August 5, 2015 UPDATE

Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news

Roxana Vasile, 05.08.2015, 12:30

Nicolae Timofti,
president of the Republic of Moldova, an ex-soviet country with a
Romanian-speaking majority, on Wednesday summoned the country’s Higher Defence
Council. Discussions focused on the economic, financial, social and political
issues confronting the country and their solutions. On Tuesday, the World Bank
director for the Republic of Moldova, Europe and Central Asia, Alex Kramer held
talks with Moldova’s pro-Western Prime Minister Valeriu Strelet on the bank’s
financial aid for Moldova between 2015-2017. Alex Kremer reiterated the World
Bank’s readiness to support the new government in Chisinau in its efforts to
ensure the stability of the country’s financial-banking system, boost economic
development and increase the citizens’ social protection. The cooperation
between the World Bank and the Republic of Moldova takes place under the
2014-2017 partnership strategy, which includes projects of 450 million dollars.

Over September 25th and 27th Bucharest will be
playing venue for the yearly inter-parliamentary football tournament. The
competition will be attended by MPs from Romania, Italy, Croatia, Hungary,
Moldova, Slovakia, Poland and Turkey. This sporting event will also have a
charity dimension as all the participants will join business people from
Romania in a fund-raising for a project on ‘Ending Violence against Children’
run by UNICEF and the Save the Children Organisation. The event will also
include an auction with objects donated by Romania’s greatest athletes, such as
footballer Gheorghe Hagi and tennis player Simona Halep as well as a T-shirt
with the championship’s logo signed by Robbie Williams who has recently sung in
Bucharest.

Greek
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Wednesday said that Greece was close to concluding a deal with international
lenders on a multi-billion-euro bailout. Prime Minister Tsipras said the new
agreement would end uncertainty on the future of Greece and of doubts over its
place in the euro zone. Earlier European Commission head Jean Claude Juncker
had voiced optimism over a third bailout for Greece this month, hopefully by
August 20th, when Athens must make a key debt repayment.

The Danube’s level and discharge have
dropped to alarming levels due to severe drought and are close to reaching an
all time low. At its entrance point in Romania the River Danube’s discharge is
half its usual level and experts warn that things might get worse. Over 80
ships have been stationed temporarily in two Romanian ports because of the low
water level, which in 2003 reached an all-time low of 60 centimetres.
Metheorologists have warned that August will also be a dry month.

The head of the
International Monetary Fund delegation to Romania, Andrea Schaechter, and the
Fund’s Resident Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, Guillermo Tolosa, have
recommended to the authorities in Bucharest to slow down the implementation
pace of the measures laid down in the new tax code and the expenditure plans,
so as to be able to achieve a gradual reduction in public debt, ease the tax burden
and finance new projects. The two officials have also suggested to the
government to re-size its proposed tax and duty cuts to preserve the country’s
macroeconomic stability. On the other hand, Prime Minister Victor Ponta has
pointed out that budget returns have increased since the beginning of the year
and that a set of measures with a positive impact on the state have been
adopted, such as a decision not to tax companies’ reinvested profit, the VAT
cut from 24 to 9% for food products and the 5% cut in social security
contributions. President Klaus Iohannis has sent the tax code bill back to
Parliament for re-examination.