Liberals ask for Government’s resignation
Varujan Vosganian, the spokesperson of PNL, has announced that his party is asking for the current Government’s resignation, arguing that the budget deficit has grown threefold in a months’ time and that the Social-Democrat Ministers are rejecting the measures adopted by Prime Minister Boc.
‘This Government should resign. PNL is imperatively asking the Coalition Government to either define its position on the medium and long-term strategy and to set a deadline for applying some of the economic development measures, measures that it should announce as part of a coherent vision, or to resign’ Vosganian stated, being quoted by Realitatea TV. He explained that the Government allegedly promised the IMF ‘to reduce the expenditures by over EUR 1.5 bln, to lay off tens of thousands of employees, to mechanically reduce the wage bonuses by up to 70 per cent, to hike some taxes and fees, to decouple the pensions from the average wage and the inflation rate.’ The Vice President of PNL opined that through these measures PD-L is transferring the crisis’s effects on the Romanians and the Social-Democrat Ministers do not assume the fiscal policies of their Coalition colleagues out of electoral reasons. ‘We warn the Government that the agreement with the IMF, the solution that it considered providential, could become fatal given the lack of a minimal political will, of a minimal responsibility and of a medium-term strategy’ Vosganian added.
British Embassy closed for Easter
The British Embassy in Bucharest will be closed during 10-13 April and on 20 April for the Catholic and Orthodox Easter, a communiqué sent to Nine O’clock on Thursday reads.
Young mountain climber at the foot of Cho Oyu
The dream of young mountain climber Crina Coco Popescu, 14, is about to come true. Following the initiative of Kanal D, the authorities came to her aid and collected the EUR 30,000 she needed for the expedition in the Himalayas, ‘Evenimentul Zilei’ wrote yesterday. After conquering five peaks that surpassed altitudes of four thousand meters and two other peaks that had altitudes of approximately seven thousand meters, Coco is now ready for her greatest challenge. In less than three weeks she will start her expedition on Cho Oyu, a mountain that is over eight thousand meters high. Crina could become the youngest mountain climber in the world to conquer such a high peak.
Law prohibiting plurality of state revenues to become applicable as of June 1
The deadline set for the going into effect of the law which prohibits the cashing of both pension and salary from the state is June 1, 2009. The employers who violate the provisions of the normative acts may be fined with fines between RON 2,500 and 5,000, according to Realitatea TV. The draft law refers to the persons who retired for age limit, belonging both to the public pension system and the systems not integrated to the public one, and who have revenues from salaries or assimilated to them derived from an activity exerted subject to individual labour contract, working relations or an appointment act. The pension can be received at the same time with revenues from the state or assimilated to them only if the level of the pension is smaller or at most equal to the average gross salary considered upon the substantiation of the state social insurance budget and approved through the law of the state social insurance budget law.
Tower sinks Circus Lake
Towers built overnight are starting to affect Bucharest parks and lakes. After ‘Jurnalul national’ daily wrote a few months ago about the way in which big buildings had destroyed the city’s appearance as well as the ground water on the outskirts, the journalists revisit the topic in yesterday’s issue. According to them, the high buildings in Piata Victoriei or the glass colossus near the Armenian Church created a lot of issues for their neighbours, one of them being flooded basements. The same happened with the Circus Park. The 34-metre deep foundations of a nearby residential development have affected both the ground water and the natural sources feeding the lake. Since no measure has been taken by the Municipality for two years, the locals have turned to the Lakes, Parks and leisure Administration for help.
