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17. 11. 09. - 17:00

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17. 11. 09. - 17:00

Romania named most corrupt country in EU

Romanian Times

Romania is the European Union’s most corrupt country, anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International said today (Tues) as it unveiled its 2009 Corruption Perceptions Index today (Tue).

The organisation said policy decisions since the start of negotiations for EU accession had undermined the country’s political institutions and contributed to the perception that the risk of corruption in the country had increased.

"Being in the EU ironically appears to reduce pressure for anti-corruption reforms. As a consequence, Romania is facing a degradation of its public integrity climate, marked by the lack of strategic coordination of legislative and institutional anti-corruption measures," it said.

Romania came 71st in the group’s list of 180 countries and was seen as more corrupt than Bulgaria, Macedonia and Greece as well as Namibia, ranked 56th, Cape Verde, ranked 46th and Botswana ranked 37th.

New Zeeland, Denmark and Singapore were seen as having the lowest levels of corruption.

Inflation reaches two-years high
Romania's annual inflation in August rocketed to 7.58 per cent, the highest figure in the last two years, the National Statistics Institute (INS) said today (Fri).

FDI drops by a third
Foreign direct investments (FDI) in Romania dropped by 36 per cent to 1.9 billion Euros in the first seven months of this year, the central bank said today (Fri).

ING to invest 250mn Euros in regional centre in Transylvania
ING Group is to invest 250 million Euros in the following ten years, for the development of the newly opened regional services centre, in Cluj-Napoca, Transylvania, company officials have announced.

Pharma market boosted in Q2
The pharma market in Romania registered a boost in the second quarter of this year, a report by marketing and sales reports company Cegedim showed yesterday (Thurs).

Romanian TV boss arrested
The owner of TV channel Realitatea TV, Sorin Ovidiu Vintu, and two other people have been put under preventive arrest for 29 days.

Eric Besson: There is no competition between France and Romania
French Immigration minister, Eric Besson, said yesterday (Thurs), during his visit to Bucharest, that there was "no competition" between France and Romania.

Austrian motorist dies in Romania
An Austrian motorist has died while on holiday in southern Romania, according to local press reports.

Cocaine found in shipped party game
A Romanian tried to smuggle almost one kilo of cocaine into Austria from Costa Rica hid in a party game, the Austrian Times has reported today.

Romanian company bosses, last in income rankings
Romanian company bosses have been identified as bottom lights in a European comparison made by Vienna-based business consulting agency Kienbaum Management Consultants, the Austrian Times has reported today.

Romania tries to cover medical-personnel deficit
After the departure of thousands of doctors and nurses from Romanian hospitals for salaries up to ten times higher abroad, leaving a deserted medical system in Romania, the Health Ministry has finally announced new hires in the sector.