February 6, 2019 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 06.02.2019, 19:42

VISIT – Romanian PM Viorica
Dăncilă on Wednesday paid a visit to Brussels. She presented Romania’s
priorities at the helm of the Council of the EU during the plenary session of
the European Committee of Regions. Also on Wednesday she met with Katharina von
Schnurbein, EU coordinator for combating anti-Semitism. Prime Minister Dancila
said combating anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial are key priorities for the
Romanian Presidency of the Council of the EU. Also on Wednesday, PM Dancila met
with the Secretary General of the World Jewish Restitution Organization,
Collette Avital. Talks focused on Romania’s recent efforts to accelerate the
process of Jewish restitution, as well as the latest legislative action to pay
allowances for Holocaust survivors. Prime Minister Dancila on Thursday will
attend the conference titled The Fight against Anti-Semitism: a common
approach to better protect Jewish communities in Europe. From politics to
action. Also on Thursday, Viorica Dancila will meet with European Council
President Donald Tusk and with European Commission First Vice-President, Frans
Timmermans.

DRAFT
BUDGET – Talks continue in Bucharest on Romania’s 2019 draft
budget, as the leaders of the ruling parties met on Wednesday with
representatives of the Municipal Cities’ Association, who are discontent about
the way in which money is allotted to local communities. Social-Democrat leader
Liviu Dragnea said the budget of local municipalities will be at least
tantamount to last year. Mayors remain disgruntled, saying talks would continue
on Thursday at the Finance Ministry. The coalition intends to finalise talks
for the budget to be discussed in Friday’s session of the Government, to then
be forwarded to Parliament for debate. Meanwhile, the Fitch rating agency has warned that the 2019 budget bill, in the
current form which has been launched for public debate, is actually based on
optimistic estimates and does not shed light on the uncertainty over the tax on
bank assets. The Fitch analysts are
sceptical that Romania will observe the budget deficit target of 2.6%, given
that the state budget is based on an economic growth rate of 5.5%, higher than
the 3.2% initial estimate by the agency.

ROMANIAN-US
RELATIONS- Romanian deputy prime-minister Ana Birchall, on a visit to the US, has
reiterated the Romanian Government’s firm commitment to further develop the
relation with the US on all dimensions of the Strategic Partnership. According
to a communiqué, during her official visit to the US, Ana Birchall has had
talks with several US high officials with responsibilities on the relation with
Romania. They approached issues of high interest on the bilateral agenda, such
as organising the Romania-US Strategic Dialogue, whose last session was held in
Bucharest, in June 2018. The officials also tackled opportunities of
cooperation with the Romanian side to promote common objectives on the
trans-Atlantic agenda, such as Romania’s priorities during its tenure at the
helm of the Council of the European Union.

MEETING -
Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu on Wednesday met with a delegation of the
Bundestag Committee for European Affairs, led by President Gunther Krichbaum.
Talks focused on the latest development of the EU eastern vicinity and the
Black Sea region, highlighting the support given by Romania and Germany to
maintaining active action and commitment from the EU towards states in the
Eastern Partnership. Both sides also reiterated the joint interest to
developing cooperation in the Black Sea region, as well as regarding the
European Union Strategy for the Danube Region.

STATE
OF THE UNION – US President Donald Trump has launched an
appeal for unity in his State of the Union address in Congress on Tuesday. He
said the economic miracle of his country cannot be stopped by fighting,
policies and partisan investigations. The US President has underlined that his
agenda is a national one, in the interest of all Americans. Donald Trump, who
has made of migration policies a priority of the second year of his term in
office, devoted much of his address to this issue, calling on Congress to
defend the US’s southern border from illegal migrants, who come-according to
him- with a criminality potential.

MACEDONIA – The NATO member states on Wednesday
signed in Brussels, the NATO Accession Protocol with Macedonia, an important
step towards accepting that Baltic country as the 30th member of the
organization. Macedonia will be allowed to participate from now on, in NATO
meetings, as observer, until all allied countries ratify the accession
protocol. This step has been taken after the resolution of a protracted dispute
between Skopje and Athens on the name of the country. The former Yugoslav
republic agreed last year to change its name into The Republic of North
Macedonia, to thus make a clear distinction between the former Yugoslav
republic and the old Greek province of Macedonia. The name change will become
official once Greece has ratified the accession protocol.

FLU – The number of people who succumbed to the flu in Romania stands
at 91, according to the latest data released by National Centre for Surveillance
and Control of Communicable Diseases. Doctors call
again on people to get the anti-flu shot. Almost all people who died of the flu
virus had not been vaccinated. Some 1.3 million people have been vaccinated so
far, and the Health Ministry has purchased another 30,000 doses of the vaccine
for people in the high risk category: people with chronic diseases, pregnant
women, children and elderly people. A flu epidemic has officially been
declared in Romania, because of the fast-paced spread of the virus and the high
number of flu-infections and deaths.

TENNIS – The Romanian
men’s Davis Cup team will take on Zimbabwe in the first round of Group II in
the Europe Africa zone, according to Wednesday’s draw venued in London. The
match will be played on home turf. Romania and Zimbabwe previously played each
other in the Davis Cup in 2000, in Harare, Romania winning 3-2. Other matches
in Group 2 are South Africa vs. Bulgaria, Denmark vs. Turkey, Lithuania vs.
Morocco, Egypt vs. Slovenia and Norway vs. Georgia.

(Translated by D. Vijeu & V. Palcu)