Radio România Internațional

Tag: competitiveness

  • February 19, 2019 UPDATE

    February 19, 2019 UPDATE

    COMPET – The “Horizon Europe program was the main point on the agenda of the EU Competitiveness Council in Brussels, the innovation and research section. The meeting was chaired by Romanian Research Minister Nicolae Hurduc, who said Romania wants to ensure the necessary conditions for the continuation of the Horizon Europe program starting 2021. This important project should be the core engine of the European Union, which has the human resources and necessary infrastructure to maintain its status of leader in the field of scientific research. The Commission suggests that 100 billion Euros be earmarked for this sector in the following long term budget of the EU, for the 2021-2027 timeframe. The program had supported over 18 thousand projects and had allotted over 31 billion Euros until May 2018.



    BRANCUSI DAY – Romanians on Tuesday celebrated Brancusi Day, devoted to the 143rd birth anniversary of the outstanding sculptor Constantin Brancusi. “The artist embodies Romanian identity in its material and spiritual entirety, succeeding in committing it to the legacy of universal culture, says Ioan-Aurel Pop, the President of the Romanian Academy. An iconic figure of modern art, Constantin Brancusi was born in Romania and moved to Paris. He is recognized as one of the greatest sculptors of the 20th century. The National Museum of Modern Art in Paris hosts a great number of Brancusis works, which in his will he left to Romania. However, upon the refusal of the communist authorities in Romania to bring home Brancusis works upon the sculptors death, the collection was bequeathed to France along with the contents of his workshop in Paris. The Romanian Parliament declared February 19 “Brancusi Day in 2015.



    GAC –The European Commission has noticed little progress has been made since December in various domains in Poland “There are also a number of new, worrying developments, especially in the field of disciplinary procedures against judges who make public statements about the rule of law in Poland or who have asked preliminary questions to the European Court of Justice, the First Vice-President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, said fresh from the General Affairs Council meeting. “We still have worries about the situation of the constitutional tribunal, he also said. Article 7 might be triggered in Polands case for failure to observe the rule of law. In Brussels, the participating ministers prepared the work agenda of the European Council meeting due next month. The meeting, chaired by the Romanian minister for European affairs, George Ciamba, was devoted to the multi-annual financial framework post 2020, considering a political agreement on the future budget of the EU should be reached as late as this autumn.



    RETRIAL – The High Court of Cassation and Justice on Tuesday admitted the appeal for annulment filed by former Romanian Senator Dan Sova against his 3-year prison sentence in a case where he was charged with influence peddling. The National Anticorruption Directorate accused Sova of having received 100,000 euros in exchange for facilitating a judicial assistance contract between a thermal power plant in Govora and a local law firm. Dan Sova was released from prison in December last year after having served six months of his detention time, following a Constitutional Court ruling concerning the illegal structure of the five-judge panel.



    CHILD ALLOWANCE – The Romanian Government on Tuesday increased the child allowance from some 18 Euros to some 32 Euros a month. The measure will take effect as from March 1, and PM Viorica Dancila has given assurances the necessary sums of money have been included in the state budget law, who has been forwarded to president Klaus Iohannis for promulgation. Also on Tuesday, the government adopted Romanias national selection procedure for European prosecutor. Thus, Bucharest should designate three candidates for the position of European prosecutor by March 31, the justice minister Tudorel Toader has said. According to him, the short term by which nominations can be sent to Brussels comes to explain the urgent adoption of the bill, and the selection procedure will be made by the Justice Ministry.



    FLU – The death toll of the flu epidemic in Romania has reached 138. According to a press release of the National Center for Infectious Disease Surveillance and Control, the last three victims are a 68-year-old woman without a previous history of medical diseases who had taken the anti-flu shot and another two women, aged 64 and 81 respectively, both suffering from other medical conditions and who had not taken the anti-flu vaccine.



    TENNIS – Romanian tennis player world no. 2 Simona Halep on Tuesday defeated Eugenie Bouchard of Canada,7-6,6-4, in the second round of the Dubai Duty Free Championships, totalling 2.8 million dollars in prize money. Also on Tuesday, the pair made up of Raluca Olaru of Romania and Darija Jurak of Croatia defeated second-seeds Nicole Melichar of the United States and Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic 7-6, 7-6 and have advanced to the doubles quarterfinals. (Translated by V. Palcu and D. Vijeu)

  • February 18, 2019

    February 18, 2019

    EU The Romanian Economy Minister, Niculae Bădălău, is chairing in Brussels today the first meeting of the internal market and industry section of the Competitiveness Council (COMPET), under the Romanian presidency of the Council of the EU. The agenda of the Council meeting includes matters concerning the internal market and industry, the strategy for the single market for goods and services, while seeking to improve the competitiveness of the European economy. The Council will also exchange opinions on the single market overview process, and will hold a public debate on the impact of artificial intelligence on EU industry. Participants will also adopt conclusions on promoting development and the use of artificial intelligence.




    JUDICIARY The High Court of Cassation and Justice has once again postponed, to March 18th, the appeal filed by the Social Democratic leader Liviu Dragnea against a 3-and-a-half-year prison sentence he had received from the court of first instance in a corruption-related case. In June 2018, the Supreme Court sentenced Dragnea for instigating abuse of office, in a case involving the fictitious employment of 2 individuals who were on the payroll of the Teleorman Directorate General for Social Assistance and Child Protection, but who actually worked exclusively for the Social Democratic Party. Liviu Dragnea, who was the head of the County Council at the time, was accused of having ordered the hiring. He claims to be innocent and has appealed the initial ruling, but the trial has been repeatedly postponed, amid controversies regarding the membership of the 5-judge panels at the Supreme Court. In 2016, Dragnea also received a suspended 2-year prison sentence for attempted election fraud, but last summer the Supreme Court reversed the decision to suspend his sentence.




    FOREIGN AFFAIRS The Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Meleşcanu is taking part today in a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels. The agenda includes an assessment of the situation in Ukraine, ahead of this years presidential and parliamentary elections. The EU foreign ministers will also discuss Syria, the latest developments in Venezuela and the outcomes of the first meeting of the international contact group for Venezuela. Decisions and conclusions are also expected as regards the situation in Yemen, diplomacy in the context of climate change, as well as the Unions human rights priorities as part of the United Nations this year.





    STATISTICS 1.6% of Romanian employees were working in culture-related fields in 2017, as against the 3.8% the EU average, according to data made public by the European Statistics Bureau, Eurostat, on Monday. Around 8.7 million EU citizens were working in culture-related fields or had professions in this field. The highest rates were reported in Estonia (5.5%) and Sweden (4.8%). According to Eurostat, in 2017 EU households allotted an average 8.5% of their total expenses to entertainment and culture, with Denmark and Sweden spending as much as 11.5% and 11% respectively, compared to Greece with 4.6% and Romania with 5.8%. The total expenses for entertainment and culture across the EU in 2017 reached 710 billion euros, accounting for 4.6% of the Unions GDP.




    FLU In Romania, the number of deaths caused by the flu has reached 131. According to the National Centre for Infectious Disease Monitoring and Control, the last victims are a woman and 2 men. They had previous conditions and had not been immunised against the flu. Romania is currently struggling with a flu epidemic.




    EUROVISION Romanias representative in the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest, to be held in Tel Aviv in May, is Ester Peony with a song called On a Sunday. Twelve songs competed in the national final last night. For the first time, the winner of the Romanian final was decided by an international jury and the public. The semi-finals in Israel are scheduled to take place on May 14th and 16th, and the final on May 18th. Romania will compete in the second semi-final, alongside Switzerland, Sweden, Ireland, Austria, the Republic of Moldova, Latvia, Denmark and Armenia. The countrys best performances so far were 2 third-places (Luminiţa Anghel & Sistem – Kiev, 2005; Paula Seling and Ovi – Oslo, 2010) and a fourth place (Mihai Trăistariu – Athens, 2006).



    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • Romania sees record economic growth rate

    Romania sees record economic growth rate

    Exceeding all expectations, Romania has seen a record growth rate in the April to June period, the highest in the European Union. The 5.7% figure mentioned by Eurostat reflects the positive trend in the first quarter of the year, while the overall economic growth rate in the first six months of the year being almost 6% higher compared with the same period last year.



    Figures also show that, compared with the first quarter, in the second, Romania’s economy grew by 1.6%, which makes it the second highest growth rate in the European Union after Sweden, whose economy grew by 1.7% from one quarter to the next. The growth of the Romanian economy is also higher than the EU and eurozone average.



    The figures published by Eurostat are similar to those announced earlier by the National Institute for Statistics in Bucharest. The country’s economy has thus grown for the 8th consecutive quarter. Analysts say the economic growth seen recently is largely based on consumption, but that industrial activity has also seen positive dynamics. Andrei Radulescu, an economic expert and the chief economist of a large bank in Romania has explained in an interview on Radio Romania:



    Andrei Radulescu: “Consumption has been boosted by recent salary increases on the one hand, and on the low level of financing costs and the dynamics of lending in the national currency, on the other. However, we also note a weaker contribution of investments to the dynamics of the economy in the first six months of the year.”



    In the medium-run, Andrei Radulescu expects an accumulation of risks to financial macro-stability resulting in particular from the deterioration of the international competitiveness of the Romanian economy and the high level of the budget deficit, which should not be higher than 3% of the GDP.



    According to Prime Minister Mihai Tudose, the results confirm that Romania is on a positive trend. Ludovic Orban, the leader of the Liberal Party, the main opposition party in Romania, says, however, that the current Social Democratic government is compromising the country’s medium and long run chances for development.



    He says the government shows amateurism and improvisation, proposing laws that destroy investments, the economic initiative and the movement of money. He cited as an example the fact that after the uncertainty about the turnover tax, the solidarity tax, the nationalisation of the second pillar of pensions and the household tax, the government now wants to reintroduce an excise on fuel to patch up the state budget.