INVESTIGATION – The Romanian Prime Minister’s inquiry corps has uncovered irregularities and evidence of negligence in the organization of the exhibition at the Drents Museum in Assen, where Dacian treasure items were stolen. The report, which was submitted to the Prosecutor General’s Office, shows that the National Museum of History of Romania and the Ministry of Culture accepted less rigorous security measures than those established for the exhibitions in Madrid and Rome, such as the lack of permanent security. Another irregularity refers to the fact that the exhibition did not have the approval of the Museum’s Board of Directors, as required by the regulations in force, and the loan contract was not concluded in authentic format. In addition, the insurance value of the goods exhibited in the Netherlands was the last to be established, and for certain items the assessment was based on a revaluation carried out 14 years ago. According to Dutch Police, hundreds of tips have been received in connection to the heist, mostly information about the locations where the suspects were seen after the robbery and the people they met with. Dutch law enforcement has arrested three suspects last week, two men and a woman, who refused to say where the stolen objects were. All three suspects are still in custody. Dutch art detective Arthur Brand believes there is a 50% chance that the thieves have already melted down the artifacts (a helmet and three bracelets, all heritage items), for their corresponding gold value.
GDP – Romania’s GDP per capita at purchasing power parity has exceeded Poland’s, according to a research conducted by experts from the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest. According to the source, Romania fares better than other economies in the region, such as Hungary, Croatia or Greece, and the nominal GDP per capita, which has grown by an average of 11% per year in the last five years, has exceeded 80% compared to the EU average.
IMF – Maintaining macroeconomic stability and investments, in addition to continuing reforms are among the priorities of the Romanian government for this year, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said during Friday’s meeting with the IMF delegation in Bucharest. During the talks, the Romanian Prime Minister underlined the government’s commitment to observing the 7% budget deficit target and continuing the trend of reducing the deficit over the coming years, in line with the fiscal plan agreed jointly with representatives of the European Commission. In this context, Marcel Ciolacu highlighted measures designed to cut personnel spending in the public sector, restructure the state budget and operate a territorial-administrative reorganization as the government’s top priorities for the coming period. IMF experts also discussed with officials of the National Bank of Romania, including Governor Mugur Isărescu. The IMF delegation did not call on Romania to take drastic financial measures, introduce tax increases or other austerity measures, Finance Minister Tánczos Barna in turn gave assurances after meeting on Thursday with the new IMF head of mission to Romania, Joong Shik Kang. At present, Romania has no standing agreement with the IMF, although the international lender conducts annual assessments of Romanian economy based on consultations, which is a mandatory oversight requirement applied to all IMF members.
G7 – The Foreign Ministers of Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Romania and Sweden have submitted a joint letter calling on G7 states to take additional measures to reduce the revenues obtained by Moscow from the sale of its energy carriers. “With these revenues, Russia finances its ongoing aggression in Ukraine, considering a third of Russia’s revenues and two thirds of its exports are linked to energy carriers”, reads a statement of the Romanian Foreign Ministry published on Friday. According to the quoted source, the 12 states “have consistently supported the adoption of the toughest possible restrictive measures against Russia”. G7 states are thus encouraged to use the oil price cap to ensure that it continues to serve as a significant tool in limiting Russia’s revenue flows, to impose additional sanctions on Moscow’s “shadow fleet” and the actors involved, and to consider additional measures targeting the maritime transport of Russian exports, the Romanian MFA also states.
ICC – The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday strongly condemned the sanctions imposed on its staff by U.S. President Donald Trump, which have sparked protests in the UN and some European states. Dozens of countries have warned the sanctions could “increase the risk of impunity for the most serious crimes and threaten to undermine the international principles of the rule of law”. “The sanctions will seriously undermine all pending investigations, as the Court may be forced to close its field offices”, representatives of 79 countries, accounting for nearly two-thirds of the ICC’s members, have pointed out in a joint statement. The U.S. president signed an executive order on Thursday banning entry into the USA of IIC staff and freezing all their assets in the United States. According to the White House, the ICC has engaged in “illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel”, referring to investigations into alleged war crimes by American soldiers in Afghanistan and Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip. According to experts, the U.S. sanctions could have a crippling effect on the ICC’s activity. (VP)