December 4, 2015

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Newsroom, 04.12.2015, 12:00

The Romanian President, Klaus Iohannis, held talks on Friday in Bucharest with the director of the IMF’s European Department, Poul Mathias Thomsen, about Romania’s positive economic prospects and some of the latest developments at European level. During the talks, they highlighted the need for the Romanian authorities to carry on with the economic reforms in a context of fiscal- budgetary and financial predictability and reiterated the importance of consolidating the trust of domestic companies and foreign partners in the Government’s policies. As of 2009 up to the present, Romania has concluded three consecutive loan agreements with the IMF and the EU. The latest agreement, which expired in September 2013, was worth 2 billion euros, and the Bucharest authorities have not accessed the funds. The purpose of the precautionary-type agreement was to protect the Romanian economy from possible shocks from the financial markets.

Romania’s GDP rose by 3.7% in the first 9 months of 2015 as compared to the same period of 2014, show data provided by the National Institute of Statistics. All economic branches have contributed to the economic growth reported, except for agriculture, forestry and fisheries. In terms of GDP usage, the expenses for final consumption of households, whose volume has increased, have contributed by 3.5% to the GDP growth. The European Commission has improved its autumn estimates related to Romania’s economic growth, which will be accelerated this year and in 2016, being expected to reach 3.5% and 4.1% respectively. Economic growth is supported by the fiscal relaxation measures that stimulate internal demand.

The Romanian Foreign Minister, Lazar Comanescu, participated on Thursday in Belgrade in the 22nd meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council. In his speech, the Romanian official has mainly reiterated the support granted to Ukraine, the need for the OSCE to get more involved in the resolution of the Transdniester issue, and the role of the organization in fighting terrorism. On the sidelines of the meeting, minister Comanescu and his Moldovan counterpart, Natalia Gherman, discussed the political situation in Chisinau and Moldova’s Association Agreement concluded with the EU.

The German Parliament on Friday decided to provide military support to fight the jihadist movement, the Islamic State in Syria. The vote follows the appeal launched by France in the wake of last month’s attacks in Paris. Following Friday’s decision, Tornado planes, a frigate and 1,200 soldiers will be sent to the region. The German troops will not engage in combat actions, though. Great Britain also responded to France’s appeal, launching on Thursday the first strikes on some Islamic State targets in Syria. The extremist Jihadists have conquered extensive areas in Syria and Iraq where they set up a caliphate in June 2014. At present, the US, France, Jordan and Great Britain are hitting targets of the Islamists in Syria. On the other hand, in late September, Russia launched air strikes in Syria, claiming that they targeted only positions of the terrorist network. However, the US and NATO accuse Moscow of also attacking positions of the insurgents who are backed by the West.

The European interior ministers are discussing Friday in Brussels a proposal regarding the extension by 2 years of internal border control measures within the Schengen Area. In order to cope with the immigrants’ crisis, several Schengen states have reintroduced in the past months border control measures, but the measures are temporary and cannot be applied for more than six months, France Press reports. High on the agenda of European ministers is also a common passenger name record, a draft law asked by France following the attacks that took place on Paris 3 weeks ago, that killed 130 people and that were claimed by the Islamic State terrorist network. On Thursday the European justice ministers analyzed the phenomenon of radicalization on the Internet and the recruitment of foreign fighters by means of social networks.