Business And Politics Cocktail
Romanian politics is largely funded by politicians and people who want something from them and are willing to pay. In the last two years, a heavy-equipment repair firm in southwestern Romania, UMR SA Rovinari, has won more than 60 public contracts. Some of the contracts were won no-bid and are worth more than 15 million euros combined. In 2009, the Democratic Liberal Party received from the company the sum of 75,000 euros. An urban and architectural design and engineering firm in southern Romania, Modul Proiect, was more generous. In 2008 it gave about 150,000 euros to the Social Democratic Party, marking it as a frequent winner of public contracts. The Cardinal Motors car dealership in Constanta is the company who won several public contracts to provide vehicles or car repair services to various public institutions. They gave about 35,000 euros in 2008 to the National Liberal Party, when it was the ruling party.
Colloseum Shopping Center To Open In September
The Colloseum shopping center will open in September in the Romanian capital city. Inside the new shopping center, French retailer Carrefour will open a new hypermarket, making it the 8th hypermarket in Bucharest and the 24th in the country. Carrefour hypermarket will cover 8,000 sqm and will be part of the first stage of the Colloseum project, north of Bucharest. Carrefour is also planning to continue the expansion with a hypermarket in Botosani in October this year.
Environment Problems In The Danube Delta Might Get Bucharest A Law Suit
Romania has only two months to deal with the environment problems existing in the Danube Delta and the Sulina area. If problems are not taken care of, the European Commission will sue the state at the European Court of Justice. The EC is concerned with the problematic procedures of evaluating the potential impact of tourist development in this region. Romanian authorities cleared a project that provides for developing tourist objectives in the Danube Delta. The Commission found shortcomings in the environment impact study that aimed at evaluating the potential negative effects of the project upon habitats and local bird species.
Alfredo Mantica: Italy Backs Romania's Schengen Entry
Senator Alfredo Mantica, State Secretary at the Italian Foreign Ministry, said Italy unconditionally backs Romania's Schengen Area entry. Given that Bucharest has met all the technical requirements in this respect, Romania has the right to and must enter Schengen. Alfredo Mantica stressed Italy must guarantee that the European judgment of Romania's Schengen accession will be based on the European procedures and rules.
EMag And Pcfun: 2011 - The Year Of PC Tablets
Almost 20,000 Romanians have an e-reader and a tablet PC. The market will explode over the next few years along with the development of the content offer (books, applications) and of mobile Internet networks. Local companies Allview and Evolio say their products do not meet the standards of the Apple tablet, but will become, thanks to the price/performance ratio "an iPad that can truly be bought by every Romanian”.
Budget Deficit In 2010, Below IMF Agreed Target
According to the Ministry of Finance, in 2010 the budget deficit stood at RON 33.3 bln or 6.5 % of GDP, below the RON 34.6 bln deficit target set as the budgetary policy’s goal. This was included in the supplementary letter to the stand-by agreement reached with the IMF. The deficit dropped by 0.9 %compared to its 2009 level of 7.4 % of GDP.
The European Club Of Public Banks Welcomes EximBank
An EximBank release reads that EximBank has become member of the European Association of Public Banks (EAPB). The bank’s president, Ionut Costea, said that through this partnership, EximBank is getting closer to European Institutions. This facilitates the opening of an important information channel to meet the bank's goal of backing the companies in their attempt to draw European money. EAPB is an association which brings together both banking institutions with European representation, such as Erste Bank or DEXIA, and institutions similar to EximBank: Bulgarian Development Bank, Hungarian Export-Import Bank, Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego of Poland, Slovene Export and Development Bank.
CHAMBER MUSIC FOR WOODEN CHURCHES
The National Military Circle, Pro Patrimonio Foundation, the Order of the Romanian Architects and SoNoRo Festival have the pleasure to invite you to the opening concert of the fundraising initiative Friday, 28 January 2011, 7.30 pm at the National Military Circle/Palatul Cercului Militar Naþional, Bizantinã Hall, Constantin Mille Street Nr.1, Sector 1, Bucharest.
PROGRAMME
Franz Schubert (1797-1828) - Trio in B-Major, D471
Zoltán Kodály (1882-1967) - Duo for Violin and Violoncello, Op.7
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George Enescu (1881-1955) - Aubade for string trio
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) - String Trio in G-Major, Op.9 Nr.1
Cocktail during intermission
Tickets: 200 RON (available at the entrance desk from 17.30 on the performance day)
RSVP & Reservations: Florence Margarit - 0724.072.714 & florence.margarit@gmail.com
Vegetable Oil Price - 7 Lei Per Liter
The head of the Food Industry Unions' Federation, Dragos Frumosu declared that, in March or April, vegetable oil prices might increase by about 30%. The motive is the shortage in raw materials on national level, which will make producers resort to imports, for high prices. He explained that neighboring countries such as Moldova also have a shortage of raw materials for oil.
Transport Ministers Managed To Spend 1% Of EU Funds
The European Union allocated 4.57 billion euros to Romania between 2007 and 2013 for infrastructure. The Transportation Ministry had attracted as little as 47 million euros until December 2010 - i.e. 1% of the amount. This is the lowest percentage of EU funds attracted out of all the chapters, although this was the sector that needed investments the most.
