March 7, 2014 UPDATE
Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news.
Florentin Căpitănescu, 07.03.2014, 12:10
THE EPP SUMMIT IN DUBLIN-The main mission of the European People’s Party (EPP) is to make sure it wins the European Parliament elections, scheduled for May, Romania’s President Traian Basescu said on Friday. In the speech he delivered at the EPP summit in Dublin, Basescu thanked the incumbent president of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, for the assistance provided to Romania during the economic crisis. Romania was one of the countries which were in a very difficult situation, but with the assistance provided by the EC, it managed to overcome that period, and now it registers a significant increase of the GDP, president Basescu also said. On the occasion of the Dublin summit, the former Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Jean-Claude Juncker, was designated the EPP’s cadidate to the presidency of the European Commission.
SCHENGEN ACCESSION-Romanian Prime Minister, Victor Ponta, who paid a visit to neighbouring Bulgaria on Friday said Bucharest and Sofia are completely ready to join Schengen. In a statement he made at the end of a joint governmental meeting, the Romanian Prime Minister expressed hope that this year, Bucharest and Sofia will receive a favourable answer as regards their accession to the free movement area. Ponta also underlined that the two sides also discussed about the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism, under which the two countries’ justice systems are being monitored by the European Commission. We recall that Romania and Bulgaria’s Schengen accession, initially scheduled for the spring of 2011, has been repeatedly postponed. The two countries have been reproached for not having sufficiently reformed the judiciary and for not having fought efficiently against organised crime.
NEW GOVERNING PROGRAM- The government in Bucharest on Friday published the new governing programme for which it will seek a vote of confidence in Parliament next week. The programme provides for lower taxes, expanding the tax base, simplifying the tax system, better budget revenue collection and combating tax evasion. Also, the VAT is to go back from 24% to 19%. Also on Friday, the Liberal Democratic Party, in opposition, announced it had drafted a censure motion, that it will officially introduce in Parliament, after the new cabinet seeks the vote of confidence in Parliament.
ECONOMY-Fitch Ratings has reasserted Romania’s BBB minus rating for long-term currency loans and the BBB rating for local currency loans with a stable outlook. This upgrade reflects a lower deficit level and a higher than expected economic growth rate last year. Fitch also confirmed Romania’s country ceiling at BBB plus and the F3 rating for short-term currency loans. These ratings are the result of an accelerated growth rate and higher confidence in Romania’s ability to reduce its income gap from other EU states, despite certain fiscal relaxation and a slower pace of implementing key structural reforms.
UKRAINE– The Ukrainian interim Prime Minister, Arseni Yatzeniuk, on Friday expressed his country’s readiness to start negotiations with Russia on the Crimean crisis, but only in certain conditions. According to the Ukrainian high official, some of the conditions include the withdrawal of Russian troops from Crimea, the observance by Moscow of bilateral and international agreements with and about Kiev and to cease providing support to the pro-Russian separatists on the peninsula. Yatseniuk made those statements in the context in which the inhabitants of Crimea will vote in a referendum, scheduled for March the 16th, on whether they would like Crimea to be annexed to Russia, or not. Also on Friday, Ukrainian interim president, Oleksandr Turcinov, signed the decree by which the referendum is annulled, in the context in which Russia has announced it will observe its results. The Russian invasion of Crimea has been deplored by the EU and the US, which have already imposed the first sanctions on Russia. In another move, the IMF has confirmed it is ready to help Ukraine, which is in a delicate financial situation. Earlier, the US has also pledged to provide Ukraine a one billion dollar loan, in token of support for the new authorities in Kiev.
