January 13, 2025 UPDATE

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 13.01.2025, 19:46

Budget. The draft of this year’s budget is not considering changing the VAT level, says finance minister Tanczos Barna. He added that there are no plans, either, to tax labour, or to make any changes to the current structure. He said the most important goal for 2025 is paying pensions and salaries at the level of 2024. Earlier, the minister gave assurances that this year’s budget bill will comply with the deficit ceiling of 7% of GDP, as agreed with the European Commission. For this year, he estimated an economic growth level of 2.5% and an inflation rate of 5%. Prime minister Marcel Ciolacu said the government must approve the budget by 27^th of January at the latest and called on ministers to take into account the restructuring of unjustified positions, both in the central administration and in subordinated state companies. The budget bill is to be approved by Parliament in the first week of February.

Elections. The Romanian government will officially set the date of the presidential elections this week, after the leaders of the governing coalition, formed by the Social Democratic Party, the National Liberal Party and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, decided last Wednesday, during their first meeting this year, that the presidential elections would take place on May 4^th and 18^th. A large protest was staged on Sunday, in Bucharest, by the Alliance for the Union of Romanians, in opposition, demanding a rerun of the second round of the presidential elections and the resignation of President Klaus Iohannis. The leader of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians, George Simion, said the protests would continue. The Constitutional Court annulled last year’s presidential elections on the grounds that the entire election process had been corrupted.

Visa waiver. Romanian citizens will be able to travel to the United States, after March 31, through a simplified procedure, after the American authorities granted Romania the status of a country participating in the Visa Waiver Program. According to a statement from the Romanian embassy in Washington, Romanians will be able to go to the USA based on an electronic authorisation called ESTA, this being applied to all trips for tourist or business purposes whose duration does not exceed 90 days. The authorisation will be valid for two years, with unlimited entries or exits from the US. To participate in the Visa Waiver Program, a country must meet requirements related to counterterrorism, immigration enforcement, document security and border management. The requirements also include a visa refusal rate of less than 3%.

Culture Day. As every year on January 15, Romania will mark the National Culture Day on Wednesday. This is also celebrated in the Romanian-speaking Republic of Moldova, as well as in the diaspora, in the context of the anniversary of 175 years since the birth of Romania’s greatest poet Mihai Eminescu. Cultural and educational institutions, NGOs and the authorities will be staging various events in different venues, both conventional and less so, in order to bring culture closer to the public. On Tuesday evening, a National Culture Awards Gala will be held in Botoşani (north-east), during which prizes will be awarded for excellence in culture, for the promotion of Eminescu’s work and of Romanian culture in general or for the development of Romanian literary studies internationally.

Tennis. The Romanian tennis player Jaqueline Cristian defeated Croatia’s Petra Martic in three sets, on Monday, in Melbourne, in the first round of the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament of the year. Also on Monday, another Romanian player, Sorana Cîrstea, lost to Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina 6-4, 6-4. Svitolina has won all four head-to-head matches against Cîrstea so far. Qualifier Anca Todoni also lost her first round match on Sunday to China’s Qinwen Zheng. The other two Romanian players in the women’s singles, Irina Begu and Gabriela Ruse, are playing each other on day two of the Australian Open.