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  • Government made its first budget revision this year

    Government made its first budget revision this year

    The Bucharest Government approved the first budget revision of this year, which will trigger an increase in the budget deficit. According to Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, the revision is sustainable, because 84% of the deficit represents expenses for investments, and the money will return multiplied to the budget state. The correction is positive and is based on the increase in revenues and the increase in the deficit to 6.9%. The Prime Minister pointed out the fact that investments and not consumption would continue to be supported. He gave as an example the highways, which will bring back eight times more money than was spent on their construction.

     

    Marcel Ciolacu: “It is natural for the state to first transfer the money to the Minister of Transport, Sorin Grindeanu, who gives it to the companies, they finish our highways, which we have been waiting for for 30 years, and, with a delay of a month or two, taxes return to the state. Moreover, in the next period, at least what it is invested in the infrastructure multiplies in the economy up to eight times. You put in one euro, you get 6 or 8 euros back, in the area where we have directed a lot of investments at the moment.”

     

    The Prime Minister also said that the reduction of unnecessary public expenditure would continue. In his opinion, the budget deficit must be an exclusively general investment deficit. Following the revision, health, transport and education receive additional funds.

     

    Social insurance budgets are also being increased for the payment of recalculated pensions, which have increased since September 1, but also for unemployment allowances and related social insurance contributions. The Ministries of Health, Internal Affairs, European Projects, Agriculture and Energy will also receive additional funds.

     

    On the other hand, other main authorizing officers will have smaller budgets. These include the General Secretariat of the Government, the Ministry of Economy, the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, the Special Telecommunications Service, but also the Ministry of Development. The budget revision proposal is based on the increase in revenues and expenses, which have gone up significantly. According to specialists, this will lead to a deficit of 2% above the authorities’ estimate of 5% at the beginning of this year. All these in the context of a revised downward economic growth forecast, from 3.4 to 2.8% of GDP. The National Strategy and Forecast Commission (CNSP) estimates a GDP growth of 3.5% for 2025, and 3.7% for 2026. Inflation at the end of the year is forecast at 4.5%, above the Central Bank target of 4%, to decrease to 3.8% next year and to 2.9% in 2026. The trade deficit will increase, according to the Forecast Commission, to 32.7 billion euros this year, from 28.9 billion euros last year, after an advance in exports (1.8%) and imports (4.5%). The average exchange rate is projected at 4.98 lei/euro for this year, and the average net monthly salary could rise by 14.8% in 2024, to 5,066 lei (approx. 1020 euros).

  • November 23, 2018

    November 23, 2018

    BREXIT– Romanian President Klaus Iohannis will attend on Sunday a special meeting of the European Council in Brussels. EU leaders are meeting to endorse the Brexit withdrawal agreement . The summit was called by President Donald Tusk on 15 November 2018, after his meeting with EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier, who presented to him the draft text as agreed with the UK at the level of the negotiators. Leaders are also expected to approve a political declaration on future EU-UK relations that will accompany and be referred to in the withdrawal agreement. The Commission intends to agree with the UK a final draft for this declaration, building on the outline agreed by the negotiators on both sides.




    BUDGET REVISION — The second budget adjustment for 2018 is being discussed in today’s government meeting, Romanian PM Viorica Dancila has announced. She has also said that the budget adjustment is a positive one, and is aimed at maintaining the budget deficit target of 2.97% of the GDP, ensuring the necessary funds for the implementation of the government policies and programmes and for the well-functioning of the public institutions. The finance ministry, the labour ministry and the healthcare ministry will receive the biggest amount of additional funds. The justice, internal affairs and development ministries will also receive more money, as will the health insurance fund, the state social securities fund and the unemployment fund. The ministries of transport, research and innovation, culture, education, communication and information society, European funds, waters and forests, the environment and agriculture will receive less money.




    HEALTH REPORT – The European Commission’s Health at a Glance: Europe report has been made public this month. Developed by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in cooperation with the European Commission, this publication provides analysis of the state of health of EU citizens and the performance of EU health systems. In addition to chapters containing statistical indicators for 35 European countries, the 2018 report includes two cross-cutting chapters on EU political priorities: promoting mental health and reducing inefficient spending. According to the report, Romanians’ life expectancy rate is among the lowest in the EU, with cardiovascular diseases and cancer as the main cause, while infectious diseases, TB in particular, are major health risks. The report also says that Romania has the lowest expenditure among all EU’s health systems, while the amounts that patients spend are very high as compared with the average spending in the community area. The insufficient staff, especially in the underproviledged areas, the underdevelopment of infrastructure are also problems of the Romanian health system. The report also says that the authorities have taken a series of measures to improve the situation.




    VISIT — Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu travelled to Seoul on Friday for a three-day official visit that marks 10 years since the signing of the strategic partnership between Romania and South Korea. On this occasion, the South Korean Foreign Minister, Kang Kyung-wha, has called on Romania to play a key role in supporting the peace process in the Korean peninsula, especially next year, when Bucharest takes over the EU Council presidency. In turn, Teodor Melescanu said that Romania hopes to find ways of supporting the continuation of the peace process in the area, at a time when South Korea’s efforts focus on the full denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.




    RadiRo – The 4th edition of the International Radio Orchestras Festival — RadiRo, organized by Radio Romania, continues on Friday with another concert by the BBC Philharmonic, conducted by Ben Gernon. Also on Friday, Marilyn Mazur & The Danish Radio Big Band are giving a concert under the baton of Miho Hazama. RadiRo is the only event devoted to European and world radio orchestras. All concerts are broadcast live by Radio Romania’s channels, recorded and subsequently rebroadcast by the public television. The concerts are also rebroadcast by the radiobroadcasters that are members of the European Broadcasting Union.




    NATIONAL DAY – Around 4,000 military and experts from the defence ministry, the interior ministry, the Romanian Intelligence Service and the National Prisons Administration, and over 200 pieces of equipment and 50 planes, as well as military from a number of allied and partner countries will take part in a military parade on the 1st of December in Bucharest on Romanias national day. The approximately 500 foreign troops taking part will come from Albania, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, the UK, the Republic of Moldova, Slovakia, the US, Turkey and Ukraine. The Romanian military in foreign missions and theatres of operation will also be holding special military ceremonies and activities to celebrate the national day.


    (Translated by Elena Enache)







  • September 6, 2018 UPDATE

    September 6, 2018 UPDATE

    MADRID — Romanian PM Viorica Dancila and her Spanish counterpart, Pedro Sanchez, signed in Madrid on Thursday bilateral cooperation agreements in the field of defense and public administration, respectively. The two ministers hailed the excellent level of cooperation in the economic field as well as at the level of bilateral trade exchanges, which stand at some 4 bn Euros. The Romanian Pm is accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Paul Stanescu, Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu, Defense Minister Mihai Fifor, Business Minister Stefan Oprea and Minister for European Funds Rovana Plumb. Romania and Spain have a Strategic Partnership, which they signed five years ago. Spain is also hosting a large Romanian community, standing at 870,000 people, according to estimates made at the start of the year. Actually, Romanians are making up the largest foreign community in Spain.



    JUSTICE — Romanian Minister of Justice Tudorel Toader on Thursday nominated Adina Florea to become the next head of the Anti-corruption Directorate. She is a prosecutor with the Constanta Tribunal. The nomination will be forwarded to the prosecutor section of the Supreme Council of Magistracy, which has to endorse the appointment, then sent for endorsement to President Klaus Iohannis. The position became vacant in May, when the president was compelled by the Constitutional Court to dismiss former head prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi, as requested by Justice Minister Toader.



    BUDGET REVISION — Romania’s Ombudsman, Victor Ciorbea, has announced he will analyze the request made by President Klaus Iohannis related to an unconstitutionality exception regarding an emergency ordinance on budget revision, after it was published in the Official Gazette . The president made the request after on Wednesday, the leftist government in Bucharest approved by an emergency ordinance a budget revision, without getting the approval of Romania’s Supreme Defense Council. In another move, president Iohannis said PM Viorica Dăncilă ignored the invitation to dialogue on the issue of the budget revision, which represents, in the president’s opinion, a dangerous precedent with respect to the institutional relations. Instead of talks between the president and the prime minister, a meeting was held between finance and justice ministers, Eugen Teodorovici and Tudorel Toader, respectively and two presidential advisers. The government motivated the prime minister’s absence by saying she was on a visit to Spain.



    ECONOMY — Romanian finance minister Eugen Teodorovici, said he will have talks with the IMF representative to Bucharest, Alejandro Hajdenberg. The latter announced on Thursday that the financial institution might downgrade the outlook for Romania. The minister said such declarations should be well grounded especially when they are made public. Hajdenberg told a press conference that the IMF is considering downgrading Romania’s economic growth outlook for this year from 5.1% , down to 4-4.5%, against the backdrop of a decreasing economic activity.



    PIPELINE-Romanian economy minister, Dănuţ Andruşcă, and his Moldovan counterpart, Chiril Gaburici, on Thursday signed a document allowing for the extension of the gas pipeline which connects Romania and the Republic of Moldova. The document is actually the certificate attesting that the sale-purchasing procedure of a Moldovan company was finalized. It ahs been taken over by a gas conveyor from Romania, as part of an operation which allows fro the extension of the gas pipe line linking Iasi in eastern Romania to Ungheni , near Chishinau, in Moldova. According to the Romanian economy minister, Romania is thus further complying with the commitments it has made in the relation with the Republic of Moldova, which is securing its access to the European natural gas market. In turn, the Moldovan official said that by this project, the Republic of Moldova is reducing its dependency on Russian gas.



    EU — The government will publish in November the calendar of events related to the Romanian presidency of the EU Council. The announcement was made by Minister for European Affairs Victor Negrescu, specifying that Romania is prepared to manage in terms of organization and logistics events during its term, occurring in the first half of next year. The estimated budget that Romania manages during its term is estimated at 60 to 80 billion Euro, said Daniel Gosa, general manager of the unit for preparing the presidency. According to him, a review was made for local resources in terms of allocating accommodation for meetings and lodging, as well as transportation for the events to be held next year in Bucharest and Sibiu.



    KIEV — The Ukrainian parliament has ratified the agreement between Ukraine and Romania on cooperation in the field of military transports. The respective agreement was signed on April 21, 2016 by the defence ministers of the two countries, during the visit to Bucharest by Ukrainian President, Petro Poroshenko. Romania ratified the agreement in December 2017.

  • July 17, 2018

    July 17, 2018

    CONSTITUTIONAL COURT — Romania’s Constitutional Court is today discussing the notification filed by the head of state, Klaus Iohannis, as regards the revision of the law on the organisation and functionning of the Higher Magistracy Council, as well as the notification signed by 90 deputies with the National Liberal Party, Save Romania Union and unnafiliated MPs on the same matter. President Iohannis has argued that Parliament rejected without any motivation his request for the stipulations regarding the functioning of the Higher Magistracy Council to be reexamined, which he says affect the role of the head of state as the one who guarantees the independence of the judiciary and the functionning of the Judicial Inspection. Iohannis also mentions, invoking a Counstitutional Court decision in this respect, that Parliament must reexamine all signalled aspects.




    MEETING — President Klaus Iohannis has required a meeting with the Social Democrat PM Viorica Dancila, to be held on Wednesday. The meeting will take place against a sensitive political background, with the media saying that the ruling coalition is negotiating the issuing of an emergency order regarding amnesty and pardoning. This continues to be a controversial issue that triggered large-scale proteststs 18 months ago. The previous meeting between Iohannis and Dancila was held two months ago, also at the president’s request, following the heated debates sparked by the possible relocation of Romania’s embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. President Iohannis asked PM Dancila to resign, at the end of April, saying she is unable to cope with the responsibilities incurred by her position.




    BREXIT – UK junior defense minister Guto Bebb has resigned after voting against a government-backed amendment on the customs bill, BBC news reported on Monday. Bebb, who was minister for UK defense procurement, voted against the amendment that will stop Britain from collecting tariffs for the European Union after Brexit. The British government voted to support an amendment proposed Prime Minister Theresa May. The Brexit negotiations between London and the European Union started last year and are due to be completed by the end of March 2019.




    CRITICISM – President Donald Trumps discourse at Monday’s news conference in Helsinki drew widespread criticism in the US, including from Trump’s own party, news agencies report. Several Republican senators and a former CIA chief were stunned by Trumps refusal to condemn Putin for what U.S. intelligence agencies have said is solid evidence of Russias sustained effort to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. Donald Trump, in a joint news conference with Vladimir Putin on Monday in Helsinki, said that both the United States and Russia were to blame for what he also called the worst relationship between the two countries in their history and said that was about to change. President Putin said in turn the meeting was a good one and that the first steps towards mutual trust were being taken.




    BUDGET REVISION – The Bucharest Government convenes today to discuss the first budget revision this year. According to the meeting’s agenda, a draft law initiated by the Defense Ministry, regarding the purchase of equipment aimed at securing Romania’s Black Sea area, will be analyzed. Minister Fifor has said that at the recent NATO Summit in Brussels it was emphasized the fact that Romania is part of a group of five countries that have allotted 2% of the GDP to defense. He has also said that most of this amount will be used for the equipping and modernization of the army.




    WATER POLO – Romania’s water polo team was defeated by title holder Serbia, 11-5 in their first match in Group D of the European Championships in Barcelona, attended by the best 16 national teams in Europe. In the other match of the group, Russia beat Slovakia 12-6. Romania will be up against Slovakia on Wednesday. At the 2016 edition of the European Championships, Romania ranked 10th, while in 1993 and 2006 was 4th placed.


  • Government approves last budget revision of the year

    Government approves last budget revision of the year

    The Government in Bucharest has approved the second positive budget revision this year, given the fact that the budget deficit was maintained at 2.96% of the GDP and the data that point to economic growth prospects of 6.1% from the initial 5.6% estimated during the first budget revision. Under the circumstances, the nominal GDP forecasted went up from 180.8 billion Euro to 181.9 billion Euro. The revision comes shortly after Eurostat has announced that Romania reported the biggest GDP growth of the 28EU member states in the third quarter this year, of 8.6%, as compared with the same period in 2016. Finance Minister Ionut Misa has said that Romania ranks first in Europe in terms of economic development that allows for improved tax collection and the financing of some important projects such as the construction of motorways and of regional hospitals. He has also reminded that local authorities will be granted more money.



    Ionut Misa: “Additional funds have been earmarked for the local budget and I refer to the payment of the amounts ordered under final Court decisions, to cover the expenses with the payment of the teaching staff in higher secondary education. There are also additional funds for the financing of the child protection system, of the private licensed education system, and also more funds for the Ministry of Labour and Social Justice, the Home Affairs Ministry, the Transport Ministry and the Health Ministry.”



    The Finance Minister has also said that the funds for health programmes and the payment of the medical staff will also be supplemented. Ionut Misa has pointed out that there are ministries that will receive less money, such as the Ministry for Small and Medium Enterprises, the Ministry of Culture, the Environment Ministry, the Regional Development Ministry, the Finance Ministry and the Ministry for European Funds. On the other hand, the Government approved some social protection measures for the employees made redundant and allotted funds to the zootechnical sector.



    There are economic experts, however, who criticise these measures. The situation of the state budget is not good, says Ionut Dumitru, head of the Fiscal Council, an independent body that monitors government’s economic policies. In his opinion tax collection is below expectations, social expenditure went up and public investment has been severely slashed. Ionut Dumitru has reminded that Romania has the lowest level of tax revenues in Europe, after Ireland.

  • The Week in Review September 10-16.09.2017

    The Week in Review September 10-16.09.2017

    Changes in the government membership


    The government in Bucharest made up of the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats went through a small reshuffle on Monday. The economy minister Mihai Fifor took over the defence ministry, while his position was taken over by the MP Gheorghe Simon. Fifor was appointed after the resignation of his predecessor Adrian Tutuianu a week earlier amid a scandal over the salary fund for the military. As soon as he took over the defence ministry, Mihai Fifor attended a meeting of the countrys Supreme Defence Council on Thursday, which approved the participation of the Romanian army with a naval capability to a NATO mission in the second part of this year. The Council also approved the national strategy for the 2017-2019 period for the prevention of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The strategy also aims at strengthening the rapid reaction capability and the consolidation of inter-institutional cooperation. Energy security was another topic discussed. The Council agreed on the need for an efficient legal framework and for strengthening the responsibilities of the relevant state bodies to ensure a viable exploitation of Romanias energy resources.



    The first adjustment of the 2017 state budget



    The government in Bucharest has this week approved the first adjustment of the 2017 budget, with the budget deficit being maintained under 3% of the GDP. The finance minister Ionut Misa said this was a positive adjustment given that, at 5.8%, Romanias economic growth rate was higher than expected in the first semester. According to the government, all public institutions have all the necessary funds to cover running costs. The agriculture, healthcare, interior and business, trade as well as entrepreneurship ministries will receive more money. The regional development, transport and communications and information society ministries will see budget cuts. The excise duty on fuel was also raised this week, and is to grow again as of October 1st. The government hopes the measure will bring in more money to the budget. Carriers are afraid fuel may become more expensive as a result, but the government has given assurances that this is not going to happen if the price of oil remains constant.




    Jean-Claude Junker about Romania and the EU


    The Romanian Presidency and Government have hailed the address on the future of the EU given before the Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday by the European Commission President Jean-Claude Junker. He proposed that the city of Sibiu, in central Romania, be the location of the summit on the future of the European Union to be held on March 30th, 2019, shortly after Brexit. Jean-Claude Junker also announced that the European Commission will launch a tool aimed at technically supporting the countries that are not members of the Eurozone, including Romania. Also, Junker said that both Romania and Bulgaria should immediately join Schengen. The European official also stressed that it is unacceptable that there are still children in Europe who die killed by diseases that have been long eradicated elsewhere. Children in Romania and Italy must have equal access to vaccination against measles just like the children in the other member countries, the European Commission President also said.



    A new school year started in Romania



    A new school year started on September 11th for more than 2.3 million children in Romania. For the new year, the Education Ministry has prepared several changes, including an earlier start for the high-school graduation examination, the Baccalaureate. As of this school year, high-school graduates will sit for the oral testing in February, not in June as before. Also, teachers will be allowed to correct the tests online, from home. Attending the opening of the new school year at a prestigious high-school in Bucharest, president Klaus Iohannis said that the education law should stop being just a jigsaw puzzle whose pieces keep changing. Building an educated Romania cannot be done in the absence of a predictable education system, centered on the student, the President also said.

    Less rights for the Romanian students in Ukraine

    High-ranking Romanian officials have voiced worries this week over the recent endorsement by the Ukrainian Parliament of a new Education Law, which limits education in the languages of the national minorities living in Ukraine. In Kiev, three ethnic Romanian, Bulgarian and Hungarian deputies called on president Petro Porosenko not to promulgate the document. Also, the Romanian delegation at the Council of Europes Parliamentary Assembly will propose an urgent debate on the situation generated by the new law. The Romanian opposition Peoples Movement Party has called for an urgent meeting of the Joint Romanian – Ukrainian Presidential Committee to urge Kiev to change the law so as to observe the international norms in the field. The law provides that teaching in high-schools and higher education institutions be done only in the Ukranian language, and education in the minorities languages would only be possible in kindergartens and primary schools. There are some 500,000 Romanians living in Ukraine.

  • The first budget revision in 2017

    The first budget revision in 2017

    Amidst growing concern about the real state of the country’s economy and its finances, expressed by experts and the opposition, the left of centre Government in Bucharest has approved the first budget revision this year, in a move meant to dispel fears of prospective budgetary turmoil.



    Finance minister Ionuţ Mişa says it is a positive revision and explains why: “The 5.8% economic growth rate registered in the first half of the year has led to the positive revision of the economic growth rate registered in 2017, from 5.2%, the figure taken into consideration when the budget was drafted at the start of the year 2017, to 5.6%. Under these circumstances, the government makes a positive budget revision, maintaining the budget deficit at 2.96%of the GDP.”



    More funds have been allotted to cover pay rises, whereas the sums of money allotted to projects with European financing have been cut. Minister Ionuţ Mişa: ”I would like to mention that cuts have been operated mainly in the case of the amounts granted for projects with European financing, because the 2017 state budget was approved rather late and procurement procedures have been delayed, which have caused a poor budget implementation in the first eight months of the year.”



    The budgets of local administrations will be supplemented, to cover expenses with the payment of the teaching staff in higher secondary education, of the people accompanying disabled persons, and to fund school programs. The Health Ministry will receive more funds for the payment of the medical staff, just like the Interior Ministry, for the payment of salaries and of the policemen’s pensions. Agriculture will also receive more money. There are also ministries that will receive less money, such as the Regional Development Ministry, the Transport Ministry and the Communication Ministry. From the opposition, the Save Romania Union called on the Government to come up with budget revision solutions to place the country’s expenses on a real economic basis. The aforementioned party claims the ruling coalition made up of the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Romania is manipulating budget figures to present to the public a positive budget revision, showing the state’s revenues and expenditure are on the rise.



    The Save Romania Union points an accusatory finger saying that in reality the budget revenues and expenditure are following a downward trend, reflecting the disastrous situation of public finances. In its turn, the Fiscal Council, a government body which has the role of counselling the authorities in order to have a “healthy” budget, says it has identified, in the budget revision, elements which suggest the vulnerability of public finances on medium term and recommends to the Government to urgently come up with a plan of measures.



    According to the Fiscal Council, the economic growth rate that has exceeded expectations has however failed to achieve the convergence between fiscal revenues and the envisaged targets, and the budget execution has significantly exceeded initial assessments of the funds that will be necessary to supplement current expenditures.


  • September 8, 2017 UPDATE

    September 8, 2017 UPDATE

    UPDATE (21.00):

    The Romanian-Dutch pair made up of Horia Tecau and Jean Julien Rojer has won the finals of the men’s doubles of the US open, defeating the all-Spanish pair Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez, 6-4 ,6-3. 12th-seeded Tecau and Rojer had previously defeated the first seeds Henri Kontinen of Finland and John Peers of Australia 1-6, 7-6, 7-5. Tecau and Rojer’s opponents came after a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win against twins Bob and Mike Bryan of the USA.


    Budget – Romanian Finance Minister Ionut Misa announced on Friday a positive budget revision. Misa said that following the economic results reported in the first eight months of the year, the budget structure would take into account a 5.6% economic growth instead of an initial 5.2%. Based on this modification, the budget revision brings more money to the agriculture, health, labour, justice and home affairs ministries and to the Romanian Intelligence Service. On the other hand, the regional development, transport and communication ministries will receive less money due to delays in the execution of EU funded projects.




    UKRAINE – Minister for Romanians Worldwide, Andreea Păstîrnac on Friday had a meeting with the Ukrainian Ambassador to Bucharest, Oleksandr Bankov, during which she voiced discontent with the new education law passed in Ukraine. The new law provides for exclusively Ukrainian-language teaching in high-schools and universities, while restricting teaching in the mother tongue in kindergartens and elementary schools. According to Minister Păstîrnac the new law violates the right of the Romanian ethnic community in Ukraine to study in their mother tongue and is against the previous commitment by the Kiev authorities to support education for Romanian ethnics and to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the field of education. Almost half a million Romanian ethnics live in Ukraine, most of them along the common border, on the eastern Romanian territories annexed by the USSR in 1940, following an ultimatum, and taken over in 1991 by Ukraine, as successor state.




    Visit – EU Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Cretu said on Friday in Bucharest that investments in the field of transportation were vital and that the situation was worrisome. She mentioned that one of the topics of her meeting with Transport Minister Razvan Cuc was the project of the subway line connecting the capital Bucharest to Henri Coanda International Airport. This project is particularly important given that Romania will host some of the European Football Championships matches in 2020.




    Moldova – Moldovas President, the pro-Russian Igor Dodon, who is also supreme commander of the countrys armed forces, signed a decree on Friday that forbids Moldovan military to take part in any activity abroad, without his consent. Also, Dodon asked the pro-Western Prime Minister Pavel Filip to dismiss the deputy defense minister Gheorghe Galbura and ordered an investigation in trying to find out who was to blame for his previous order, that banned Moldovan soldiers from taking part in military exercises in the neighbouring Ukraine, being disobeyed.




    Celebration – Orthodox, Greek Catholic and Catholic believers in Romania celebrated on Friday the birth of St. Mary, the first important celebration of the new liturgical year that started on September 1st. The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary also marks the transition from summer to autumn. Over two million Romanians celebrated their name day on Friday.




    Education – Romania ranks third in the EU in terms of school dropout, according to the latest Eurostat report. The highest school dropout rates have been reported in Malta, 19.6%, Spain, 19% and Romania 18.5%. Croatia, Lithuania and Slovenia, on the other hand have the smallest school dropout levels. According to Eurostat, in the past 10 years the school dropout figures have decreased in all member states except from the Czech Republic, Romania and Croatia, where they went up. The target for 2020 is to reduce the school dropout rate in the EU to less than 10%.




    Quake – A crisis cell of the Romanian Foreign Ministry (MAE) has been activated after the earthquake in Mexico. Romanian citizens affected by the quake can require consular assistance at Romanias Embassy in Ciudad de Mexico. A 8.1 magnitude quake took place off the southern coast of Mexico late on Thursday, the most powerful such earthquake to hit the country in decades. The quake, which was stronger than the devastating 1985 one that killed thousands, tore through buildings, forced mass evacuations and triggered alerts as far away as Southeast Asia.

    (Translated by E. Enache, updated by D. Vijeu)

  • November 23, 2016 UPDATE

    November 23, 2016 UPDATE

    BUDGET REVISION— The Romanian government on Wednesday approved a second budget revision this year. According to finance minister, Anca Dragu, this is a positive one and reflects the efficient way in which the public money was spent, as well as the fact that Romania registered economic growth. The revision will bring more money to such fields as healthcare, investments, direct payments in agriculture and will also support some projects and policies in the domain of education and social assistance, financed by the local public administration. The revision was intended to redistribute funds which can no longer be spent by the end of 2016, to assure the financing of programs that are currently being developed and is based on the idea of maintaining the budget deficit target below 3% of the GDP.



    MICROSOFT 2 CASE – The National Anticorruption Directorate on Wednesday called for the Romanian president’s approval in order to start criminal investigation against former ministers Dan Nica, Alexandru Athanasiu and Adriana Ţicău, for abuse of office in the “Microsoft 2” case. Dan Nica was minister of communications and IT (2000-2004), Silvia Adriana Ţicău, was successively, state secretary, minister of communications and IT (in the 2003-2004 period) and Alexandru Athanasiu, education and research minister. They are accused of involvement in the initiation, approval and backing of draft executive decisions which led to the signing of a Microsoft licensing contract with Fujitsu Siemens and expanding the contract to include Microsoft educational products. The prejudice in this case stands at some 67 million dollars.



    INVESTIGATION — 11 former and acting members of the Board of Administrators of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation, including the President Director General Ovidiu Miculescu, are investigated by the Prosecutor’s Office with the Sector 1 Court, under suspicion of abuse of office and conflict of interest. According to the Prosecutor’s Office, between July 2011 and January 2014, they were allegedly involved in making decisions during the meetings of the Board of Administrators of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation when service-providing contracts were signed, based on which they allegedly obtained undue benefits worth some 400,000 lei, the equivalent of some 90,000 Euro. The communiqué issued by the Prosecutor’s Office says the continuation of criminal investigation is a stage in the criminal case, regulated under the Criminal Procedure Code, aimed at creating the legal framework for collecting evidence, an activity that can under no circumstance violate the presumption of innocence principle. Several searches were made last week, at the headquarters of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation, as well as at the legal and actual headquarters of a company that the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation did business with. A communiqué issued on Tuesday by the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation reads the investigations are related to the term of the former Board of Administrators.



    PILOT STRIKE — Almost 900 flights by German flagship company Lufthansa have been cancelled, around one third of the total, including five return flights between Munich and Bucharest, as well as three return flights between Bucharest and Frankfurt. The protest will continue until Friday. The pilot strike will be affecting over 100,000 people. The pilot union is demanding raises worth an average of 3.7%, rejecting the offer made by management, amounting to 2.5%. The union turned down the offer, saying it amounted to a salary freeze. This wage war has been going on since 2014, with the union organizing over 14 protests. On Tuesday, 60 flights were cancelled for Eurowings, Lufthansas low cost division.



    HIGHWAY — The Romanian Ministry of Transportation announced it approved the project to build the highway linking the cities of Pitesti and Sibiu for its entire length, 123 km, at a cost of 1.6 billion Euro. This is the last segment of the fourth European corridor, and is supposed to be finalized in 2021, a year earlier than the master plan. This project had been in limbo for a long time, as the state could not decide on a method of financing, which hindered national development. The construction of this segment was demanded by car builders Renault and Ford, that have automotive plants in Romania, criticizing the lack of a high speed road as part of this European route.(Translated by C. Cotoiu and D. Vijeu)