BrexitToRemainia Newsletter #55

For (+/-British) entrepreneurs interested in Romania. Every 2 weeks. Reads in <5 minutes (if you are fast :))

"How much and a half?", says one banner from protesters in Victoriei square, Bucharest. They refer to the 3.5 years of prison given on Thursday to Mr. Dragnea in the fake jobs legal case. Funny enough, 21st of June (that Thursday) was also the longest day of the year. Will we see more light in the Romanian politics going forward? Not sure, but we try our best. Meanwhile, summer goes on (time for Electric Castle and UNTOLD festivals in Cluj!) ... and business goes on (you can properly hire interns very soon). And last but not least, congratulations to MagiCAMP, Mihai Sora and Bitdefender for accomplishments you can read about in this week's BTR newsletter.

Read the online version of this edition here and the full BrexitToRemainia Newsletter archive here.

Liviu Dragnea convicted

June 21st, 2018 is an important date. It is when Liviu Dragnea (leader of party in power PSD) was sentences to 3 years and 6 months of prison in the case of fake jobs scandal (remember from last newsletter?). This is the second conviction for Mr. Dragnea, after the 2016 vote rigging one, which precluded him to become prime minister (and a third one - EU funds related - is work in progress). And while the decision can be appealed, it is hoped it will undermine his credibility to continue as party leader and join the presidential race next year.

How is the country reacting to this news?

1. Street protests have been organized throughout the country every day since the news broke. Albeit small in size, (few thousand people) they help increase the pressure for Mr. Dragnea to resign from his leadership role in the Chamber of Deputies
2. Current President Klaus Iohannis announced he will run for a second term in 2019 elections
3. USR is organizing a motion of no-confidence against PSD on Wednesday, 27 June. More street protests are expected
4. More leaders from ruling coalition are leaving their respective parties, including vice-president of PSD Olt chapter and UDMR senator Eckstein Kovacs.

Of course Mr Dragnea pledges not guilty, decries a "mass execution" attempt and keeps a firm grip on his current titles & assignments. To be continued for sure.

(Romanian) European Citizen's Prize 2018

Every year since 2008 the European Parliament awards the European’s Citizen’s Prize to individuals or groups who have advanced the European integration by “the expression of European cooperation, openness to others and practical involvement in the development of mutual understanding”. Each member of the parliament (MEP) can make nominations, and our own Siegfried Muresan did one. This is how MagiCamp Association (but also Romania philosopher Mihai Sora) have won the prize this year.

You might recall from a previous newsletter that MagiCAMP was co-founded by Vlad Voiculescu (former Minister of Health in the technocratic government of Dacian Ciolos). It’s mission is to help children terminally ill or suffering from serious diseases such as cancer, HIV, depression etc. One of their projects, MagicBOX, delivers basic goods & services to 100 children and their families on a monthly basis, via the help of over 600 volunteers. Another project MagicHOME ensured free accommodation to families of children with severe illnesses who need to come to big cities (like Bucharest or Cluj) and cannot afford to pay hotels or rent.

Mihai Sora is one of Romania’s most important contemporary philosophers & essayists, who also used to be Minister of Education in Romania's first post-communist government. He is now 101 years old, but as active as always: he went to the protests we mentioned above, just few days ago!!! Kudos to him. 

Internship draft law approved

We first talked about a draft law for internships in October 2017. It was finally approved by the Chamber of Deputies these days (after Senate approved it in December 2017). Once the President puts his stamp as well and the law is published in the Official Monitor, it will take 30 more days before employers can make full use of it.

With this a new type of contract becomes available: an internship contract between a young person aged 16+ (even 15 if parents agree) and a host organisation with the aim of helping the former deepen his/her theoretical knowledge, improve practical skills and prepare for transition to workplace, after studies end. The internship is paid. 

So now, let's look at some practical questions: How many interns can a company take and for how long? How much should they be paid? What are the other obligations of parties? Any watchouts from this law which employers should be aware of? (there is no such thing as perfect legislation, right)

1. An internship contract can be signed for no longer than 30 hours/week for maximum 6 months. No overtime, no long term committments. But it adds up to intern's work history, which is great for retirement, 50 years from now :)
2. Payment is at least 50% of gross national minimum salary, prorated of course
3. Not more than 5% of total employee base can be formed of interns. So if you are a small organisation, say 20 employees, you could take 2 interns
4. Interns need to be assigned a supervisor, be given clear objectives / tasks which are assessed formally, and a certificate of completion no later than 5 days after internship ends
5. Employers receive roughly 1.000 EUR bonus if they hire their interns on a full-time contract for at least 2 years, within 60 days after internship completion.

Of course internships existed before this law was put to the table. But it was mostly done informally, without compensation or by using civil contracts at most. The new regulations clarify many of the blurry aspects of internship (such as lenghts, payments, objectives) and provide benefits for both parties. Check the Official Monitor to see when you can recruit extra support for your business in Romania. [as a side note, a cool internship programme will be available soon to prepare Romania's presidency of EU Council in 2019]

Bitdefender in the global league

Bitdefender is Romania's flagship antivirus software brand ... a best in class brand worldwide actually, according to Techradar and many others. And if they needed even more recognition, Forrester - a major research & advisory company - just named Bitdefender's Gravity Zone (an endpoint security solution for enterprises) a worldwide leader in their Q2 2018 report. Forrester only included 15 vendors in the assessment that met 3 key inclusion criteria: “they had a security suite that can prevent, detect, and remediate endpoint threats, a strong enterprise market presence and a high degree of interest from enterprise buyers.”

So who is Bitdefender anyhway? It is a young but very successful Romanian software developer of antivirus solutions, founded in 2001 by Florin Talpes who still serves as CEO (more about Mr. Talpes wil be covered in an upcoming newsletter, he is such a great person to write about). A nice story of how Bitdefender grew from the Romanian traditions and wisdom is to be found here. Nowadays Bitdefender has more than 1.300 employees, of whom 600 are engineers and researchers constantly monitoring its global network of 500+ million machines/sensors for emerging threats. 

Summer festivals in Cluj

If you plan to visit Transylvania over summer, there is still time to buy tickets for Electric Castle (18-22 July). Now in it’s 6th year of activity, Electric Castle attracts yearly well over 100.000 electronic music lovers in the most amazing place one can think of: the Banffy Castle (some call it the Versailles of Romania). Have a look at the 2017 aftermovie to get a sense of what you'll see. If you like the style but cannot attend in July, check out UNTOLD (2-5 August). While a bit younger and not benefiting from a castle to perform in, UNTOLD has quickly built its reputation due to the more commercial / notorious line of DJs it showcases. And it (also) happens in Cluj Napoca. If you are curious what is the difference between the two (as we were), have a look here.