| > July 2006:
RTT raised the issue of Romania and its’ involvement in the
EU Parliament. The conference provided an opportunity to encourage
dialogue and initiate debate regarding the role Romanian representatives
in the European Parliament will play, the way in which they will
be elected, and the means by which constituents, the business community,
and civil society will access the new Euro-Representatives.
> October 2005: The RTT worked to promote the making public
of any contract in which the State is a partner (privatization &
public procurement agreements), arguing that all such contracts
should be deemed public information. The ensuring public campaign
addressed two distinct issues: (1) the making public of privatization
contracts, and (2) the making public of any and all documents relating
to public procurement contracts (to ensure maximum transparency
in the decision making process). An open letter to the Romanian
Government earned the RTT (and other NGOs) meetings & deliberations
with the Prime Minister, government officials in charge of preparing
the new public procurement legislation & European Union (EU)
officials in charge of reviewing this proposed legislation.
o In December 2005, Romania privatized its largest bank
(the largest privatization in its history, worth USD 4 billion).
For the first time ever, the government made public the privatization
agreement on the Internet. This has now become standard practice,
ensuring transparency in the privatization process.
o Regarding public procurement, the new law incorporated
the applicable EU legislation and it includes a provision which
stipulates that the tender dossier shall be deemed as public information
and anyone may obtain access to this dossier pursuant to the FOIA.
It is important to note that such a clause is not part of the applicable
EU legislation, and thus partly through the RTT's efforts such a
clause was inserted (which clause should ensure greater transparency
in the public procurement process).
> June 2005: RTT organized a conference addressing the need
for health care reform in Romania. The event provided a forum to
discuss key issues including the rights of patients, private health
insurance, informal payments, and the role of nurses as health care
professions.
o Radical reforms to the health care system began in early
2006.
> July 2004: RTT addressed issues regarding media freedom. A
conference event gave important lessons about the state of the written
and broadcast media in Romania, as well as an opportunity for discussion
between Romanian journalists and some of their foreign counterparts.
The event also provided information government-media relations in
other countries, and the role of journalists’ trade unions.
o According to Reporters without Borders, Romania has improved
its’ freedom of press score year-on-year since 2004, and currently
ranks as 58th in their 2006 press freedom index.
> May 2004: RTT, working together with the Romanian Academic
Society, strongly supported the introduction of a flat tax system
with a considerably simplified tax code. A conference event explained
how a flat tax would increase budget revenue through the reduction
of evasion (legal and illegal) as well as making the system fairer
and more transparent.
o The Flat Tax system was implemented in Romania on January
1, 2005; according to the World Bank's "Doing Business in 2007"
report, Romania was the 2nd leading economic reformer in 2005 /
2006, and now is ranked 49th (from 71st the previous year) in terms
of ease of doing business, ahead of the Czech Republic, Hungary,
Slovenia and Poland.
> October 2004: RTT organized a conference to address the need
for judicial reform. The event promoted dialogue between members
of the judiciary, the government, NGOs, foreign investors and diplomats,
as well as helped representatives of the EU and foreign governments
to understand the problems of the Romanian judiciary and made appropriate
recommendations to the Romanian authorities for reform.
o Romania has been witnessing considerable reform to the
judicial system since early 2005, as evidenced by recent statements
made by the EU Commission's Justice Minister.
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