28 March, 2017

A look at the main stories in Romania today.

Newsroom, 28.03.2017, 12:42

Corruption ruling. The High Court of
Cassation and Justice in Bucharest may today pass a ruling in what is known as
the Bute Gala case. The former development minister and MP Elena Udrea was
indicted in 2015 on three accounts: bribe taking, abuse of office and attempt
to use false, inaccurate or incomplete documents or statements to unduly obtain
European funds. The former economy minister Ion Ariton and six other persons
were also on trial in this case. Prosecutors accuse them of illegally using
public funds to finance a sports event, namely a boxing gala featuring the former
world champion Lucian Bute. The event was organised by a private company, but
under a contract signed with this company, services were bought using European
funds, which is against the law. Several other criminal cases have been opened
against Elena Udrea.

NATO.
NATO Assistant Secretary General for Operations Patrick Turner arrived in
Bucharest today for a 2-day meeting of experts from NATO and partner countries
on civil emergency interventions. Participants are looking into ways to improve
the training of intervention forces in the case of natural disasters and hybrid
threats.

Black Sea security. Britain will
send four Typhoon multirole fighters to Romania to be used in air police
missions on NATO’s southern flank. The aircraft will be deployed, for four
months beginning in May, to the Mihail Kogalniceanu military base in
south-eastern Romania, said Michael Fallon, British secretary of state for
defence. According to the defence ministry in Bucharest, the British pilots
will work together with their Romanian counterparts to ensure air security over
the Black Sea.

Budget. The execution of the general consolidated budget
in the first two months of the year ended with a surplus, despite the fact that
revenues were 1.4% lower than in the similar period last year, according to
data published on Monday by the finance ministry in Bucharest. Experts say VAT
and excise revenues dropped significantly following the reduction of the VAT
standard rate and the excise duty on fuel. However, total budget expenditure
also decreased by 0.3% following a reduction in the level of investment and the
funds allocated for the co-financing of European-funded programmes.

Unemployment. The unemployment rate in Romania in the last quarter of
last year dropped to 5.5% compared to the third quarter, when it stood at 5.7%,
according to the figures published on Tuesday by the National Institute for
Statistics. The highest unemployment rate, of 20.8%, is reported among youth,
between 15 and 24 years old. The number of pensioners dropped last year to
5,250,000, but the pensioner-employee ratio is still 9:10.

Russia protests.
Russia has rejected calls from the United States and the European Union to
release the persons detained after a wave of anti-corruption protests held on
Sunday in Moscow and other Russian cities. Hundreds of people
were detained, including the initiator of the protests, the anti-corruption
activist Alexey Navalny, who was sentenced
by a Moscow court to 15 days in prison. According to Radio Romania’s
correspondent in Moscow, the sentence may disqualify Navalny’s from the
presidential race should he decide to run against Putin.

Tennis. World
no. 5 Simona Halep of Romania defeated Australia’s Samantha Stosur in three
sets to reach the quarterfinals of the Miami tennis tournament. Halep will next
face the British player Johanna Konta, no. 11 in the WTA ranking. The two only
played each other once before, in the last 16 of the Wuhan tournament in China
in 2015, when Konta won the match. Halep is the only Romanian player still in
competition in Miami, a tournament worth 6.9 million dollars in prize money.