Romania: PM Boc to address Chamber of Deputies and Senate
Feb 1, 2010

Romania: PM Boc to address Chamber of Deputies and Senate.
Bucharest, Feb 1 /Agerpres/ - Prime Minister Emil Boc will be delivering a speech to the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies comprising the legislative priorities of the Government.

Boc will start his series of speeches today at 17:00 hrs, local, before Senate and ends it on Tuesday at 10:00 hrs, local, before the Chamber of Deputies.

At the weekend, following a meeting of the Democratic-Liberal Party (PD-L) leaders at Poiana Brasov, Boc said that one of the top priorities of the PD-L for the new parliamentary session will be the national education law built on the conclusions of a presidential think tank headed by professor Mircea Miclea.

The prime minister also reiterated the need for urgent adoption of a fiscal responsibility law this March and of the public pension law this June.

Boc also urged the opposition parties - the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the National Liberal Party (PNL) - to vote on the constitutional amendments required to cut the number of parliamentary seats and switch over to a single-chamber parliament, as voted for in a November 2009 referendum. He underscored that cutting the number of parliamentary seats and turning to a single-chamber parliament is a major political objective of the PD-L in the time immediately ahead. He said among other priorities of his Cabinet are passing the code of criminal procedure and the code of civil procedure and continuing the 'First Home' programme. In relation to the 'First Home' programme, Boc said the Government will adopt the project by February 15.

Among the normative acts about which Boc said require rapid submission to Parliament are an emergency ordinance concerning short-time working; modifying the minimum corporate tax and turning it into a mandatory tax restricted for some business areas; a draft law to aid through tax deductions companies that hire unemployed people, and using Government guarantees for job creation and investment generating projects.

'In the area of social security, social pensions will certainly be indexed for inflation and we will seek a solution to grant financial aid to other seniors on small pensions by setting up a social security fund. We are also talking about ratifying a draft law concerning the rights of people with disabilities, who must be treated according to the international standards in force,' said Boc.

Boc also mentioned that talks will resume on the status of national minorities in Romania in the next parliamentary session. 'The status of national minorities will be up for Parliament's debate this next session and it will continue the talks that were interrupted in 2007,' the prime minister said.

Adjusting the Romanian legislative framework to the European legislation following the coming into force of the Lisbon Treaty concerning the place and role of national parliaments in the European decision-making process was also mentioned as another priority of the Boc Cabinet and the Democratic-Liberal Party (PD-L). AGERPRES
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