December 3, 2013
Cliock here for a roundup of domestic and international news
Roxana Vasile, 03.12.2013, 12:14
Romania’s Prime Minister today in Parliament’s plenary session has said the 2014 draft budget mirrored Romania’s present-day social and economic reality as well as the political program of the Social Liberal Union, the coalition that won the elections in 2012. Ponta said the draft budget’s main objective was to make each and every citizen feel the economic growth in their own incomes. Ponta also made mention of some of the specific measures stipulated for the 2014 budget, among which the increase of pensions, the increase of the minimum wages, the increase of the guaranteed minimum income as well as the decrease of the healthcare contributions as of July next year. Nevertheless, the opposition is unhappy that they failed to impose their own amendments which they say might have lead to the country ‘s economic re-launch.
Romania’s Foreign Minister Titus Corlatean in Brussels as of today will be taking part in a two-day meeting of Foreign Ministers coming form NATO’ s member states. Included on the meeting’s agenda are the preparation of the Alliance’s 2014 Great Britain summit, defining the role of the Alliance after the military operations in Afghanistan have ceased, strengthening the transatlantic ties, the development of the partnership relations and the continuation of the “open doors “ policy. Also, meetings will be held with the participation of some of the Alliance’s partner states, such as Russia and Georgia.
Romania ranks 69th out of a pool of 177 countries and territories in the 2013 standings of the world’s most corrupt countries, with a corruption index standing at 43 out of 100, according to a Transparency International report which has been made public in Berlin today. The document also reveals that Italy and Kuwait have a similar corruption index. On top position with an index of 91 are Denmark and New Zealand, followed in descending order by Finland and Sweden, while bottom of the table are Afghanistan, North Korea and Somalia, respectively. Amnesty International ranks countries and territories on a zero-to-100 scale, with the most corrupt state being ascribed the zero index. The corruption perception index is analyzed with respect to political parties, police, the judicial system and public services in those countries.
The IMF has been monitoring the situation in Romania and is waiting for Bucharest’s top-ranking authorities to decide whether they wanted to change the required policies in order to meet the set deficit target. The stance of the IMF, which jointly with the World Bank and the European Commission makes the trio of Romania’s foreign creditors has occurred as a result of the Romanian President Traian Basescu’s refusal to sign the memorandum with the aforementioned financial institutions. In turn, the European Commission said it was up to Romania to decide if they wanted to proceed with the agreed programmes.
The Romanian Environment and Climate Change Minister Rovana Plumb in London today will be received in audience by the Heir to the British Crown, His Royal Highness Prince Charles. The Romanian Minister’ s three-day visit to London is aimed at enlarging Romania’s environment projects and at integrating them in European and even global programs. The Romanian Environment minister will also have a meeting with her British counterpart Edward Davey, the State Secretary for Energy and Climate Change, as well other meetings in the House of Lords.
