Radio România Internațional

Tag: budget bill 2019

  • February 9, 2019

    February 9, 2019

    Budget — The vote in Romania’s Parliament on the draft budget law and the draft national insurance budget law for 2019 was scheduled for Friday, February 15, the Romanian Parliament’s Permanent Bureaus decided on Saturday. MPs are expected to submit amendments until Monday and debates on the budget bill in the Parliament plenum will start on Wednesday. The draft budget for 2019 was approved Friday by the governing coalition made up of the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats. Under the draft budget, more funds were allotted for healthcare education and investments. The budget is based on a 5.5% economic growth rate, a budget deficit of 2.5% and a GDP of more than 200 billion Euros. The bill also provides for the allocation of 2% of the GDP for defense, according to Romania’s commitments to NATO. Money was also provided for the increase by 15% of pensions starting in September this year. The opposition leveled criticism against the delayed approval of the budget bill as well as against its provisions which they deem unrealistic.



    EU — The Romanian presidency of the Council of the EU announced it received a mandate from the ambassadors of the member states to start negotiations with the European Parliament on the revision of the Directive on natural gas. Considered one of the most sensitive and important legislative files on the European agenda, the modification of the Directive is based on the compromise reached by France and Germany with regard to regulations on gas conveyance which mainly targets the North Stream II gas pipeline project. The pipeline to link Russia and Germany is currently under construction and is aimed at transporting Russian gas to central European countries, bypassing Ukraine.



    Berlin — The Romanian film ‘Monsters’ directed by Marius Olteanu is being screened today, for the first time, at the 69th edition of the Berlin International Film Festival. The film, the only Romanian feature film selected at this edition of the Berlin festival will compete with another 16 movies. ‘Monsters’ tells the story of one day in the life of a young married couple who, together, seem to be loved by the family, the society and friends but who are also judged and rejected when they are on their own because of their needs, convictions and choices. Last year the film Touch Me Not, the debut feature film of Adina Pintilie received the Golden Bear award in Berlin.



    Rugby — Romania’s national rugby team is today playing on home ground, in Cluj, in the northwest, against Georgia its debut match of the 2019 Rugby Europe Championship. This is the 2nd most important competition after the famous Six Nations Championship. Romania’s team will next play in Botosani, in the northeast, on February 16 against Germany. On March 3 Madrid will play host to the match pitting Romania against Spain and on March 9 Botosani will venue the match between Romania and Russia. The Romanian team’s last match will be in Brussels, against Belgium, on March 17. Romania will miss, for the first time in the past 30 years, from the World Cup final tournament scheduled this year in Japan, after the International Federation sanctioned Romania for having used, in the previous edition of the championship, a recently naturalized player from Tonga after he had already played for his country.



    Tennis — The Romanian tennis player Mihaela Buzarnescu (29 WTA) will play against the Czech Karolina Pliskova (5 WTA) in Ostrava, the Czech Republic, on Saturday, in the 2019 Fed Cup first round. The second match of the day will pit Simona Halep (3 WTA) against Katerina Siniakova (44 WTA). Sunday will see the matches pitting Halep against Pliskova and Buzarnescu against Siniakova. In the doubles, the pair Irina Begu/Monica Niculescu will take on the pair Barbora Krejcikova/Katerina Siniakova. In the men’s competition, following Wednesday’s drawing of lots, Romania will be up against Zimbabwe in the first round of the Davis Cup Europe/Africa Zone Group II. (translation by L. Simion)

  • February 4, 2019 UPDATE

    February 4, 2019 UPDATE

    Budget bill 2019 — Romania’s budget bill for 2019 will be debated Friday by the government, although the finance minister, Eugen Teodorovici, had announced late last week that the bill would be passed on Tuesday and sent to Parliament on the same day. According to the finance minister, the budget bill mainly focuses on the healthcare, education and investments domains. On Sunday the Social Democrats’ leader said that part of the sums additionally allotted to the intelligence services should be re-channeled towards important domains such as healthcare. In turn, the PM Viorica Dancila said that funds will be allotted according to realities and to not electoral observations made by the mayors of the big cities. Mayors of cities and towns are discontented with the budgets received and are asking for more money, because local administrations are to take over from the central budget a great deal of the social expenditure. The budget bill provides for a 5.5% economic growth rate, a 2.8% inflation rate and a deficit of 2.5% of the GDP. The draft budget has been criticized by the opposition.



    JAI — The meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council to be hosted by Bucharest is an opportunity for Romania to show that Schengen accession is a national target, said Monday the interior minister Carmen Dan. She added that Schegen accession was an important issue for Romania, worth discussing with the European interior ministers. According to minister Dan, the agenda of the meeting also includes such issues as migration, the anti-terror fight and police cooperation, issues that are also on the agenda of Romania’s presidency of the Council of the EU. The meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council to be held this week in Bucharest will be attended by more than 30 ministers as well as by delegations from all member states, ministerial delegations from Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, and also by representatives of the General Secretariat of the Council of the EU.



    Visit — Pope Francis, the first pontiff to visit the Arabian Peninsula, on Monday participated in an inter-religious meeting in the United Arab Emirates. In his speech, the pontiff said that religions could not renounce the urgent task of building bridges between people and cultures. Pope Francis also met with the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The Pope talked about the situation in Yemen, a poor country in the Arabian Peninsula, which is being faced with the most serious humanitarian crisis in the world, according to the UN, because of a devastating war. On Tuesday Pope Francis will hold a service on a stadium in Abu Dhabi. According to the Vatican’s estimates, as many as one million Catholics are living in the United Arab Emirates (almost 10% of the population, mostly Asian workers), a country with the largest number of Catholic churches in the region.



    Venezuela — Several European states on Monday announced they recognized the opposition leader, Juan Guaido, as interim president of the country. On Thursday, the European Parliament had recognized Guaido’s authority and urged the EU countries to do the same. The EU does not have a common stand related to the status of Juan Guaido as interim president of Venezuela, as some states are being cautious. The foreign ministers of the EU members states have recently talked in Bucharest about this issue and have decided to support Guaido until elections are held in Venezuela, as they fear they might set an example for other opposition leaders. The EU wants Venezuela to hold free, fair and democratic presidential elections. (news update by L. Simion)