December 7, 2014 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news
România Internațional, 07.12.2014, 19:18
Negotiations over the 2015 draft budget continued on Sunday in Bucharest between Romanian authorities and a joint IMF – EC delegation. The two sides have divergent opinions regarding the budget deficit, with the creditors’ representatives insisting for a deficit of 0.9% of the GDP, while Romanian authorities say the deficit should stand at 1.4%. According to Bucharest officials, the figure set by the international partners is unacceptable, because that would entail a reduction in the amounts earmarked for investment, health and co-funding of European projects, and that would seriously damage Romanian economy.
The President of the Buzau County Council, Cristinel Marian Bîgiu, member of the Social Democratic Party, and his god-son, Florin Colgiu, a local liberal leader, have been detained by the National Anti-Corruption Directorate under the accusation of bribe-taking. Prosecutors say that Bîgiu was caught red-handed while taking money from a business man, whom he would have helped to win some contracts, and Colgiu was the intermediary of that deal. Bîgiu was a liberal senator until 2012, when he was elected president of the Buzau County Council, and this autumn he chose to join the Social Democratic Party, benefiting from the government ordinance that allowed the migration of local officials to other parties. Commentators say that almost half of the county council presidents in Romania, most of them members of the Social Democratic Party and of the National Liberal Party, are involved in cases of corruption.
The Romanian Foreign Ministry has firmly condemned the brutal killing of a US citizen and of a South-African hostage by Al Qaida and sent condolences to the grieving families. A press release on Sunday reads that such acts of extreme brutality and cruelty cannot be justified in any way and the guilty ones must be punished. The Romanian Foreign Ministry also reiterated Romania’s commitment, alongside the other ally and partner countries, to the fight against extremism and terrorism, which are serious threats against democracy, freedom and people’s safety. The communiqué was issued following the killing by Al Qaida of the US journalist Luke Somers and of the South-African teacher Pierre Korkie, kidnapped last year in Yemen.
On Monday, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Moldova will examine a notification regarding the neutrality of this former Soviet country, with a predominantly Romanian-speaking population. The notification was filed by the liberal MPs who support accession to NATO. According to the Constitution, the Republic of Moldova is neutral and does not allow the deployment of foreign troops on its soil, but the leader of the Liberal Party, Mihai Ghimpu, says that these provisions are null, given the presence of Russian soldiers in the pro-Moscow separatist region of Transdniestr. In another move, liberals and their partners in the current pro-Western government coalition, the Liberal Democratic Party and the Democratic Party, continue talks on the future governing program. At the legislative elections of November 30th, the three parties got, together, 55 of the 101 MP seats. The Chisinau Government hopes Moldova will get the status of EU candidate in 2017 and that of EU member in 2020.
The Polish Parliament has ratified the Association Agreement between the Republic of Moldova and the EU. The Deputy Foreign Minister, Tomasz Orlowski, said during a Seim meeting, that the Republic of Moldova has implemented several successful reforms and needs more assurances from the EU that its future is indeed a European one. So far, the document has been ratified by ten EU member countries: Romania, Latvia, Malta, Estonia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Hungary, Sweden and Poland. The Association Agreement between the Republic of Moldova and the EU was signed on June 27th, 2014, and was ratified by the Moldovan Parliament on July 2n, a procedure that needs to be carried out by all the EU member states.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel calls on France and Italy to boost economic reforms. In late November, the European Commission said that the two countries’ 2015 budgets did not comply with the EU rules and gave the French and the Italian governments three months to start implementing measures to reduce budget deficit and public debt, and thus avoid being sanctioned. German officials have often criticized France’s too high a deficit, and this criticism has grown in scale over the past weeks, reflecting the divergences between Paris and Berlin with regard to economic policies. Germany is in favour of austerity policies and reforms, while France is in for a higher budget deficit to stimulate economic growth.
Life expectancy grew significantly in the 90s in the EU, but there are still huge gaps between the countries, reads an annual report on health in Europe, published by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. On average, in the 28 EU member countries, life expectancy was 79.2 in 2012, 5.1 more years than in 1990. The growth can be explained by the fact that mortality caused by cardiovascular diseases has dropped, especially in people aged 50 to 65. Spain, where life expectancy is 82.5 years, Italy with 82.4 and France with 82.1 are the European countries with the longest life expectancy.
