December 3, 2017 UPDATE

The law on the 2018 state budget will be debated by Romanias Parliament this week.

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Newsroom, 03.12.2017, 18:17

VISIT – Romanian Defence Minister Mihai Fifor is paying a two-day official visit to Belgrade, starting Sunday, to meet with his Serbian counterpart, Aleksandar Vulin, the Romanian Defense Ministry announced. Talks will focus on regional security and on boosting bilateral cooperation in the field of defense. Chief of the Romanian Army’s General Staff, General Nicolae Ciuca, accompanies Minister Fifor in Belgrade.

LAW — The law on the 2018 state budget will be debated by Romania’s Parliament this week. Prime Minister Mihai Tudose said that health, education and infrastructure are the centre of the 2018 state budget. He also mentioned that the 2% earmarked for defence would be maintained. Romania’s state budget for next year is built on a 5.5% economic growth rate, a budget deficit of 2.97% of the GDP and an average inflation rate of 3.1%.

ORTHODOXY– Russian President Vladimir Putin is meeting on Monday with the heads of the delegations of the Orthodox Churches who travelled to Moscow to attend festivities marking 100 years since the re-establishment of the Patriarchate in the Russian Orthodox Church. Patriarch Daniel of the Romanian Orthodox Church, who is heading the Romanian delegation, talked about reprisals against the Orthodox Church after the communists came to power. Patriarch Daniel mentioned three priorities of the Orthodox Church in today’s world, namely, preserving the Orthodox unity of faith, solidarity with the people who suffer and missionary cooperation.

HOLIDAY — Romanians ended on Sunday their 4-day holiday occasioned by Saint Andrew’s Day and Romania’s National Day. For this extended weekend most Romanians chose local destinations, their favourites being the resorts on the Prahova Valley, the Southern Carpathians, Bukovina in the north as well as the spa resorts. Those who remained in Bucharest enjoyed, on Friday evening, the start of the winter celebrations. Over 3 million Christmas lights adorn the capital, the festive lighting system covering 33 kms. A Christmas Fair was also inaugurated in downtown Bucharest, to last until December 27. The Fair displays Romanian traditional food products in more than 100 stalls and also a skating rink. Many Romanian artists will perform as part of the Christmas Fair celebrations in Bucharest.

WEIGHTLIFTING— The Romanian athlete Dumitru Captari has won silver in the snatch event, the 77 kg category, in the World Weightlifting Championships in Anaheim, California. Egyptian Mohamed Ihab Youssef Ahmed Mahmoud won gold in the same category. Romanias tally now stands at four medals, after the three won by Loredana Toma, in the 63 kg category.

HANDBALL – The Romanian women’s handball team on Sunday scored its second victory in Group A of the World Women’s Handball Championship hosted by Germany, by defeating Slovenia, 31 to 28. On Saturday, the Romanians defeated 29-17 the team of Paraguay in their debut match. On Tuesday, in Group A, Romania will be up against Spain, Slovenia against Angola and France against Paraguay. In the previous World Championship of 2015 Romania won the bronze medal, being the only team to have participated in all the 22 editions of the championship held so far.

(Translated by Elena Enache)