10 February 2017, UPDATE

President Klaus Iohannis accepts nomination of Ana Birchall as interim justice minister./ Romania faces Belgium in Fed Cup World Group 2.

Newsroom, 10.02.2017, 19:45

Justice. Romania’s President, Klaus
Iohannis has accepted the nomination of the minister delegate for European
affairs Ana Birchall for the position of interim justice minister. The former
occupant of the post, Florin
Iordache, on Thursday tendered his resignation, but said all initiatives he had
taken were legal and constitutional. His resignation was hailed by the
opposition parties. We recall that Romania’s left-wing government issued an
emergency decree to adopt the changes to the criminal law proposed by Iordache.
The decree, which came under criticism from the country’s main judicial
institutions and its EU and NATO partners, has in the meantime been scrapped,
but protests continued on Friday for the 11th day in a row in
Bucharest. Also on Friday, the supporters of the government protested for the 6th
consecutive day in front of the president’s office, demanding his resignation.

Economy. The governor of the National Bank of Romania Mugur Isarescu has again
warned that internal political instability and tensions will affect Romania’s
monetary, financial and even macro-economic stability. The protests staged in
recent days generated by a government decree to amend the criminal law will
have an impact on monetary and financial stability, which will also affect the
country’s economic growth this year, the Central Bank governor warned on
Thursday. He said the bank’s economic growth rate forecast for this year is
between 4 and 5% of the GDP. The figure proposed by the National Forecast
Commission for this year is more optimistic than that of the Central Bank’s
governor and stands at 5.2%.

Minimum wage.
On the 1st of January 2017, Bulgaria and Romania had the lowest
minimum wage in the European Union with 235 and 275 euros per month, respectively,
according to data published by Eurostat on Friday. 22 of the EU’s 28 member
states have a minimum wage, unlike Denmark, Italy, Cyprus, Austria, Finland and
Sweden. The EU countries with the highest minimum wage levels are Luxembourg (1999 euros), Ireland (1563
euros), Holland (1552 euros), Belgium (1532 euros) and Germany
(1498). According
to Eurostat, the minimum wage went up in 2017 compared with 2008 in all member
states with the exception of Greece, where it decreased by 14%. The biggest increase
has been registered in Bulgaria and Romania, where the minimum wage has
doubled.

New entity. Romania’s coalition government made up of
the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats on
Thursday adopted a memorandum on the creation of the Sovereign Fund for
Development and Investment, a huge entity bringing together some 200 of the
most profitable state-owned companies. Economy minister Alexandru Petrescu has
explained that the Fund will be a partner for institutional investors such as
the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment
Bank, the World Bank and investment funds, as well as private investors.

Turkey. Turkish president Recep
Tayyip Erdoğan on
Friday approved a constitutional reform bill meant to increase his powers that
will be put to a referendum in April. The bill, passed last month by
Parliament, aims to replace the current parliamentary system with an executive
presidential system. It would allow the head of state to appoint and revoke
ministers, issue decrees and declare emergency rule. The position of prime
minister would be scrapped and instead a new post of vice president, possibly
even more, would be created. Erdogan says the reform, which would allow him to
stay in office until 2029 at the earliest, is necessary to guarantee stability in
Turkey, a NATO and EU accession candidate country that has been facing un
unprecedented wave of attacks and economic problems.

Fed Cup. Romania faces Belgium this weekend in the Fed Cup as part of the first
round of World Group 2. In the two singles matches on Saturday, world no. 36
Monica Niculescu plays against world no. 74 Kirsten Flipkens, while world no. 62 Sorana Cirstea faces world no.
60 Yanina
Wickmayer. On Sunday, Niculescu meets Wickmayer and Cirstea meets Flipkens.
In the doubles match, the Romanian pair Irina Begu, world no. 29, and Patricia
Tig, world no. 106, faces the Belgian pair Elise Mertens, world no. 83 and
Maryna Zanevska, world no. 123. Romania’s highest ranked player and world
no. 4 Simona Halep is unable to play because of an injury. Fed Cup is the premier
international team competition in women’s tennis.