August 22, 2015 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 22.08.2015, 12:15
PARLIAMENT DEBATES – An extraordinary parliamentary session will be held Monday in Bucharest to debate and vote on the request for re-examination of the new fiscal code bill, sent by the Romanian president Klaus Iohannis. This week the representatives of the parliamentary parties have agreed on the most important technical details of the code. Thus, as of January 2016, the VAT for foodstuffs is to drop from 24% to 20% and down to 19% in 2017. The extra-excise duty on fuels will remain in force next year as well, and a decision regarding the elimination or keeping of other taxes will be made subsequently. In July President Klaus Iohannis sent back to Parliament for re-examination the new fiscal code bill, claiming that its application was not sustainable.
FITCH – The Fitch rating agency has affirmed Romania’s long-term foreign and local currency ratings at ‘BBB-‘ and ‘BBB’ respectively. The outlook is stable. Fitch has thus improved the estimates regarding Romania’s economic growth for the period 2015-2017 now estimated at 3.5% as compared to the previous forecast of 2.8%. According to the agency, the positive developments will be sustained by domestic demand and fiscal relaxation at the level of private consumption, as well as by a return of investors in the private sector. The agency also mentions that the banking sector in Romania is stable, despite the volatility of the external environment, the Romanian banks being well capitalized. In July, Moody’s rating agency estimated that the increase in competitiveness, the reduction of macro-economic imbalances and the recovery of the labour market and internal consumption would allow Romania report an average growth of almost 3% in the coming years.
GREECE – In Greece the leader of the New Democracy conservative party (the largest party in opposition) Evangelos Meimarakis is trying to form a new government, even a minority one, to avoid holding early elections. The prospect of early elections emerged with the resignation of the Greek Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras. Meimarakis announced he would hold talks with all opposition parties and possibly with the Golden Dawn and the Independent Greeks parties. Meanwhile the radical faction in the Syriza party, that was opposed to the 3rd financial aid agreement for Greece, announced the formation of a new party, the People’s Unity, led by the former energy minister, Panagiotis Lafazanis, the leader of the Leftwing Platform inside the Syriza party. With 25 MPs, the new formation becomes the 3rd force in the Greek Parliament seating a total of 300 MPs. According to the Constitution the People’s Unity could receive a 3rd mandate to form a new government. If attempts to form a new government fail, elections are likely to be held on September 20th. Tsipras, 41, the leader of the radical, leftist party Syriza, won the elections in January 2015 with an anti-austerity program, in the context in which Greece’s debt stood at 175% of the GDP and the unemployment rate at 25%.
KOREAS – High-ranking officials from North and South Korea started negotiations on Saturday in the border town of Panmunjom in order to solve the crisis in the peninsula, in the context of the tensed relations between the two countries. On Friday the EU called for the “avoidance of challenges” in the Korean peninsula, one day after the exchange of artillery fire between North and South Korea along their heavily militarized border. The EU appeal is justified as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered his army to prepare for war and Seoul has placed its troops on full alert. Tension escalated early this month when an anti-personnel mine went off in the demilitarized zone and injured 2 South-Korean soldiers. Seoul accused North Korea of placing those mines. Thursday’s fire exchange comes in the context of the joint US-South Korea military exercises which started Monday and which North Korea views as preparations for war. From a technical point of view the two Koreas are at war, since the Korean War of 1950-1953 ended with a simple ceasefire agreement and not with a peace treaty.
TENNIS – The Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, world’s no. 3, has qualified in the semifinals of the WTA Premier tournament in Cincinnati, the USA, after defeating Russian Anastasia Pavliucenkova in 2 sets, 7-6 (7/3), 6-2. In the last but one match of the tournament which has prizes up for grabs totaling 2,400,490 dollars, Simona Halep will meet Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) who eliminated in the quarter finals Anna Karolina Schmiedlova from Slovakia 6-4, 6-2. Halep and Jankovic last time met in the previous tournament held in Toronto where the Romanian player won 6-3. 6-4. The other semifinal will pit the main favorite of the tournament American Serena Williams against Elina Svitolina of Ukraine. Serena Williams qualified in the semifinals after defeating Ana Ivanovici of Serbia 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 and Elina Svitolina defeating Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 2-6, 6-0.
