Meats As Group 1 Carcinogens
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the cancer agency of the World Health Organization, classified processed meat as “carcinogenic to humans” on its group one list along with tobacco and asbestos, for which there is “sufficient evidence” of cancer links.
Bacon, ham and sausages rank alongside cigarettes as a major cause of cancer, the World Health Organization has said, placing cured and processed meats in the same category as asbestos, alcohol, arsenic and tobacco.
The report from the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer said there was enough evidence to rank processed meats as group 1 carcinogens because of a causal link with bowel cancer. It places red meat in group 2A, as “probably carcinogenic to humans”. Eating red meat is also linked to pancreatic and prostate cancer, the IARC says.
“For an individual, the risk of developing colorectal cancer because of their consumption of processed meat remains small, but this risk increases with the amount of meat consumed,” said Doctor Kurt Straif, head of the IARC monographs program. “In view of the large number of people who consume processed meat, the global impact on cancer incidence is of public health importance.” (Evenimentul Zilei)
Base Salaries Of Finance Ministry Employees To Be Raised By 22%
The base salaries of employees of the Finance Ministry, the tax authority ANAF, the General Department for the Administration of Large Taxpayers and of the National Agency for Public Procurement (ANAP) will be raised by 22% starting November 1, 2015.
The Finance Ministry said the wage raise will benefit some 5,700 employees. The decision is included in an emergency ordinance published in the Official Journal, but which was not made public by the government when it was adopted.
Bogdan Hossu, head of union confederation Cartel Alfa, said the wages of these employees will be raised by 60%, adding the provision is discriminatory and will lead to a “salary explosion.”
Trade union representatives criticized the decision, arguing that Finance Ministry employees already had huge salaries, even three times higher than the average wage of another employee holding a similar position within other ministries. (Puterea)
KeysFin: Over 2,000 Companies Turned Into Zombie Businesses In 2014
More than 2,000 companies turned into “zombie businesses” last year, suspending their activity or deregistering from the Trade Registry a few months after being established, most of them in Bucharest, Ilfov, Bihor, Constanta, Timis and Cluj, according to a KeysFin study.
“Doing business in Romania is not easy. From finding serious clients to postponing the payment of bills and the effects of insolvencies or bankruptcy, more and more companies are closing their doors as they don’t have the necessary capital for subsistence,” KeysFin said.
Over 60% of the 2,067 zombie companies operated in trade and services sector, the most dynamic sector of economy and, at the same time, the sector with the highest investment risk. Zombie companies also include companies set up by businessmen only to carry out certain transactions, which are immediately closed.
According to KeysFin data, 1,145 of the 2,067 zombie companies submitted their financial data to the Finance Ministry, registering an overall turnover of over RON214.1 million. Besides zombie companies, Trade Registry data show that over 90,000 companies disappeared from the economic environment last year, of which 76,483 were deregistered and 15,788 suspended their activity.(Adevarul)
Debates On Liberals’ Motion Against Interior Minister Gabriel Oprea To Be Postponed
The National Liberal Party will ask the Senate’s Standing Bureau to put off by one week the debates on a simple motion against Interior Minister Gabriel Oprea, over the scandal caused by the death of police officer Bogdan Gigina.
Liberals said they respect the period of national mourning after Friday’s tragedy at the Colectiv nightclub in Bucharest’s 4th district that so far has killed 30 people and left dozens badly burned. Romanians wept, cursed and prayed Sunday as they mourned the victims of the nightclub fire, while doctors warned the death toll could rise “significantly” because so many of the injured have severe burns.
The motion, entitled “Gabriel Oprea, dismissed for defiance, arrogance, abuse and contempt while exercising a public office” was signed by 49 liberal and independent senators. (Romania Libera)