April 25, 2015
A roundup of domestic and international news
Corina Cristea, 25.04.2015, 12:05
Marking 10 years since Romania signed the EU Accession Treaty, President Klaus Iohannis conveyed a message saying that the decision made back then was a recognition of the fact that Bucharest was ready to join an area defined by democracy, rule of law, market economy, respect for fundamental rights and freedoms. The status of EU member that Romania got on January 1st, 2007 has translated into many benefits for the Romanian citizens, the head of state also said, among which the development of a legislative background in line with the EU one, access to structural and cohesion funds, participation in the decision-making process at European level, the free movement of people across the EU, as well as the access of Romanian companies to the single European market. However, there are still processes that need to be finalised, such as the accession to Schengen and the adoption of the single currency, but Romania remains fully committed to achieving these two goals as soon as possible, President Klaus Iohannis also said.
The Romanian Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici is attending in Riga, Latvia, the informal meeting of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council. The talks are mainly focused on short and long-term challenges posed by the EU budget, the EU’s economic situation and financial stability and key measures to ensure the EU’s growth potential. The agenda of talks also includes topics such as the union of capital markets and the package of measures on increasing fiscal transparency. Recently, the IMF has revised upwards to 2.7% its forecast regarding Romania’s GDP growth in 2015. For the year 2016, the institution has forecast a 2.9% growth for the Romanian economy. As regards world economy, the IMF says it will grow by 3.5% in 2016 and 3.8% in 2016, in line with the forecasts made in January.
Romania and Bulgaria can defend their interests in Brussels better, as long as they act together. This is the conclusion of the joint meeting that the governments of the two countries had in Craiova, southern Romania. “We joined NATO and the EU together and we will join Shenghen together. Together we will develop the projects included in the Juncker plan and those funded from structural funds, and together we will show Serbia and the other countries in the region which is the model to follow”, said Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta. The Bulgarian Premier Boiko Borisov too believes that if they act together, the two countries can better promote their interests and objectives, both in the region and in Brussels. The talks in Craiova focused on the recent developments in the Western Balkans, the eastern partnership and the prospects of cooperation in strategic fields, including the Danube region strategy.
The President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has called on Bucharest to conduct a serious investigation following the recent statements made by the former president Ion Iliescu regarding the existence of a CIA centre in Romania. Anne Brasseur says in a communiqué posted on the Assembly’s web page that Romanian prosecutors should investigate into this matter and see who is responsible. In an interview published this week in the German weekly ‘Der Spiegel’, the former president of Romania Ion Iliescu says that he approved in principle the setting up of a CIA centre in Romania. He explained that the Romanian authorities did not interfere with the activities carried out by the US service and they had no idea what was going on at that centre. It was a gesture of good will that we made at the end of 2002, before Romania’s accession to NATO” Ion Iiescu also said for the German magazine, which has again brought to the forefront the issue of CIA’s secret prisons. Bucharest had denied the existence of such prisons in Romania.
The Romanian Foreign Ministry has hailed the recent decision made by the Canadian Government to include Romania among the countries for which the provisions of the Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) will be applied in 2016. The Romanian citizens who in the past 10 years have had a Canadian visa or who have a short term residence visa for the US can enter Canada without needing a visa, following registration into the eTA system. The measure is similar to the one applied in the case of citizens who do not need a Canadian visa. According to the Romanian Foreign Ministry, this decision, which is a major step in the process of fully wavering visas for Canada, reconfirms the efforts made by Romanian and Canadian authorities to solve this issue.
Romania’s population is ageing and the phenomenon has become rather severe in the past year and it’s going to get worse, the National Statistics Institute has announced. Data shows that the number of people aged above 65 is 0.3% bigger than that of young people as compared to last year, when the ratio was the other way round. Moreover, the population domiciled in Romania has become smaller in the past 12 months. Also, the urban population and the female population are bigger, the statistics made public by the institute also show.
