Tag: Badalau

  • December 5, 2022 UPDATE

    December 5, 2022 UPDATE

    Summit — President Klaus Iohannis will participate, on Tuesday, in the EU – Western Balkans Summit, which will take place in Tirana, Albania. According to the Presidential Administration, the Summit in Tirana is the first event of the kind organized in a capital in the region, a fact that reconfirms the European commitment in relation to the states in the Western Balkans. On this occasion, the head of state will reiterate the availability of continued support for concrete efforts and actions to integrate the countries of the region into the European Union. At the same time, Klaus Iohannis will point out the aspects related to the need to strengthen the resilience of partners, as well as to the European support in sectors such as energy, digital transformation, cyber security and migration management. On the occasion of the Summit, the Tirana Declaration will be adopted, which reflects the support of the Union and of the member states towards the European perspective of the Western Balkans.



    Budget — Romanias draft state budget and social insurance budget for 2023 will be posted on the website of the Finance Ministry on Tuesday for transparency reasons, and they will be on the agenda of the government meeting on Thursday. The ruling coalition proposes that the two draft laws should pass the Parliaments vote before the winter holidays. It will be the first time that the budget will be built on economic and social programs and also the first time that the amount allocated to Defense will be 2.5% of the GDP. It is believed that the budget built around programs will allow better monitoring of expenses, of the degree of implementation and of the real impact in the economy.



    Bribe – The Romanian Parliament decided, on Monday, to dismiss Niculae Bădălău from the position of vice-president of the Court of Accounts, after the former Social Democratic MP was arrested on charges of bribery. There were 308 votes in favor and one abstention. The Social Democratic Party – PSD, which requested the dismissal, pointed out that keeping Niculae Bădălău in office would seriously affect the institutions credibility. The opposition equally demanded the initiation of the dismissal procedure. A week ago, the Bucharest Court of Appeal decided that former PSD senator Niculae Bădălău be arrested, for a period of 30 days, for bribery and influence peddling, in a case in which he is accused of offering bribe worth 170,000 Euros to a mayor from Giurgiu (south), in exchange for the granting of public works contracts.



    Gaudeamus — The 29th edition of the Gaudeamus Radio Romania Book Fair opens on Wednesday at the Romexpo Compound in Bucharest. The event thus returns, after the pandemic, to the format that made it famous for over a quarter of a century as a solid landmark of the book market in Romania. 200 participants will offer the public an extremely varied range of editorial products, on different supports, suitable for all ages and fields of interest, music and educational games. The fairs honorary president will be the poet Ana Blandiana.



    Sanctions — New economic sanctions applied to Russia by the European Union and the G7 group have come into force. They consist in capping the price at which Russia exports oil and in the European embargo on Russian oil imported by sea. The measures are meant to reduce Russias incomes, which it uses to finance its war machine. Although some experts fear a destabilization of the world market, Brussels decision includes a reserve margin, so that Moscow should not be forced to stop its exports. Capping is rejected by Russia, which claims that it will only sell oil to those countries that do not cap its price. In Bucharest, the energy minister Virgil Popescu gave assurances that the embargo on Russian crude oil will not affect Romania, given that the oil companies in our country have found alternative resources. He pointed out that, as of last week, the domestic oil companies and refineries had started processing only non-Russian crude oil. For his part, the general director of the TRANSGAZ company, Ioan Sterian, emphasized that there are no reasons to fear that Romania will run out of gas this winter.



    Hospitality – Romanians spending at restaurants, cafes, pubs or fast-foods this year could be more than 30% higher than in 2021, exceeding 7.5 billion Euros, which is an absolute record for the food service industry, shows a study co-financed by the actors in the field and launched by the Hospitality Culture Institute. Practically, foodservice is becoming the most attractive sector for investments, which is also faced with two big problems: poor digitization and lack of staff, Florin Maxim, founder of the organization, said. According to the cited source, 9% of Romanians who go out spend more than 100 lei (20 Euros) per person on a restaurant meal, a figure that is growing significantly. This year too, even if the anti-pandemic restrictions on the operation of the hospitality industry units were removed, the food delivery sector retained its supremacy. (LS)

  • February 17, 2019 UPDATE

    February 17, 2019 UPDATE

    COUNCIL – On Monday, in Brussels, the Romanian Economy Minister Niculae Badalau will chair the first meeting of the Competitiveness Council (COMPET) held under the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the EU. The meeting will host an exchange of opinions regarding the process that would provide an overall image of the single market and a public debate on the impact of artificial intelligence on the EU industry. For the first time, the Council will adopt conclusions regarding the promotion of artificial intelligence development and use.



    EBRD – The Romanian Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici has been elected Vice-President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), for a term that starts in May and ends in 2020. Teodorovici has obtained one of the two offices of vice-president, alongside the Lithuanian Finance Minister. The new president-elect of the board of governors will be the Spanish Finance Minister. Romania, through minister Teodorovici, is holding both the presidency of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council and of the board of governos of the European Investment Bank, under the Romanian presidency of the Council of the EU.



    BANK TAX – The chief economist of the National Bank of Romania, Valentin Lazea, says that the tax on bank assets, imposed under an ordinance passed recently by the Romanian leftist government, might bring the profitability of the banking sector in Romania below the European average. Lazea believes that, if this happens, some banks might decide to leave the country. As regards authorities intention to diminish or redefine ROBOR, the Romanian Interbank Offer Rate, the central bank chief economist believes that this will not prevent banks from resorting to measures that would allow them to keep a certain level of their already diminished profitability. According to Lazea, Romania has to choose between a powerful and profitable banking sector, a provider of capital for investments, or a weak one, which only fuels consumption, and not development.



    FAC – On Monday, the Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu will attend the Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels. The agenda of the EU foreign ministers meeting will include current issues such as Ukraine, Syria, the Horn of Africa and Venezuela, according to a release issued by the Romanian Foreign Ministry in Bucharest. On the sidelines of the meeting, the Romanian foreign minister will attend a working brunch on Ukraine, organized by his Danish counterpart Anders Samuelsen, with the Ukrainian foreign minister Pavlo Klimkin as the main guest .



    EMPLOYMENT – More than 10,000 notices of employment or posting were issued last year for foreigners coming to Romania to work, mostly from Vietnam, Turkey, Sri Lanka and China. According to the General Inspectorate for Immigration, more than 120,000 foreign citizens were registered in Romania at the end of last year, more than half of them from non-EU countries. For this year, the Romanian Government has approved a contingent of 20,000 workers newly admitted on the Romanian labour market. According to authorities, the decision was made taking into consideration Romanias economic development potential and the need to provide the necessary workforce for certain sectors of the economy and also to prevent illegal labour.



    BERLINALE – The short reel Blue Boy, produced by the Argentinean Manuel Abramovich, with the Romanians Catalin Cristutiu as film editor and Bogdan Georgescu as creative producer, has received the Golden Bear for best short reel at the 69th Berlin International Film Festival. The feature film Monsters, directed by the Romanian Marius Olteanu has received the Tagesspiegel Readers Jury award. The film is Marius Olteanus debut film, and was selected for the Forum section, dubbed the most daring section of the festival. It tells the story of two young people, married for eight years. The film follows them 24 hours, exploring the way in which a string of events and encounters pushes them towards the end of their relationship. The Golden Bear went to the film Synonymes by the Israeli director Nadav Lapid. In 2018, the best film award was won by Touch me not, by the Romanian Adina Pintilie, which also got the award for best debut.



    TENNIS – On Monday, the Romanian tennis player Simona Halep will climb to the second position in the WTA rankings, despite the match she lost on Saturday to the Belgian Elise Mertens, in the final of the Doha tournament. Halep lost her no.1 position after the Australian Open, falling to no 3. Next she will take part in the WTA tournament in Dubai, with 2.828.000 dollars in prize money. Another Romanian player, Mihaela Buzarnescu, will also take part in the Dubai tournament in the United Arab Emirates. In another development, on Sunday, the mens pair made up of the Romanian Horia Tecau and the Dutch Jean Julien Rojer lost the final in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, to the pair Jeremy Chardy (France)/Henri Kontinen (Finland).