MOTION — The National Liberal Party, the People’s Movement Party and the Save Romania Union in opposition today filed a simple motion in the Senate against Finance Minister Ionut Misa. The opposition criticizes the Government’s fiscal measures, saying they will negatively impact the economy and all social classes. The Government wants to transfer the payment of social security contributions from employers to employees and to introduce the so-called “employment insurance tax” for employers. Liberal leader Ludovic Orban said this new contribution will increase taxation. In another development today, the Senate passed a draft law on adopting the Government’s emergency decree on the spaced-out payment of VAT. The plenary session paid heed to a report of the Senate’s Budget and Finance Committee, which modified the text of the decree, stipulating the measure applies only for insolvent companies or any companies with outstanding VAT-related debts at the end of 2017. The draft law will be submitted to the Chamber of Deputies, the decision-making body.
DIGITIZATION — The future of Europe will be digital or “there won’t be one”, and Romania will hold the upper hand in this context due to its very active network of startups, European Commissioner for Economy and the Digital Society, Mariya Gabriel, said today in Bucharest. According to the EU official, Southeastern Europe will have a great impact on the development of this field. Mariya Gabriel is attending a conference hosted by Bucharest titled “Digital Romania International Forum — Startups in 4.0 Industries”. The forum brings together leaders from the industry, entrepreneurs, investors, European decision-makers, authorities and academia with a view to finding solutions for Romania to contribute and benefit from the digitization of the industry, the economy and society at EU level. According to an analysis of the PwC audit and consultancy group, Romania has a very high development potential in the IT sector, despite ranking last at EU level as regards the degree of digitization.
UKRAINE — Venice Commission experts are in Kiev for the next couple of days to examine the tensions prompted by the adoption of the new education law in this country. Attending the meeting with ethnic minorities will also be a delegation of Romanian nationals from the region of Cernauti. According to minority representatives, the new education law severely restricts the minorities’ rights to education in their native language. Recently, representatives of the Romanian community in Ukraine have referred the matter to the Venice Commission, demanding the new education law be examined to check its compliance with Ukraine’s commitments before the Council of Europe to safeguard the rights of national minorities to education in their own languages. Bucharest has repeatedly criticized the law.
INVESTIGATION — A United States judge has warranted the house arrest of Paul Manafort, former campaign chairman to Donald Trump. Paul Manafort and his associate have been indicted on 12 counts, including conspiracy against the United States, failure to disclose overseas bank accounts and money laundering. These are the first accusations stemming from the investigation into Russia’s alleged ingressions into Donald Trump’s campaign for the presidential election of 2016, whose purpose was to swing the vote to Trump’s favour. Manafort ran Trump’s campaign in June-August 2016, when he was forced to step down in light of revelations that he secretly lobbied for a pro-Russian party in Ukraine in exchange for millions of dollars. The indictment however makes no reference to Donald Trump’s election campaign nor any other suggestion linked with a secret understanding between Donald Trump’s campaign staff and Russian authorities that might have illegally influenced the result of the vote. Trump denied accusations regarding his purported involvement with Russian officials and has labeled the investigation as “a witch hunt”.
FOOTBALL — Romania’s football vice-champions FCSB on Thursday are playing Hapoel Beer Sheva of Israel at home in the fourth round of the Europa League main group phase. Two weeks ago, Nicolae Dica’s trainees won 2-1 in Israel. FCSB ranks first in the Group G with 9 points in 3 matches, followed by Lugano of Switzerland, Viktoria Plzen of the Czech Republic and Hapoel Beer Seva of Israel, each with 3 points. FCSB can secure qualification to the next phase with a draw on Thursday. (Translated by V. Palcu)