National Press Review, 5 December

From today’s newspapers, we find out what type of obstacles prevent the use of European funds, where the money resulting from co-payments will go and what improvements the amendment of the Fiscal Code will bring.

The Evenimentul Zilei headlines "New laws which disrupt all Romanian auctions".
The investments which could save the economy are being blocked by a law whose aim was to eliminate bureaucracy.

In September, the National Authority for Regulating and Monitoring Public Procurement (ANRMAP) announced that all documentations will be read within a maximum of fourteen days, due to a law initiated by the head of the institution, Cristina Trăilă.

However, it seems that ANRMAP does not have enough persons available, who can read and proof the documents, while the electronic system has not been functional for several months.
The consequences? 1400 projects for the rehabilitation of roads, hospitals and schools, as well as environmental projects are waiting indefinitely for the go-ahead.

In the România Liberă we find out that "The Liberal Democratic Party is playing the shell game with the 2012 elections".

The project launched by the Ministry of Interior violates both the President’s requests and the decisions made last month by the coalition.

So the Liberal Democratic Party’s efforts to persuade the press and future voters that the amendments are in accordance with the 2009 referendum have vanished into thin air.

The most ”striking” provisions proposed by Minister Igaş refer to calculating the number of Members of the Parliament: the Ministry of Administration and Interior ignores the fact that there has already been a census, and keeps getting a larger number of MPs because he takes into account a larger number of Romanian citizens, România Liberă writes.

"The co-payment will not be part of doctors’ wages", we find out from the Adevărul.

The additional money which will be spent by Romanian people in 2012 on medical consults will land again straight into the system’s bucket of uncontrollable expenses.

Therefore, a Romanian citizen yielding incomes will have to pay the following: state health insurance, private health insurance (optionally), co-payment, in addition to a bribe to the doctor, the Adevărul points out.

For now, we know neither which medical services the co-payment applies to, what the value of this payment will be, nor when this regulation will come into effect.

In the Ziarul Financiar we read that the banks are increasing the value of credits in order to maintain gain margins.

The data provided by the National Bank of Romania show that, in October, the average interest rates for loans have reached 12.8 percent, while the deposit deductions during the same period of time have practically remained the same.

Within the last few weeks, however, bankers have reopened the fight to attract client resources in order to compensate for losing the support of parent banks.

Today, the Jurnalul Naţional writes about the project for the amendment of the Fiscal Code:
"The National Agency for Fiscal Administration cuts off illegal VAT reimbursements."

People who do not conduct economic activities, but still request to be registered for VAT purposes, as well as people who are not legally entitled to request for discounts, will have their registrations annulled.

It has been revealed that last year, 380 000 of the registered tax-payers were below the legal threshold.

Translated by:Cristina Baciu
MA Student, MTTLC, Bucharest University