The fundamental principle that our public policies are based upon is the pragmatism, in the sense of a results-oriented attitude. It is vital to overcome the level of public policies used during all these years of transition and characterized by inconsistency and absence of connection with reality. They meant patching up existing customs much rather than implementing coherent policies.
That's why our public policies propose clear objectives and measures, which define the functioning of the entire sector of activity. Public policies must cease trying to harmonize too diverse realities and winding up in ambiguity.
They have to be based on clear values that would provide them with substance and credibility. Only these values can bring the support of citizens and of those who have to carry out the public policies, a support that is absolutely necessary for their success. At the same time, only these values can give a clear image on the extent of support that a specific measure enjoys, because at present there are too many regulations that enjoy everybody's and nobody's support.
It is one of the reasons why our public policies don't go into details. Doing this now would be merely an exercise of sophistry. They cover anyway the sectors of activity much better than the policies of parties that have governed and didn't know how to use the power.
Through our policies we support the limitation and at the same time the most accurate defining of the boundaries of state authority, which are at present quite unclear and thus lead to abuse. Within the boundaries of its legal powers, however, we wish for a firmer state, which doesn't hesitate when looking at the costs of reforms and which has a long-term development strategy. And for the development policies to be successful it is mandatory to admit that the Romanian society has indulged itself, over the last years, in a model of stagnation applied by the political class.
Our public policies start off from acknowledging the current situation as it is, in Romania in general and in every sector of activity: with many shortcomings and few positive aspects. We consider vital for the Romanian society and its political class to cease devouring themselves and start building on what is good, beyond the end of an election cycle.
Romania cannot develop as long as the first measures after the alternation of power are changing the names of ministries, removing and replacing most of the public servants and annulling the previous reforms. That's why our public policies aim to consolidate the fundamental state institutions, so that they become independent from the political changes and reach a high level of efficiency, not being at anybody's mercy. The state institutions must function independent of any party.
THE ROAD TO NORMALITY
The policies of The Union for the Reconstruction of Romania - URR in the sector of
JUSTICE
The Romanian judicial system is at present an inefficient and deeply corrupted system. Politicians who are in power control the justice and thus benefit from a much more powerful immunity than the parliamentary one, taking advantage of it. Politicians of the opposition also benefit from the corruption of the judicial system. After two alternations of power, none of the leading corrupt personalities has been convicted.
Those who have to lose because of the corruption in justice are all those who do not live on corruption or on plun-dering the public budget. Those who have to lose are the vast majority of Romanians who want to make an honest living in a normal economy and a normal society, where law is respected and all citizens equal in front of it.
The URR objective in the sector of justice is the functioning of the judicial power as a really independent power in the state, providing equal treatment in front of the law to all citizens and ensuring the full protection of their rights and liberties.
PRIORITIES:
Nomination of court presidents and first prosecutors by the superior council of judges. This would render judges and prosecutors independent from the political power.
Incompatibility between parliament membership and the bar. At present, barrister-parliament members use their influence in favor of more or less innocent clients, whom they defend in court during parliament debates.
Specialization of courts. The specialization of courts and splitting up of mammoth-courts into easier manageable units. Introducing arbitration both for civil cases below 300 Euro and for commercial cases below 10,000 Euro. Arbitration for civil causes can function as subordinated to city-halls.
Raising the judges' salaries. The judges' salaries must reach, as net amount, the level of 8 times the average salary in the Romanian economy. This measure will provide the dignity and the special status that those who enforce the law should enjoy, as they come to decide over the citizens' lives and properties as well as over the public properties.
Expanding free assistance. Granting free legal assistance to parties not only in penal cases but also in civil ones, if their complexity is detrimental to the right to defense. This measure would greatly improve the access to justice of those who lack financial resources. The high stamp duties (in excess of 10 million) should be payable also during the case processing or within maximum 60 days after the case was settled.
Establishing quotas for the judges' activity. Establishing a maximum number of files to be solved (this will eliminate the abusive use of efficiency control as a mean to put the judges under pressure). Files to be assigned at random, by the computer.
Separation of judicial careers. In order to avoid the conflict of interests, judicial careers will be separated by prohibiting the switch from judge to barrister and vice-versa for a limited period of time.
shortening the duration of trials. Trials of any nature should cease to be an endless ordeal, that's why they will be shortened by changing the rules for communicating the procedure documents and by identifying the legal problems of a trial during one session that will precede the presentation of evidences.
Separation of judicial and executive power. The Superior Council of Judges needs to enjoy full independence from the Ministry of Justice. It must play a much more important role in the selection, assessment and promotion of magistrates, while the Ministry of Justice should deal with the administration and regulation of the judicial system. Prosecutors should no longer be under the authority of the Ministry of Justice. The president should not have the right to chair the meetings of the Superior Council of Judges, and the minister of justice should not have the right to vote in this council.
Re-subordinating the national anti-corruption public prosecutors office. This institution is currently playing into the hands of politics and for this reason its existence is only justified if it is politically independent and equidistant (by subordination solely to the Parliament).
The judicial system must become, from the discrimination tool that it is at present, based on money and influence, a guarantee for the citizens' equality in front of the law. It is absolutely necessary to consolidate the independence of justice and to eliminate the influence of groups of interests also for stopping the defrauding of the national budget by billions of dollars every year, which generally happens because of the severe deficiencies of the legal system.
THE ROAD TO NORMALITY
The policies of The Union for the Reconstruction of Romania - URR in the sector of
HEALTH
Romania is constantly positioned on the last places in Europe on most indicators regarding the population's state of health, sometimes at alarming distance from the modern standards of civilization.
For this reason, the current badly designed, badly managed and under-financed system must be replaced with a mixed state-private system. This system will continue to have the function of social protection for those who cannot afford to spend too much on health, but will also offer, through private insurers, high standard services to those who contribute more.
The main objective of URR policies in this sector is, on medium term, the passing of as many medical units as possible from the state to the private system, so as to enable the insured persons to choose from a number of state and private units.
Competition in the health system will result not only in better quality services offered to patients, but also in restoring the dignity of the medical staff. The sectors that will remain under the management of CNAS or the ministry will thus become more efficient and at the same time will be able to offer their employees much better salaries than the today's subsistence ones.
PRIORITIES:
Establishing private health insurance. This will enable the correlation of the level of medical services with the level of contribution and will render the health system efficient. The National Health Insurance House will continue to manage a minimal contribution, below 10% of the salary, offering in exchange a minimal package of health services. The individuals will have the possibility, for the rest of services, to choose their own exclusively private insurer from a competition-based market. The minimal contribution will also contribute to compensating the prices of a list of medicines that would cover a satisfactory level of the insured individuals, the excessive expenses being limited.
Privatization of medical services. The free access to the medical services market of private providers under the circumstances of free competition.
Reorganization of hospitals. Those hospitals that cannot be taken over by the local administration must become autonomous, state-owned or private institutions. They must become independent providers that would conclude contracts with the National Authority and the private insurance companies, which would also control their efficiency and the quality of their services. The hospital must be run by a manager that doesn't need to be a doctor. The medical part of the activity will be run by a council that will include the heads of all hospital departments. The services in hospitals that remain state-owned will be outsourced according to a national set of providers choosing criteria.
Implementing health vouchers. The minimal level of the medical services package will be ensured to the patients, not to the providers. The patients will have the right to choose their providers freely, both the family physicians and the specialized doctors.
Creating a standard informational system on national level. This system will connect all providers and insurers of medical services, and every client will have a health card based on which they will carry out all operations related to the use of medical services. This will render efficient the activity of every sector that the patient comes in contact with, and accurate reports regarding the activity of every doctor or hospital will be obtained (no fictitious services), prescription of medicines etc.
Rendering medical services efficient. In order to eliminate conflicts of interest, doctors will be allowed to have contracts with several health insurance houses, but only one contract with every house.
Privatization of parallel health houses in Transports, Justice and the Police. These Houses generate unacceptable discrimination between the insured individuals, inclusively because they benefit from massive subsidies from the public budget. There must be only one National State Health House.
Independence of the national health insurance house. Independent management of funds, solely for the purposes they have been collected for, according to the law. The misappropriation of health taxes and their use for unemployment support or pensions only covers for the present incapacity of the state to collect taxes evenly and to organize a functional pensions system. CNAS is responsible for the financing of the national prophylactic programs, from the minimal mandatory contribution.
Standardizing and independence of emergency services on national level. Standardized action and development programs, aligned to the emergency systems of the European Union. Implementing the paramedic system. Privatization of ambulance services.
National health programs. These programs, financed from the budget of the Ministry of Health, especially those that address children and those that fight infectious diseases are essential for ensuring the nation's state of health and, last but not least, for relieving the future health budgets of expenditures that can be avoided. They have to be better monitored and assessed, that's why CNAS answers for them in front of the Government. The Government can allocate supplementary budget in special situations, which can significantly affect the population's state of health (ex. epidemics).
Health is the system that was led to the most visible and painful bankruptcy by the momentarily patching-ups. In many places of the country, patients have to bring their own medicines, bandages or even fire wood. The collapse of the health system is humiliating primarily for the patient, who needs to beg for medical services the quality of which is impossible to forecast, but also for the medical staff, who is forced to accept tips. We don't see any reason why we should not eliminate this state of things that is regrettable for many and generated by the incompetence and lack of interest of very few.
THE ROAD TO NORMALITY
The policies of The Union for the Reconstruction of Romania - URR in the sector of
EDUCATION
Education is a social service with fundamental role in building a stabile society that shares a coherent system of values. The education system is the one that creates the cultural cohesion characteristic to modern states as well as the social order necessary to any civilized society.
The URR considers that the goal of the education system is to fit the individuals to the society in which they will live and act. Only the achievement of this goal will allow the graduates to return to society the investments made in their education.
The education system is one of the key elements of the building and progress of a society, the fruits of which show on longer term than the duration of an election cycle. Therefore, we deem a long term strategy in this sector strictly necessary for the consistency and viability of real education.
PRIORITIES:
Bringing education closer to real life. The education system has to prepare its graduates not only for social life, but also for their professional activity. For this reason, the policies of URR aim to overcome today's situation where graduates know everything but are able to do nothing, have difficulties in finding a job and when they do, it is usually of inferior level and underpaid. We consider that the vocational training, which provides graduates with a profession, should play a more important role than it did so far, becoming a viable alternative to the theoretical education. The curriculum should however be flexible enough, so that the vocational training is no longer perceived as an end, but as a possible development stage.
Introducing economic studies at primary school level. It is necessary for graduates of every level to feel comfortable in the modern world and to benefit from all advantages that its economic system can offer. It is not normal that high school graduates learn the formula for calculating the unemployment rate and other abstract macroeconomic theories but don't know how a credit can be obtained or how it can be used in a productive way. Moreover, pragmatic economic teaching can considerably enhance the young people's chances to become private entrepreneurs.
Increasing the weight of civic education in the curriculum at al levels. Pupils and students need to be familiar with the meaning of political terms, know how the state institutions as well the European ones function. It is the task of Civic Education to make them understand the connection between their everyday life, including the standard of living, and the political life of society. We also support the increase of importance of artistic and social sciences courses, as well as of those who refer to the modern living environment and especially its challenges: communication, ecology, community etc.
Separation of managerial and teaching activity. The managerial activity must follow clear objectives related to the functioning of the system logistics. The responsibility for the quality of education must be assigned to a teaching council, where the interests of pupils or students should also be represented.
Teaching insitutions should become benchmarks within their communities, which is why they have to be subordinated to the local administration that should take over the management tasks. The integration of schools in the community should be done over a transition period of 2-3 years.
Adequate payments. We must admit that teaching doesn't nowadays attract celebrated, top graduates. Salary is only one of the reasons why, though a very important one. We are for payment at a significantly higher level than the current subsistence one. However, payment criteria should be performance-oriented, rather than based on bureaucratic elements such as length of service.
Creating an independent assessment authority. It is necessary to establish an Institute for Assessment and Adequate Practice with the task to ensure that the quality standards of the education process are observed. This institute will have clear mandate and methodology, so as to provide a transparent and credible academic assessment process at all levels. The Institute for Assessment and Adequate Practice will be subordinated to the Parliament, to avoid the conflict of interests within the ministry.
eliminating the exam after the 8th grade. This exam doesn't establish anything, so that the acceptance in high school should be done based on exam according to the decision of every high school.
Turning the high school final exams into a national certification exam. This has to match the forming goal of the teaching system and confirm not only the knowledge, but also skills and values. Admittance in faculty should be done based on selection exams, the importance and weight of the high school final exams being left to the decision of every university and institute.
Fitting the final results of universities with the real demands of the society and economy. There must be big categories of students with pragmatic training and a limited number of students with in-depth knowledge and prospects for a scientific career. We propose the implementation of the English university system, with a bachelor degree after 3 years, master degree after 5 years and Ph.D. afterwards.
Support of the fundamental research. All research based on demands of the society and not of the economic environment should be further on financed by the state as this type of research is, in our opinion, the only legitimate beneficiary of public funds. These funds will be allocated based on projects.
The Romanian education system faces major problems: the lack of interest of both teachers and students, the embarrassing nepotism in many universities and perhaps, above all, the subsistence budgets, because they are the ultimate reason for the abandon of all standards. Hushing this severe crisis up with the eternal excuse of the successes scored by "our Olympic students" only means to accept implicitly the crisis aggravation. We deem necessary, as in the case of any sector policy, to ask ourselves seriously what we want to obtain from the education system. Based on the answer we need to take exactly those measures that would lead to the desired result, even if they bother old teaching system customs. Education has proven to be an essential resource for many countries, which have come out of deep crises and have reached prosperity and political stability, as it is the main method to change the society in-depth. Therefore, the reform of education is one that we are not allowed to fail again.
THE ROAD TO NORMALITY
The policies of The Union for the Reconstruction of Romania - URR in the sector of
ECONOMY
Economy is the vital sector of every society. That's why, without a free and prosperous economy there can be no democratic society where every citizen's rights are acknowledged and their voices heard.
We believe that market relations are not "a necessary evil", but the only way for free and dignified people to relate to each other. They are the only organization model that can acknowledge the value of every individual objectively and not based on the arbitrary will of a person, and that can reward merits and promote competence.
That is why market economy is for us the normality, which has to function outside the economy itself. Parties should compete with each other in politics, offering better and better products to the clients - voters. Unfortunately however, just as in the Romanian economy many markets are controlled or lack real competition, the political space is a monopolistic one, where obscure agreements between false competitors severely affect the clients' interests.
The principles of market economy should reign also the state sector, irrespective of whether economic (energy, transports, until their privatization) or budgetary (education, administration etc.). If the market economy functioned well, it would also make this sector function efficiently, either through direct competition (ex. education), or through collaborations that push the obtaining of results (especially in terms of administration), or by offering an organization and management model.
However, an important part of the private Romanian economy has nothing to do with the model of real market economy, as it doesn't gain through productivity on the market but through corruption in relation with the state. This is about numerous businesses run directly or indirectly by politicians, as well as businesses run by those who know how to exploit political relations or just the corruption of administration, justice or Police. These businesses gain from fixed tenders, onerous contracts, re-phasing of debts payments and any other illegalities that those who should sanction them turn a blind eye to, at the expense of tax payers.
This vitiated sector of the private economy, together with the economic and administrative state sector and the political sphere form a devil's circle whose main effect is keeping Romania underdeveloped. Not only is very little produced, but the scarce resources are mostly detoured or spent inefficiently, and for this reason social development is difficult to get started. Moreover, this type of economy based on corruption has already created harmful models of success, which are speedily reproduced.
The URR goal is to limit the intervention and participation of the state in the economy and to establish specific market economy regulations.
An essential element of the economic policy is the fiscal policy. The so far unstable fiscal policy, lacking any clear criteria has only managed to create obstacles for the investors, to develop the underground economy and the methods to elude legislation, to generate high administrative costs and destroy the state's authority in this sector. That's why we are in favor of fiscal policies that should bring the underground economy to the surface and encourage investments and profits through work and not through evasion.
PRIORITIES:
Fast privatization on economic criteria. Total privatization of the state sector based on economic, not social criteria. Swift privatization of public utilities whose huge losses generated by inefficiency are indiscriminatingly covered from the public money. Our goal for the next future is "to create unemployment", which is to say to heal the economy by implementing market relations. On the other hand we need to abandon the dishonest methods of embellishing the statistics that "report" ridiculous unemployment figures.
Equal treatment of companies. The equal, not discriminating collection of dues and taxes from all companies, as well as debts. Since the relieving and re-phasing of debts payments or the granting of subsidies from public money can only be justified by a strategic and publicly declared interest, all these decisions should be made by the Parliament.
Fiscal reform. Introducing a uniform tax of 15%. According to the statistic evaluations of the European Union, employees in the underground economy in Romania are as many as the tax payers. Under these circumstances, the uniform tax would bring out into the light an important part of this economy and the budget could only grow.
Deduction of some economic and social development expenses. Money spent on education, IT as well as installments for the mortgage credit will be tax deductible. They will be limited at levels that remain stimulating for the economic growth and for competition, without becoming sources of fiscal evasion or unbalancing the public budget.
Substantial increase of local collections. At least 50% of all dues and taxes have to stay at local level, so as to finance in a satisfactory way the functions that will be transferred to the local administration: education, police etc.
Fiscal sRtategy. The level of dues and taxes has to be announced for at least 3 years in advance, so as to provide stability and predictability.
Fiscal authority code of conduct. This has to stipulate the rights and obligations of tax payers as well as of fiscal inspectors. All control competencies will be placed with one institution only, the Fiscal Authority, which will facilitate the centralization of information and responsibility. The fiscal control will be performed every 3 years for every tax payer. The Code will establish an arbitration mechanism as alternative to long and costly legal procedures, and will stipulate the limits of control and the ensuring of confidentiality. Fiscal inspectors should reduce as much as possible the costs that the company has to bear following to the control activity.
Reform of the coercive system. We promote the elimination of all fiscal penalties for matters of form and not substance. We promote the increase of penalties for economic infringements and the prohibited access of such tax payers to fiscal credit facilities and public acquisitions. Creating a public system of records regarding tax payers who have committed offenses. Under the circumstances of a much simpler and clearer fiscal system than the current one we promote the idea of rewarding the fiscal inspectors with 10% of the revealed frauds that exceed 1 billion ROL.
Implementing a unitary taxes and dues records and monitoring system. This has to provide on-line statements and payments and quarterly notifications regarding the tax payer's fiscal situation. The financial administrative staff, including the de-centralized units (County departments, public administrations, revenue offices) will have to be resized.
Simplification of forms. Eliminating the mandatory use of standard forms and of all periodical statements (except for the annual balance sheet and the monthly VAT statements) and the possibility to use any kind of invoice provided its serial number is allocated in a centralized system at national level and the form contains a minimal set of identification data, description of the invoiced economic operation and the invoice value. This would make commercial operations a lot easier, as today they are highly time and effort consuming due to the excessive use of various forms.
Outsourcing of certain activities. The employing of private organizations for activities such as public acquisitions, registration of vehicles or customs clearance would eliminate the severe corruption that affects them. This simple procedure that brought very good results in other countries would eliminate the huge losses generated by corruption and would lead to the decrease of prices of some products like medicines, which are sometimes bought with over 600% profit margin. For public acquisitions it is necessary to simplify the paperwork that limits competition at present.
Mandatory insurance. Minimal insurance will be mandatory for residences, buildings, livestock and crops, expenses that will be deducted on employees. This however implies stricter functioning regulations for insurance companies.
Reduction of financing costs. Biddings for the refinancing of the public debt in local currency (ROL) should be open also to foreign residents. Any such obstacles in transactions with these financial instruments need to be eliminated.
Private pension system. Introducing a private pension system that would leave the tax payer the possibility to choose the provider on a competitive market and to decide their own financial future. Pension premiums will also be deductible, up to a certain limit.
THE ROAD TO NORMALITY
The policies of The Union for the Reconstruction of Romania - URR in the sector of
AGRICULTURE
In spite of its exceptional agricultural potential, Romania has become after 1990 an importer of agricultural products. This import is an effect but mostly a cause for the lack of resources and the underdevelopment of the rural area. Moreover, the necessary foreign currency effort burdens uselessly the entire economy.
The efficiency increase in the Romanian agriculture is thus necessary not only for coping with the European competition, meaning for not becoming merely a sales market for Europe, but also for supporting the development of the rural area based on the productivity of agriculture. Individual households, which represent at present an overwhelming percentage in the structure of property, and their subsistence agriculture cannot support this growth.
For this reason, the core objective of URR policies in agriculture is the medium term radical growth of productivity, under the circumstances of environment protection and providing healthy nutrition. This however requires the existence of a solid base of medium-size, well equipped and managed agricultural exploitations.
PRIORITIES:
Encouraging the establishing of functional agricultural exploitations. In order to increase the agricultural productivity it is necessary to gather small properties into production associations. Therefore, the subsidies policy should target with priority exploitations of between 50-400 hectares. By encouraging the establishing of medium-size farms, i.e. the association of small owners, we discourage at the same time the accumulation of very large properties that affect competition by becoming too powerful.
Legislative reform. Finalizing the distribution of property deeds for the entire due surface (i.e. including the returning of land that is still state property), as well simplifying the transfer procedures and leasing of agricultural property, so as to replace the currently prevailing verbal agreements, with clear contracts. These measures will render the agricultural market dynamic and will create the bases for development.
Granting of subsidies based on economical, not election or political criteria. Many of the present subsidies are either concealed welfare, which governments grant between elections and especially on election years, or facilities granted discretionarily to the political clientele through decisions that are applicable for 3 days. That's why the subsidies system has to become transparent and equally accessible, not based on various "lists". This system must target the strategic objective of concentrating agricultural exploitations and providing functionality of the entire technological flow, from the agricultural production to the sale of food products. Subsidies aim to provide the necessary quantities of agricultural products for the whole country; they have to target fuel, fertilizers, necessary materials for starting crops as well as for the processing companies that use local (Romanian) raw materials.
Products' sale. A major problem of the Romanian agriculture is that the little producers are at the discretion of agricultural cartels. In order to solve this problem it is necessary, apart from the state's duty to apply anti-cartel laws, to also create products' sales associations that should include several farms and have better negotiation power in the relation with commercial partners - processing companies, wholesale markets or agricultural exchange. These associations will be partly subsidized in order to increase the production standards and thus the quality level of agricultural products. Specific subsidies will also be granted for the establishing and functioning of agricultural exchanges and wholesale markets.
Providing large scale consulting services. The state must provide, through the competent ministry, its county departments and the commerce chambers, the necessary consulting services for the establishing of producers' associations (farms) and products sales associations. The consulting services should also cover other weak points, from the rational use of fertilizers and pesticides to putting together the necessary paperwork for obtaining various types of financing.
Implementing and promoting a national system of agricultural insurance. This will be supported by private insurers through the partial subsidizing of insurance premiums for associations and medium-size agricultural exploitations.
Revitalization of the agricultural education. It has to stop being the "disciplinary battalion" of the Romanian education system. The agricultural high school has to be relaunched, so that its graduates would cover the currently existing gap between the university graduates and the unskilled workers in this sector. Moreover, extra-curricular courses are necessary for every agricultural sector and activity, especially courses for the farmers who are going to run those medium-size exploitations, which will become the backbone of a high performance agriculture.
Subsistence agriculture has functioned during transition also as "safety valve" for the failure of industrial development. The number of rural inhabitants has increased instead of decreasing, while Romania continued to import fruits and vegetables from desert countries. The failure of agricultural development was not accidental, though. It was not only due to the incompetence of some parties who have wished but not succeeded to re-launch this sector, but also to the interests of political forces that rely on a poor rural electorate that depends on the state and is not informed. That's why moving on from a subsistence agriculture to a modern, productive one is strictly necessary also for the overcoming of underdevelopment of the entire Romanian society.
THE ROAD TO NORMALITY
The policies of The Union for the Reconstruction of Romania - URR in the sector of
CULTURE
Culture has to be looked at along both essential directions: preservation of the patrimony and support of the contemporary creation. Patrimony because any loss is more or less irrecoverable, and the live culture because a society cannot exist without continuous cultural creation.
The essential URR objective in the sector of culture is to promote the valuable cultural creation and to position the cultural act as main bond of the communities' interest for spiritual fulfillment.
PRIORITIES:
Designing a long-term strategy for the promotion of culture. This has to be done by consulting with all segments of culture. Culture has to be autonomous, meaning totally free from the influence of ideology and politics. Unfortunately, this minimal demand of any state that strives for democracy has not yet been achieved in Romania.
Drastic simplification of the ministry structure. The staff down-sizing, including the positions of state secretaries and directors. We are for the elimination of the Cults Department, which has no counterpart in Europe and can have no object of activity in a normal democracy were the state doesn't run the citizens' religious options.
Raise of management quality in the ministry. The Ministry of Culture and Cults has not granted the due importance even to the 29 monuments that are included in the UNESCO world patrimony. Important UNESCO financing was lost, for instance for the Sighisoara fortress or the Voronet monastery, due to the disregard of minimal UNESCO demands to provide local protection to those monuments.
Transparency in the sector of culture. The Ministry of Culture has to be compelled to publish a detailed annual activity report. This has to include not festive statements, as it does at present, but complete information regarding the financial year, the activity of the ministry as well as of its subordinate institutions, including the degree of achieving strategic objectives and elaboration of legislation, changes in the structure of personnel and the list of beneficiaries of all financing.
Promoting loyal competition. It is necessary to encourage competition between companies that carry out patrimony preservation works. The assessment and selection criteria have to be transparent and fair, so that any company, regardless of its size, has equal access to these projects.
Specialized commissions of the ministry have to be given back to experts. These commissions, formed by acknowledged and celebrated personalities of the culture sector, have to provide specialized assessment. They will decide which books or shows will be subsidized, what art works will be purchased and how will the patrimony be best preserved. This way, politics will withdraw from culture, leaving the real experts the freedom to choose the orientation of culture. The ministry and subordinated institutions have to be run by professional managers, specialized in culture but not necessarily culture experts themselves, as their function will be to manage, not to assess and even less so to produce art works.
Eradication of corruption in culture. Any discussion about "the little money in culture" is currently pointless as long as the ministry leaders spend huge amounts of money on dubious art works and grant preferential contracts to restoration firms that carry out poor quality works at very high prices. At present, the members of the books subsidies commission subsidize their own books, and thousands of dollars are paid from the public budget to certain theatre directors for under-mediocre plays of playwrights that have devotedly served the communist propaganda, while the salaries of actors are more than low.
Alteration of the sponsorship law, primarily by raising the maximal deduction threshold and clearly stating the nature of sponsorship beneficiaries. These should not have the possibility to obtain profits from sponsorship. The attracting of alternative financing sources, which should become prevailing on medium term, goes hand in hand with the development of the economy and the restoration of the community culture. A necessary solution is the co-management and co-financing of cultural projects, for a limited period of time, through national-local partnerships.
Restoration and protection of the patrimony. This is not exclusively the state's duty, which is shown even by the structure of property: 60% of the historical monuments are Church property, 10% private property and only 30% state property. It is necessary for the state to find partners that should co-finance these works to a greater extent.
Re-launching books and reading as a fundamental act of culture. We promote the VAT exemption of books printing. Moreover, this activity should be selectively subsidized, so as to enable the printing of all valuable works that are not of sufficient interest for the market, though (critic works, contemporary literature etc.). It is necessary to establish private libraries, the privatization of departments of public libraries such as neighborhood branches included, so as to enable the private initiative, which can enter partnerships with the local authorities, to serve better certain readers segments.
Cultural values are aesthetic values, but they have to be also market integrated. It is important to see culture not only as a consumer of funds, but as essential element of social and economic development. The URR considers that the supporting of culture and creators represents, along with the education, a priority sector for the act of governing, as members of today's societies integrate socially and define themselves increasingly through culture or its absence. That's why granting importance to culture represents the state's determination to move on from a survival society to one of prosperity, which means much more than the mere access to products and services.
THE ROAD TO NORMALITY
The policies of The Union for the Reconstruction of Romania - URR in the sector of
THE HUNGARIAN MINORITY
The Union for the Reconstruction of Romania - URR - considers that the road to normality - which represents the core objective of our policies - cannot be covered by a society affected by inter-ethnic tensions. Therefore, in order to achieve our political, social and economical goals it is necessary to propose concrete solutions for relieving inter-ethnic tensions and for creating a balanced environment for common development.
The URR objective is to impose moral and pragmatic principles in the approach of the Hungarian minority issues, principles based on the classical values of democracy, on the universal values of human rights, in particular of minorities, as stipulated in European documents. This means necessarily accepting the right to own culture and identity, with all the rights that follow from here - establishing specific institutions, free promotion of own traditions, learning and using the mother tongue etc.
We consider that the Romanian society must make consistent effort to fight nationalism. This however should be done not at the level of speech, where nationalism only prolongs the dispute with total disregard of any rule and all moral values, but at the level of economic and social development, of rendering the political system efficient, or at the level of education and culture. And as the Hungarian minority is one of the benchmarks of nationalist tensions in Romania, we deem necessary to propose examples of concrete solutions for the concrete problems of this minority.
PRIORITIES:
Establishing a hungarian universIty within the network of state universities. It should be at first financed by the state, and later on, according to the URR education politics, the financing would a mixed public - private system. It is necessary to introduce tuition fees gradually, balanced by state guaranteeing and crediting mechanisms. Another option would be the contribution of the Romanian state to the financing of the already existing "Fundatia Sapientia" University.
Education for cohabitation. We believe that history, as school subject, should stimulate the forming of mentalities and behaviors capable to lead to a better cohabitation of Romanians and Hungarians. History can be regarded from different angles without necessarily becoming an object of manipulation. The current history books could be focused on civilization and culture, historical personalities, on concrete aspects related to the existence of societies or of the evolution of ideas and institutions much rather than on prevailingly confliction events, such as wars or fights for power.
Undiscriminating treatment. We consider that all Romanian citizens, regardless of their ethnic origin, should have equal chances of access to any state institution, to the local and central administration, the military or the SRI (Romanian Intelligence Service). The principle that should reign this equal access is competence. Only the presence of individuals belonging to ethnic minorities in all state institutions would give the latter a truly national character, if we understand nation in the modern, European sense of civic and not ethnic nation.
Building the highway Oradea - Cluj-Napoca - Târgu-Mures - Brasov - Bucuresti - Constanta. This represents an economic priority for Romania. It will provide a strategic link to Europe and will become an essential axis of Romania's development. We support this route of the highway because its economic usefulness is maximal this way as well as because it represents a necessary communication tool for the Hungarian community. URR considers the discrimination, in the sector of investments in infrastructure, of regions inhabited prevailingly by Hungarians unacceptable.
Eliminating the discrimination of investors. URR supports the full and real equality of all Romanian citizens in front of the law, as well as that of foreign citizens present on Romanian territory or who wish to invest in our country. We believe that the discrimination on any criteria, including that of ethnic origin, of foreign investors should be eliminated. On the one hand, the legislation should explicitly stipulate sanctions for this type of discrimination, and on the other hand it needs to be eliminated from the governing practice where the central administration is involved in privatization or has any other kind of influence on the foreign investments.
State support for the minorities' culture. The allocation of funds from the national and the local budgets to NGO-s whose line of activity is the promotion of a minority's culture. This allocation has to be done transparently and for concrete projects. We disavow the current funds allocation system, which is based on the representation in the Parliament obtained by means of more or less relevant lists of signatures, a system that is both inefficient and immoral, as it conditions the financing by the support of the ruling party.
The Union for the Reconstruction of Romania - URR - considers that it is ital for al of us to understand that a right of a minority doesn't mean a right less for the majority, and that this is the first principle of civilized cohabitation where diversity is a valuable resource, not a source of conflicts. We must build the mentality that it is not the majority that "grants" right to the minorities out of the kindness of its heart, much less out of condescendence, but that these are rights of any human being, as natural as the right to live and the right to freedom.
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The policies of The Union for the Reconstruction of Romania - URR in the sector of
SOCIAL POLICIES
The social policies of the Union for Romania's Reconstruction - URR - set off from the principle that welfare has to be clearly separated from social security, the control of the latter being given to individuals through their privatization. Welfare is addressed to the needy, regardless of the way they contribute to the budget, to provide them with the basic conditions of a humane existence. On the other hand, the social security system has the duty to offer high performance social services according to the level of individual contribution. Most of the social security services are optional and, as they should offer the best price / quality ratio, they have to be private. Both the pension and the health system should offer best quality services to those who are able to contribute more.
Therefore, the fundamental short-term objective of the URR in the sector of social policies is to broaden the scope of individual decision and to narrow down the state authority over social services.
All state institutions that manage or conclude contracts for social services in favor of contributors will be compelled to publish complete reports of their expenditures as well as detailed analyses of these services' efficiency. Up until the privatization of social security services, every beneficiary of social services must know exactly how much they contribute for what they get in return. The most honest thing to do would be to abandon the cheap trick of dividing social dues and taxes into a smaller amount paid by the employee and a bigger one paid by the employer, when in fact they represent a fix percentage of the gross salary, and are therefore paid solely by the employee.
PRIORITIES:
Implementing a private pension system that should give employees the possibility, and even encourage them, to contribute more for a better pension. Fast implementation of capitalized pension funds, with mandatory contribution, managed by private companies, followed by the implementation of occupational pensions.
Elimination of universal subsidies such as children's allowances or energy subsidies, which are fake social measures as they address indiscriminatingly all income categories. These strictly demagogic measures do not reach the natural target of social policies and waste resources uselessly. The universal children's allowance should be replaced with an allowance targeting poor children, and which can thus be more consistent.
Reducing unjustified expenses that generate pressure on the welfare budget, such as special retiring conditions or compensatory salaries. The amounts wasted on compensatory salaries that have no long-term effect could be much better used on professional reorientation programs. The unemployment assistance system should be modified so as to more strongly encourage unemployed people to look for a job.
Facilitating the social integration of disabled individuals. Breaking up the institutional frame means improving home assistance, both on family and professional level. The major state-run care institutions should be replaced by day-care centers run by specialized NGO-s, where such individuals would be assisted in professional training, work or spending leisure time.
Eliminating the possibility of fraude in the medical or handicap pensions system, by paying these from the CNAS funds, as well as through a better control of the granting of such certificates.
Integrating in protection institutions all children who have no stabile residence, encouraging adoptions, especially in families from Romania, under close monitoring. Assisting all children in precarious situation, as well as their families, by providing the necessary material and educational resources for their development.
Granting facilities to young people who come back to Romania, after a minimal period of 6 months spent abroad for studies or work in legal conditions.
Granting bonuses to young people who get a job after leaving a protection institution, as well as to their employers, so as to facilitate their integration in society. We have to offer these individuals, both before and after leaving the protection institution, enhanced possibilities to attend vocational training.
More severe laws regarding the childrens' exploitation through work or begging, simplifying the procedures for withdrawal of parental rights from tutors who treat their children in a way that endangers their health or dignity.
Equal support for all young families who wish to build a home, by subsidizing mortgage credits. We are for the elimination of the present home building programs that are discriminating, non-transparent and encourage corruption.
Creating a separate budget chapter for the information of the poor and of the disabled regarding all social services.
Granting an allowance to job seeker graduates, those who are not 18 yet included, if they have graduated the mandatory 10 grades.
Every social policy should identify both an individual benefit, aimed at for humanitarian reasons, and a social benefit. A certain category should become the beneficiary of a social policy because the society as a whole decides that the former is in a situation that justifies the spending of public resources, as these are limited and will never cover all needs. If this decision is missing, that policy will not only be immoral, but also inefficient. All individuals, and only them, who belong to the entitled category, should benefit from a certain policy.
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The policies of The Union for the Reconstruction of Romania - URR in the sector of
DEFENSE AND CITIZEN'S SAFETY
The defense strategy should reflect the geopolitical context in which Romania is placed, respectively the external threats to its security. Given this context and the small size of Romania compared to the countries that can become sources of risk, we consider that joining NATO represents our only viable option. On the other hand, precisely under the circumstances of joining NATO, we consider that these risks should not be overestimated, that's why the defense expenses should be kept at a reasonable level, taking into account the real priorities of Romania (such as education, health or infrastructure).
Ensuring external security is the necessary condition for providing the citizen's safety in everyday life. This is a major priority for us, as long as competent institutions function at random. Police abuse is still customary, guilty individuals are seldom punished and intelligence service are not sufficiently controlled by the society.
The URR objective in the sector of defense and citizen's safety is to create an army of professionals, to impose legality, correctness and efficiency in the functioning of the Police, as well as to render the intelligence service transparent and to control it better.
PRIORITIES:
Immediately eliminating the mandatory military service, which is the basis of the army inefficiency.
Elaborating a stabile medium and long term strategy for the military, based on the function that the military must have on domestic level, and the plan for NATO integration.
Establishing sectors of excellence, according to the determined strategy, the military utilities on domestic level and the specialization of NATO member armies.
Improving the military intervention forces for cases of civil emergency, so as to prevent loss of human lives and limit the effects of destruction.
Improving the skills of military staff, both in military and civil institutions in Romania and abroad. Mandatory internationally acknowledged English language tests for officers of all levels.
Selection of officers also based on physical features, such as weight or height, in order to ensure a dignified representation of the military.
Encouraging the local production of military technical equipment, especially in the category of technical equipment compatible with NATO forces.
De-politicization of the military, rigorously setting the number of civil leaders that can be replaced on political criteria. Downsizing and rejuvenating the command staff.
Demilitarization of the police, in terms of the legal responsibility of police officers included.
Decentralization of the police, especially of activities of community relevance.
Reforming the inteligence service within the police, so as to fight efficiently the spreading corruption in this institution.
Establishing citizens' control over police employees, by filling out assessment forms regarding the performance of officers that the citizens get in contact with.
Strengthening the Parliamentary control over the secret services, rendering the latter transparent in terms of budget, staff and accomplishing their tasks. Fighting abuse concealed under the pretext of these services' secret nature; in fact, there is only a limited area of their activity that needs to remain strictly classified.
Casting out all employees that have been part of or have collaborated with the secret services before 1989, and improving the selection process for the young staff members.
Granting priority to fighting the new security threats, such as terrorism, major corruption, illicit financial and banking operations, drugs and persons traffic, illegal migration, weapons of mass destruction.
Today's Romania still functions through many institutions inherited from the communist times. It doesn't matter much that some have smoothly passed through the 1989 moment, and that others have been dissolved and then re-established and renamed. We have forgotten too easily and hesitate too much to say that the Security, but also the Police and the Military have been oppressive institutions under the communist regime, that the changes they have undergone after 1989 are far from satisfactory and that an important part of their shortcomings as well as many of the people who promote those shortcomings have remained in place. We believe it is time to eliminate from these institutions all interests other than those of the citizens whose money finance them.
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The policies of The Union for the Reconstruction of Romania - URR in the sector of
FIGHTING CORRUPTION
We consider corruption one of the fundamental evils of Romanian society. It is installed in a solid way in the political class, in the national and local administration and in institutions, including here the very institutions who are supposed to fight corruption - justice and police.
The corruption in Romania causes losses to the public budget of billions of dollars per year, thus harming every one of us. High officials and public servants go after their own interests much rather than the public ones, due to the lack of control over their activities. The most severe effect of corruption is however the vicious model that it offers to citizens, especially to the young ones, which is that one can succeed in Romania much easier through theft, deception and "financial engineering" than through honest work.
The URR objective is to eliminate this vicious model, to eliminate the losses generated by corruption and to redirect the human energies wasted in acts of corruption within the state institutions, towards public services to the benefit of citizens.
PRIORITIES:
High officials or their first degree relatives will not be allowed to be members in the administration councils of regies, companies or institutions that the bodies they are part of establish, regulate, control or whose services they use.
Public statement regarding the personal wealth of high offcials and their first degree relatives when they forward their candidature, when they are invested in and when they leave the public office.
Limiting the gifts received by high officials (president, government, parliament, prefects, mayors) and by their first degree relatives to the value of 10 million ROL, regardless of occasion. All gifts exceeding the value of 1 million ROL will have to be declared.
Establishing incompatibility between paid public offices and the barrister activity, as well as prohibiting the participation in private companies that establish business relations with the state, participation of high officials personally or of their first degree relatives.
Stopping the political routing. Replacing the parliament members as well as members of the county or local councils who leave or are expelled from the party on whose list they have been elected, with the next candidate on the list, as long as the list-based voting system will be kept.
Eliminating the secret voting in the Parliament and establishing a votes monitoring system for every parliament member and every law, monitoring system that should be accessible to the public at all times. Drastic punishments for parliament members who vote through middlemen.
Half-year publishing in Monitorul Oficial of the balance sheets of every party, the punishment for non-compliance being the dissolving.
Creating a functional national witness protection frame and establishing a punishment negotiation system with individuals under investigation. This would facilitate the revealing of persons who actually lead and organize criminal activities (traffic of influence, manipulation of tenders, commissions, blackmail, intimidation, money laundering, false statements etc.) in the political and administrative structures.
Subordinating the National Anti-Corruption Office to the Parliament, with separate budget allocation established by law.
Reforming the secret services within the Ministry of Domestic Affairs and the Ministry of Justice, assigning them the main task to fight corruption within these ministries. Implementing clear functioning criteria and strictly subordinating these services to the specialized parliamentary commissions, so as to make their involvement in acts of corruption impossible.
Complete elimination of parliamentary immunity, so that parliament members have the interest to improve the performance of the judicial system.
The measures against corruption must primarily generate changes in the behavior of persons who come to occupy leading positions in the political and administrative structures of the state. Holding high officials responsible, reforming institutions and immediately punishing conflicts of interests must be done starting at the top and working downwards, through radical political measures. This change is a condition in absence of which the change of the average citizen's attitude towards the petty corruption will remain mere wishful thinking.
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The policies of The Union for the Reconstruction of Romania - URR in the sector of
LOCAL PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
The fundamental principle that the URR policies in this sector are based upon is the one of the subsidiary organization, so that local problems are solved as well as possible, as close as possible to their place of origin. However, this is not always the lowest level, that of the village or town. We believe that Romania's development requires the establishing of 12 administrative regions, which should replace and not overlap with the current counties, so as not to complicate unnecessarily the bureaucratic apparatus.
Therefore, the URR objective in the sector of public administration is to gradually transfer to the local level the functions that don't require national management, so as to enable citizens to be as close as possible to the institutions that are supposed to solve their problems within the community.
PRIORITIES:
Real transfer of power to the local level. Complete transfer to the local authorities of public utilities (water-sewerage, heating) as well as primary and secondary education, family health, social services, community police, firemen. For covering these functions we believe that at least 50% of dues and taxes have to remain on local level. In regions that lack resources, they can be supplemented with transfers from the regional or the national budget.
Financing based on clear criteria. Creating non-negotiable mechanisms or granting balancing funds, and granting money for special investments based on project tenders. The system must be overall significantly simplified, so as to avoid the opacity created around the currently highly complicated mechanisms. The weight of special funds, used discretionary at present, must be reduced significantly. It is vital to eliminate the possibility of the government, county councils or prefects to use these funds as tools for political discrimination or pressure.
Elimination of the office of prefects. The office of prefect should be reduced to its legal size, which is the legislative control. When the counties are replaced by regions and this function is taken over by the justice, the office of prefect would be eliminated.
Stimulation of local administrations. These have to encouraged to constantly improve their administrative capacity. To this end we promote the elimination of absurd obstacles such as determining the staff and their salary in Bucharest. The collaboration and partnerships between local administrations, especially in the context of regional development, should also be stimulated.
Elimination of conflicts of interest. Applying the same incompatibility scheme for paid jobs in the local administration as in the central one.
Faster settling of easy cases. Establishing special courts within city halls that should settle easy civil cases (below 300 EUR) as well as commercial cases below 10,000 EUR much more efficient than the usual courts.
We believe that the central administration must propose a clear plan of the decentralization phases, in order to increase predictability that is an essential feature of the administration. The timetable and terms for the transfer of power to local level have to be decided together with the local administrations themselves, though, as well as with all other interested public players. Any function transferred to the local administration must also be accompanied by the dedicated resources, so as to be carried out properly. The tasks, especially those related to financing and control, must be much clearer than at present divided between the central administration and the two levels of local administration. The latter must have the freedom to control the basis, rate and collection of taxes.
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The policies of The Union for the Reconstruction of Romania - URR in the sector of
CENTRAL PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
The central public administration is at present oversized, inefficient ad deeply affected by corruption. The substantial staff downsizing would not reduce efficiency, on the contrary, those who keep their positions would be motivated to work better to the interest of tax payers. Moreover, the very complicated structure of the central administration results in very difficult communication and coordination of actions. On the other hand, the problem of corruption in administration requires, besides the reform in police and justice, the establishing of a staff of career public servants who should be motivated through salary and the prestige of their status and protected from political pressures, but also drastically punished when they act wrongly.
Therefore, the URR objective is to put the central public administration at the service of citizens, answering promptly and equally to all demands.
As to the public servants, the short-term objective is the elimination of political influences and the establishing of the career system based on competence and performance. On medium and long term, the objective of URR policies is to ensure the increase of the professionalism level of a body of career public servants and to consolidate the institutions through own selection, training and staff supervision mechanisms.
PRIORITIES:
Structuring the government according to the main national policies. The government should include a number of 14-16 ministries covering the main sectors of activity. The coordination ministries, such as the one for European integration, are pointless as long as the sector ministries take responsibility of this aspect in their own sector. Coordination between ministries will be done by the coordination of policies on government level.
Establishing a number of governmental agencies subordinated to the ministeries. Governmental agencies subordinated to the prime minister are pointless. The role of agencies is to apply the political programs decided on ministry or government level, based on clear, strict and transparent procedures. These programs can have the purpose to monitor, to grant state assistance, to estimate the impact of a policy or to make forecasts. The regulatory function exists only at ministry level. Every agency will be included in a sector of state authority. The activity of every agency will be monitored by the coordinating ministry that is in charge with the national policy of that sector. The activity will be organized in such a way, that only agencies, not the ministries, will get in contact with the legal persons.
Decentralization of power. Delegation of competencies to the closest level to the end beneficiary, to regional or local level, where this is possible.
De-politicization of the public office. At present, most leading positions in institutions are occupied by nominations based on political influence. The joining, staying and being promoted in the body of public servants has to be done based on training and administrative experience, but most of all based on the public servants' individual performance. The assessment criteria will no longer be left up to the hierarchic superiors and political leaders, as they are at present, but will be based on administrative unit performance assessment grids, especially with focus on achieving goals and finalizing programs. The performance assessment will be done by external audit services, services that can be commissioned also to private assessors. The individual assessment of public servants must be done also based on questionnaires filled out by their clients.
Stability of public servants. This stability is capital in order to achieve efficient, predictable administration act, which observes accurately the legal stipulations. That's why we support the implementation of regulations that should make their abusive replacement after a change of power (as it happened in 2000) impossible.
Independence of the National Agency of Public Servants. In order to achieve the de-politicization of the public office, the National Agency of Public Servants must no longer be under the control of the government. This agency is responsible for the selection, assessment, promotion and monitoring of public servants. Its independence will be obtained by providing it with the necessary budgetary resources and subordinating it directly to the parliament.
Professional training of public servants. The National Institute for Administration is responsible for the public servants training programs. The independence of this institution will be obtained by eliminating the governmental control and granting it a similar status with the other universities, which will also diminish substantially the possibility of the public office's politicization.
Ensuring the public office's transparency. Besides the wealth statements of public servants, all the data regarding their training, professional experience, previously held positions, personal performance and results must also be available to the public. The status of public servants stipulates the existence of a professional file of every public servant; this file must be public and available to every citizen on the Internet.
The regulation of the central administration structure and activity must be done through an organic law, so that they are no longer submitted to such frequent changes. This will bring the stability of the administration structure and of the body of public servants, which means efficiency and predictability in the administrative act.
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The policies of The Union for the Reconstruction of Romania - URR in the sector of
THE CIVIL SOCIETY
The Union for the Reconstruction of Romania - URR - considers that the Romanian state must change its relation with the civil society radically. We support especially the replacing of the hostile or indifferent attitude towards non-governmental organizations, with a durable partnership as essential factor in the promotion of the citizens' interests.
The short and medium term objective of the URR is to create those conditions, especially legislative ones, which are necessary to the development of a strong non-governmental sector. This has to watch over the good functioning of the state institutions, within the limits of the democratic game and bearing the citizens' interests in mind, has to represent the interests of various groups of citizens and to take over some of the functions that the public administration performs in an unsatisfactory way (social services, information campaigns etc.)
PRIORITIES:
More relaxed legal framework. Eliminating the restrictive legal stipulations regarding the non-profit sector, which establish the necessity for non-governmental organizations to be authorized by the central administration and condition their access to public resources. Modifying the Labor Code that currently discourages the temporary employment, specific to the non-profit sector.
Efficient management. Creating a governmental department that should manage the relation with the organizations in terms of their standardization and assessment. This department will also manage a National Civil Society Fund, established especially for financing the activities of the non-governmental sector. This will reduce the corruption-generating bureaucracy. At present, funds management (administrative apparatus and methodology framework) is so deficient that for every 1 ROL attracted from sponsorship, 1.5 ROL are spent on administration.
Evaluation criteria. Issuing a law regarding the elaboration of standards that should allow the evaluation of NGO-s. These standards have the role to establish the public responsibility of NGO-s, to gain the confidence of donors and financing providers, to provide credibility, to stimulate the improvement of the NGO-s performance and to raise the level of the employees' integrity and professionalism.
Open project tenders. Issuing a law regarding the competition for public funds between public and private institutions, public funds that will be granted in total transparency based on project tenders.
Alternative financing possibilities. Issuing a law that should allow natural Romanian persons to donate 1% of the direct taxes due to the state, to non-governmental organizations. Creating alternative financing possibilities for the non-governmental sector, for instance through the National Lottery.
Creating an institutional frame for the partnership between the public administration and NGO-s. Establishing permanent structures (communication structures, consulting councils) that should really support the partnership between administration and NGO-s. To this end it is also necessary to train career public servants specifically for the relation with NGO-s. The public administration should also elaborate formal, objective procedures that should always lead to the same results when starting off from the same conditions.
Changing the sponsorship law. Improving the stipulations of the new Fiscal Code regarding sponsorship. As the activities of NGO-s attract much fewer sponsors than sports activities, we support a higher deduction limit for the former than for the latter.
Change of fiscal stipulations. Tax exemption for non-profit commercial activities the income of which is invested in projects. Tax exemption for offices of non-governmental organizations with humanitarian activity.
Eliminating the conflict of interests between the union leaders and the political power. To use the union as launching pad into politics is not at all to the interest of employees.
Increasing the importance of unions in private companies. Besides the unions that are created in new private companies, privatization has the positive consequence of clearing up the relations with the existing unions.
Unions have to be treated as a first rank social partner. They represent, as major part of the civil society, the professional and social interests of employees.
We believe that non-governmental organizations have to be the hard core of civil society. Under the present conditions of the Romanian society, the main role of the civil society is to replace the collective solidarity established in the communist regime, which is one of survival and doesn't represent every individual's interests, with a real, free chosen solidarity, which places the individual at the center of attention.
THE ROAD TO NORMALITY
The policies of The Union for the Reconstruction of Romania - URR in the sector of
MASS-MEDIA
The freedom of speech is not enough for having independent and professional mass-media. An important part of the Romanian media are politically conditioned, through the media corporations' huge debts to the public budget or through the blackmail of preferential commissioning of advertising paid by state companies or institutions. Direct bribe that some parties pay to journalists comes in addition to these, and over the last years the political power has even tried to limit the freedom of speech through flagrant undemocratic regulations.
On the other hand, the poverty of the publicity market favors severe journalistic deontology infringements. Numerous cases of blackmail happened on central level, where large circulation newspapers threatened companies with the publication of unfavorable, deceitful reports. On local level, where the economic viability is even more difficult, many newspapers, radio stations and TV channels give in to political pressure, in most cases the pressure of the ruling party. There are plenty of big cities, county capitals, where the media are politically monopolized.
The URR objective regarding the media is to consolidate financially and politically independent media, which should function as a legitimate pressure factor on the state powers and whose end product should be the correct information of citizens.
The media have to be protected from any and all political influences. At the same time, we support the self-regulation of the journalistic deontology by the media professional associations, at the standards of advanced democracies.
PRIORITIES:
Changing the status of libel in the project of the new penal code. This has to become, just like the insult, offence and not crime. The entire legislation relevant for the media must be designed in accordance with the European legislation.
Granting tax facilities to the media, at least until the publicity market will grow significantly. Granting tax facilities to the paper production.
Undiscriminating treatment of debts to the public budget, casting corporate responsibility on media corporations and drastically punishing officers that acts in favor of certain companies from this point of view.
Regulating by law the terms under which publicity can be made on public money, both regarding the purpose of publicity and the choosing of the media company.
Re-subordinating the public television and radio to a council formed of representatives appointed by the parliament with 2/3 of the votes, representatives of the unions and owners' associations from the mass-media.
We wish to contribute to creating a civilized enough social and political climate, so that the media would not be blamed anymore for the governing failures, as it has constantly happened during the years of transition. We wish to reach as quickly as possible a stage of development where hysteria crises, suburban threats and curses that the power addresses nowadays to journalists become mere unpleasant memories from the prehistoric times of the Romanian media and politics.
THE ROAD TO NORMALITY
The policies of The Union for the Reconstruction of Romania - URR in the sector of
ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION
Although Romania's industrial production is quite low, it pollutes the environment significantly due to the obsolete technologies and the absence of investments in non-polluting ones. In some cases there is even the risk of major accidents that could severely affect the health of employees and inhabitants in the endangered areas. Unprofessional agriculture is also a pollution factor, especially through the excessive use of fertilizers, pesticides etc.
The URR objective regarding the environment is creating awareness of the role that each and every one of us play in preserving a clean environment.
PRIORITIES:
Re-launching the activity of competent institutions, which currently have insufficient funds and personnel as well as insufficient legal framework. Strengthening the Environment Guard so that it can efficiently identify and sanction both the industrial polluters and the natural persons who bury the valleys, forests and sides of the roads in trash.
Separating the environment agency from the ministry of agriculture, with which it clashes in a conflict of interests due to the agricultural pollution.
Stopping the illegal felling of trees, a major factor of environment degradation. Consolidating the control institutions and strengthening the punishments for such crimes.
Fighting poaching, fishing included, which severely affects the Danube Delta. While rare species have to be restored by fighting poaching, common ones (deer, pheasants etc.) have to be restored by cutting down the hunting quotas.
Strengthening the emphasis on environmental education in schools, at all levels.
Stimulating the recycling of waste, through differentiated facilities granted according to the business's economic profitability, with focus of effort on the materials for which there is no recycling tradition (plastic, oils, PET-s, aluminum), of which many are highly polluting.
Restarting more efficient programs for separate recovery of waste, an operation that failed in many cities due to its unprofessional implementation.
Privatization of the energy, chemical, metallurgic and mining sectors, which don't observe the pollution standards as long as they are under state management, due to the lack of resources and of interest.
Environment agency to offer consulting services. It has to address to the local authorities, companies, non-governmental organizations with activity in this sector, agricultural producers and processors, with specific contents.
Certification of agricultural producers, so as to avoid the production of unhealthy food due to fertilizers or other chemicals used in agriculture. Rigorous control of these substances' quality, both locally produced and imported.
Promotion of re-afforesting programs in the neighborhood of big cities, in partnership with the local authorities, so as to improve the cities' microclimates.
The environmental, economical and social benefits that the implementation of the European Union environment legislation would bring to Romania are higher than those of any other candidate country. But the environment quality will fundamentally change only when the people will start perceiving it as a priority. The quality of the environment begins with every citizen's care to keep the streets, parks and forests clean, to keep the environment unpolluted, even if this means an additional effort.
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The policies of The Union for the Reconstruction of Romania - URR in the sector of
EUROPEAN INTEGRATION
Finalizing the negotiations for the EU accession as quickly as possible is a mean, not a goal in itself. Our core objective it to create a prosperous democracy in Romania, which should integrate naturally in Europe, and in which Europe should integrate in its turn, without any effort. We prefer a later, successful integration over an early, failed one.
The main objective of the URR in the sector of European integration is the integration in as favorable a context as possible. Achieving this objective requires to create prosperity for much wider categories than the few wealth enclaves of today, as well as establishing the conditions under which the Romanian state will begin to represent on a permanent basis the interests of its citizens and not only those of political and oligarchic circles, or of those who speculate on the "petty" corruption of the public administration.
PRIORITIES:
We do not promote integration at any costs. Over the last years, Romania has not come any closer to Europe; on the contrary, it has remained far behind through its half-way reforms, implemented only for "checking" on paper another integration chapter. The chaotic issuing of laws and the establishing of opaque and inefficient institutions has become the main method for pushing the integration into Europe, behind which there is only a model of stagnation and underdevelopment.
Dignified integration. We believe that we will be able to build European institutions that would function to our benefit, only by re-launching Romania's development both on economic and political level. Otherwise, we find it humiliating to build beautiful cardboard decors, behind which we would keep walking in mud. We reject categorically the demagogy of the European integration that tries to make us forget that Romania is still very far away from the European standards, or the sad servility that tries to make us part of Europe in any way, even as tolerated element. We do not believe that we have to adopt immediately and necessarily all European regulations or institutions, especially when this is done without public debate and without a coherent analysis of the usefulness or feasibility of such undertaking.
Promise only what we can do. Only through consistent domestic development can Romania best protect its interest during the negotiations for European integration. Only this way will the legislative and institutional harmonization no longer be a problem to be solved at any costs, but something that will accompany this process naturally. Unfortunately, the power has made many concessions over the last years because it lacked the economic or political results that would have enabled it to conduct serious negotiations. Moreover, due to the wish to obtain as many "successes in European integration" as possible, those in power have promised European negotiators anything, even when they knew that they are not capable or not willing to do what they had promised.
Real, not only skin-deep integration. We believe, on the one hand, that we are entitled to difference, and on the other hand, that the European re-integration, after the self-destruction and straying of the communist era, should mean to build the model of European civilization in its essence and spirit, not in its details and letter. There are European regulations, institutions or customs that we don't need yet, and that are pointless in Romania today because they belong to a different stage of development. That's why implementing them over night is a mere image-boosting exercise, which is of no use to anyone but those who are irresponsible enough to do it.
Gradual integration. We do not believe that the modern euthanasia methods applied on the Christmas pig will take us into Europe, or that the microchips implanted according to the latest European standards into the cows' ears will somehow compensate for the fact that Romanian peasants still use the animal-driven plough in the fields. Many of these pompous measures that sound so "European" cannot even be implemented, and so they are abrogated soon after being passed. The idea of law becomes laughable, and the people targeted by these ephemeral laws are treated as Guinea pigs. We, on the contrary, believe that the feasibility and timeliness of every measure has to be well assessed, and that all interested parties should be consulted; once a measure is adopted, it has to be applied all the way.
Aware integration. The best part of Romanians still don't know what the European integration exactly means, what the costs will be or what duties will devolve upon them. The public money that the ministries and the government use for pointless publicity for themselves would be much better used on a large scale information campaign regarding this integration. The campaign should primarily address the rural area, where people are poorly informed and which is the target of many of the integration demands and transformations.
By the adoption of the new Constitution, European integration will be decided by the parliament, so that the political parties will spare themselves the effort of persuading the Romanian citizens as to its usefulness. However, the European integration is an issue of maximal interest for everybody, as it will have major consequences on every individual's life. It should not be regarded as a label, but as a way of life through which we, as members of the society, can reach our personal development goals.
Instead of conclusion
The public policies of The Union for the Reconstruction of Romania - URR - will be constantly adapted to the reality. Their stability resides in the principles they are built upon and in the targeted objectives. But in order to have effects in reality, the concrete measures have to take reality into account.
These public policies represent the firm commitment of the URR to its electors. It refers not only to the content of policies, which is of center-right orientation, but also to the way they are going to be applied. Because one of the main reasons for which the URR was established was the exasperation to see that none of the transition governments was able to carry through any sector policy whatsoever. Many times, the persons in charge with these policies were not only indifferent to their unfolding and outcome, but omitted to think about the results in the very elaboration phase.
Every one of these policies has its own objective, but all together have only one objective, which is to reach normality. This objective is imposed by what happens every day in Romania, things that we consider deeply abnormal. It is abnormal for politics to be made in closed circles, without any link to the citizens, it is abnormal for people to pay such high taxes without knowing what they get in return, it is abnormal for high officials and public servants to offer to the whole society the model of corruption as something natural, which goes without saying.
That's why, wishing for normality in Romania means to be radical. We are naturally inclined to moderation and tolerance. However, the abnormal situation that exists in Romania, where very few get very rich stealing from the many, and place themselves at the top of the social pyramid humiliating the many, drives us to a firm policy that should overcome the endless confusions, ambiguities and tergiversation that the political class has so far indulged itself in.
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