December 11, 2014
Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news
Bogdan Matei, 11.12.2014, 12:00
The government in Bucharest has today published the draft budget for 2015. Tomorrow, the government will submit the draft budget to Parliament. According to the document, the budget has been drawn out following an exchange rate of 4. 42 lei for one Euro, a deficit standing at 1.83% of the GDP and an economic growth target standing at 2.5 %. Yesterday, the government adopted a series of emergency ordinances, one of them regulating the way excises are to be calculated in 2015. As of January the 1st, 2015, excises will be paid following an exchange rate of 4. 73 lei for one Euro, while in 2016, the excise tax level will be brought in line with the inflation rate.
According to a BBC investigation, Jihadist attacks in November killed more than 5,000 people around the world. One of the conclusions of this report, which sought to assess the spread of extremist Islamist violence, was that Jihadist groups use conventional warfare methods with increased frequency. In November 38 suicide attacks and an equal number of bomb attacks were reported, alongside hundreds of ambushes and armed attacks. Since June, the Arab world has been facing an unprecedented offensive of extremist Islamist groups, which currently control a vast territory in Syria and Iraq. An international coalition including more than 60 countries and headed by the USA launched a campaign against such terrorist groups in August.
The Council of Europe Secretary General, Thorbjoern Jagland, has hailed the publication by the American Senate of the report regarding the torture methods used by the CIA after the 9/11 attacks. Jagland appreciated the transparency of the report and the clear-cut declaration of the American president who said that these methods belong to the past. As of 2005, the EC reports as well as those of the European Court of Human Rights, have frequently mentioned Romania as a country involved in the scandal related to the transfer of terrorism suspects by CIA to third countries. Every time the Romanian authorities’ answer was that there were not such detention and torture centres on Romania’s territory.
The pro-western government in the Republic of Moldova, which is a former Soviet republic, with a predominantly Romanian-speaking population Wednesday night tendered its resignation, as soon as the Constitutional Court validated the final results of the country’s parliamentary election on November 30, won by the country’s pro-European alliance. Until members of the new government are sworn in, the caretaker government led by Iurie leanca will only be dealing with current issues. The Liberal Democratic, the Democratic and the Liberal Party, the three parties of the current coalition jointly won 55 of the single-chamber parliament’s 101 seats. The Republic of Moldova hopes to gain candidate status to EU accession in 2017, and full membership in 2020.
The presidency comes on top position, according to a ranking of Romanians’ confidence in the country’s political institutions; the Army also comes first, according to a ranking of executive institutions, a survey carried out for the Adevarul daily by Inscop Research reveals. The Church has the lead, according to a ranking of Romania’s social or private institutions. As for the international institutions, the European Union is on top position, followed by NATO and the United Nations, in descending order. The ‘Inscop-the Truth about Romania’ Barometer was conducted over November 27 — December 2, for a pool of 1,076 people. The Barometer carries an error margin standing at plus or minus 3 per cent.
Romanian women’s national handball team tonight will be taking on Ukraine, in its last Group B fixture at the European Championship, jointly organized by Hungary and Croatia. Having sustained a 19-27 defeat in this past Sunday’s debut game against Norway and managing a 29-all draw against Denmark Tuesday night, the Romanians have accumulated 1 point out of two games played. The first three teams in descending order qualify for the competition’s main group stage.
Romania’s football champion team Steaua Bucharest on home turf tonight will be paying their last fixture in Europa League’s Group J, taking on Ukrainian side Dinamo Kiev. Danish side Aalborg will be facing Rio Ave in Portugal, in another Group J fixture. Top-of–the-table Dinamo Kiev, with 12 points on their record sheet have already made it into the competition’s round of last 32. With 7 points, Steaua is still fighting with Aalborg over a position in the round of last 32; we recall that, with 9 points on their record sheet, Group J runner-up team Aalborg stand real chances to qualify for the European spring. In order to make headway into the round of last 16, Steaua are in dire need of a win, and, mathematically, Rio Ave must also win their fixture against Aalborg. Also today, Romania’s vice-champion team Astra Giurgiu (in the south) with no chance to make headway into the competition’ s round of last 32, will be playing their Group D fixture against Austrian opponents Red Bull Salzburg. Salzburg tops the table with 13 points, Scottish side Celtic Glasgow is on the runner-up position, with 8 points; both teams have already secured their qualification in the round of last 16. Astra is 3rd-placed, with 4 points, while Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb comes at the bottom, with 3 points.
