Social Democrats Hold National Executive Board Meeting Thursday
Social democrats hold a national executive board meeting Thursday at noon to analyze the disastrous results the party’s candidate, prime minister Victor Ponta, had in the presidential election.
“The executive board makes the most important decisions. We will probably analyze the results of the presidential election. It won’t be a festive meeting, that’s for sure,” MEP Catalin Ivan told newspaper Adevarul. (Adevarul)
MP Nicolae Paun Proposes New Amnesty And Pardoning Bill
After the amnesty and pardoning bill was rejected in Parliament on November 18, one of its initiators, MP Nicolae Paun, is submitting another bill on the matter.
The bill proposes to grant amnesty and pardon people sentenced to one to five years in prison for non-violent crimes.
The bill is expected to be submitted to Parliament at the end of the current legislative session or the beginning of the next one, after the winter break. (Puterea)
EC Allows Romania To Keep Gas Prices For Heat Suppliers Unchanged – Minister
The Romanian government has the written consent of the European Commission regarding gas prices for thermal power plants that supply heat to household consumers and will adopt an emergency decree on the matter next week, minister-delegate for Energy Razvan Nicolescu said Wednesday.
He added, during the government’s weekly Cabinet meeting, heat suppliers were never in danger of having to buy gas off the deregulated market.
In turn, Prime Minister Victor Ponta said the note from the European Commission clarifies the fact that heat-producing power plants have priority in acquiring natural gas from Romania’s domestic output. (Adevarul)
EC Opens Infringement Procedures Against Romania Over Security Of Gas Supply
The European Commission on Wednesday opened infringement proceedings against Romania over security of gas supply, as it failed to notify to the Commission the adoption of a preventive action plan and an emergency plan in this respect as requested under the security of gas supply regulation.
“The Commission has formally requested Romania to ensure full compliance with EU rules on security of gas supply. The EU Security of Gas Supply Regulation (EU) No 994/2010 aims to ensure that Member States are well prepared to deal with possible supply disruptions. To this end, Member States have to enable bi-directional gas flow across borders and prepare emergency and preventive action plans in advance,” the Commission said.
The Commission added that Romania also failed to inform it about its decisions on bi-directional gas flows. (Puterea)
Romania To Raise Gross Minimum Wage To RON1,050 In Two Steps In 2015
Romania will raise the gross minimum wage in two stages in 2015, to RON975 in January and to RON1,050 in July, from the recurrent RON900, according to a draft government decision drawn up by the Labor Ministry.
The draft government decision will be under public debate until December 30.
Romania raised the minimum wage this year in two stages, by RON50 each time, based on a Government decision passed on November 2013. As of July, the gross minimum wage in Romania is RON900 a month or RON5.357 an hour. (Adevarul)