Financial Press Review, 22 February

The Curierul Naţional issue opens with an article entitled ‘The Government takes the Labour Code to the last turn.’ The paper refers to Emil Boc’s stating that ‘the problem of collective labor contracts will be settled by a special law, not by the Labour Code ‘.

The daily Bursa reveals in an article the opinion of PSD president Victor Ponta, according to which ‘the use of the liability assumption procedure in this case has no logic or justification’, and the government preferred to bring a project before the Parliament.
‘The trade unions have already announced that they are preparing protests against the government’s taking responsibility for the new Labour Code. ‘

The Labor Code was also the topic of the discussion Alexandra Rizea from the weekly Economistul had had with the President of the Employers' Federation in the Light Industry Branch, Maria Grapini, ‘one of the persons who have supported the necessity of changing the Labour Code’. As it is now, the Code induces through its ambiguous and uncertain provisions, more bureaucracy and costs for the employer’, Maria Grapini said. ‘Employers do not take enough responsibility and the penalties for companies who work on the black market and also for those who accept to work under these conditions are not drastic enough (...) There is a need for flexibility and clarification, for punishment of those who destroy or conceal assets owned by the company, for those who do not perform quality work; the mutual respect between the two parties is imposed’. And social dialogue is irreplaceable, we read in the Economistul.

‘Social dialogue can not be improved without the political will and legislative changes.’

The Ziarul Financiar publishes an article entitled ‘What did the new ministers do within six months of taking office?,’ that said: ‘Last week President Traian Basescu’s attempt to change the government failed for the second time in six months. ‘The daily Bursa quoted the National Union for the Progress of Romania honorary president, Cristian Diaconescu, which stated that ‘a possible reshuffle could cover the entire government, not only the prime minister’.

The same newspaper published the declaration of PDL General Secretary Gheorghe Flutur who yesterday claimed that ‘the governing coalition did not have on their agenda any discussion about a possible reshuffle of the Boc Cabinet’.

In seeking a new possible successor to the current prime minister, the Government ‘overlooked just the real prime minister of Romania of the last two years, the IMF’s chief negotiator Jeffrey Franks, the Ziarul Financiar noted in the views column.

‘As a real premier, at his last month’s visit, Franks met with more bankers, businessmen and trade unionists than Boc has in all his mandates, Razvan Voican, the author of the article, revealed.

The Curierul National headlines ‘Raids reached Vama Albita’, the most important border crossing point in Eastern Romania. 53 border policemen were arrested for hearings yesterday. ‘The National Customs Authority argued that no tax collector has been involved in acts of corruption for which others are being investigated’, the newspaper points out.
‘Albita customs taken by assault’, the Bursa headlines.

Under the headline ‘Economy is struggling to emerge, but banks pull it down’, the Curierul National writes that ‘banks have no lack of liquidity, but are not yet willing to take risks’.

Translate by: Iulia Florescu
MA Student, MTTLC, Bucharest University