2 February, 2019

2019 budget bill to reach Parliament next week./ Flu death toll rises in Romania./ Romanian womens handball champions CSM Bucharest to feature in Champions League match.

Newsroom, 02.02.2019, 14:02

2019 state budget. The budget bill
for this year is to reach Parliament for debate next week, after being first
approved by the government. Published on the website of the finance ministry,
the bill provides for a 5.5% economic growth rate, an inflation rate of 2.8%
and a deficit level of 2.5% of the GDP. Additional funds are earmarked to the
health ministry, which is to receive 64% more funds than last year, the
transport ministry, whose budget is to go up by over 54%, and the education
ministry, which will see an almost 47% increase in funding. The budgets of the
ministries for the business environment, communications and energy are to
decrease. Municipal mayors are unhappy with the fact that the local
administration will now have to incur large part of social spending, previously
covered by the central budget.

Accord. Russian president Vladimir
Putin has said his country will suspend participation in the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in response
to the decision of the United States to pull out from this treaty and which has
entered into force on the same day, France Presse news agency reports.
Previously, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the US would suspend the
accord in 6 months unless Russia destroyed its missiles and equipment that are
in breach of the 1987 agreement. Washington blames Moscow for creating a system
of missiles able to strike the European capitals, which runs counter to the
terms of the treaty. Russia says in response that these missiles have a range
of 480 km and are in compliance. NATO has voiced firm support for the decision
of the United States and says it is looking into the military consequences of
the violation of the treaty, trying to convince Russia to respect the
conditions. Romania, which is holding the rotating presidency of the Council of
the European Union, has said through its foreign minister Teodor Melescanu that
Europeans want to keep the treaty in place on condition it is respected.

Brexit. UK citizens may be able to enter the European
Union without a visa, even in the case of a no-deal Brexit, the EU countries
ambassadors have agreed. The proposal would allow UK nationals to travel freely
in the Schengen area for a period of 90 days. The visa exemption is only
granted in conditions of reciprocity. The ambassadors have mandated the Romanian
presidency of the Council of the EU to begin talks with the European Parliament
on this proposal. Officially, the UK is to leave the
European Union on the 29th of March.

Flu epidemic. The number of deaths
caused by flu in Romania this cold season has reached 68. The most recent
victim is a 58-year old woman from Galati county, in the south-east, with
pre-existing medical conditions and who had not received the flu vaccine. The
health minister Sorina Pintea says the flu has been reported across the country
and that she wasn’t expecting a decrease in the intensity of the virus’s
circulation this month. New measures have been taken, such as restricting
access to all hospitals in Romania, the renewal of the stock of antiviral
medication, preventive treatment for persons who come in contact with the sick
people and the vaccination of the medical staff who have not received the
vaccine yet. The minister has also pointed out that the only solution is
vaccination. The early signs of flu are high fever, muscle pain and tiredness.

Transport.
The Road Transport Union in Romania and similar associations
in Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Hungary have asked the
European Parliament to postpone the amendment of the European regulations in
the field and which form part of the first Mobility Package. The seven national
associations say the planned regulations are discriminatory and put
administrative and financial obstacles for road transporters from the east of
the European Union, who risk being excluded from the European market. Transport
associations say the debates on this topic in the European Parliament in
Strasbourg should be postponed because they would be distorted by the upcoming
European elections.

Handball. The
Romanian women’s handball champions CSM Bucharest today face the Slovenian side
Krim Mercator Ljubljana
at home in a Group 2 match as part of the Champions League Main Round. A week
ago, the Romanian side lost to the Hungarian side Györi Audi ETO KC, 36-27.
Györi top the group with 10 points followed by Vipers Kristiansand from Norway,
with 6 points, CSM Bucharest, also with 6 points, Krim Mercator, with 3 points,
FTC-Rail Cargo from Hungary, with 4 points, and Thiringer HC from Germany, with
1 point. We
recall that the CSM Bucharest player Cristina
Neagu has been chosen the best female handball player in 2018 on the
Handball-Planet website after a poll that involved journalists and fans from
different countries. This is the third time Neagu is declared the world’s best
female player on this website, after 2015 and 2016. The ranking also features
the Romanian line-player Crina Pintea from the Hungarian side Györi. Neagu sustained a serious injury in December during the
European Championship in France, where she became the best all-time scorer in
the history of this competition.

Tennis. The all-Romanian pair Irina Begu and Monica Niculescu
have reached the doubles final of the WTA tournament in Hua Hin, in Thailand,
worth 250,000 dollars in prize money. They defeated the Chinese-Croatian pair Xinyun
Han and Darija Jurak in the semifinals. On Sunday, Begu and Niculescu will face
the Russian-Chinese pair Ana Blinkova and Yafan Wang. Niculescu, who is
31-years-old and occupies the 66th place in the world doubles ranking,
has won 8 WTA doubles titles and has played 16 finals, while Begu has won 8
titles and has been a runner-up in 7 finals. They won a title together in 2012
in Hobart and also played the final in Luxembourg in 2012 and Wuhan and Moscow
in 2015.

Weather.
Temperatures continue to rise in Romania, with the weather becoming very warm
for this time of the year, in particular in the western part of the country and
in some areas in the centre and the south-east. The highs of the day range from
5 to 15 degrees Celsius.