November 10, 2016

PM Ciolos meets with Serbia's PM Alexandar Vucic

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Newsroom, 10.11.2016, 00:00

US PRESIDENCY – The President in office of the USA, Barack Obama, is to receive his successor, Donald Trump, at the White House today, for talks on the presidential transition. On Wednesday, thousands gathered in several American cities to protest the election of the Republican Donald Trump as the 45th President of the US, criticising his rhetoric against immigrants, Muslims and other groups. The protesters, who carried anti-Trump banners and flags, blocked traffic in several cities, but according to police sources most rallies were without incidents.

HIGH-LEVEL MEETING – The PM of Romania, Dacian Cioloş, has a meeting today in Timisoara, western Romania, with his Serb counterpart, Alexandar Vucic, with whom he is to discuss mainly about Serbias EU accession, including ways in which Romania is able to support this process. The two will also look at how the rights of the Romanian minority in Serbia are respected. Several agreements will be signed, including one on preventing and managing disasters. Under this agreement, the two countries will provide mutual assistance in the event of disasters whose consequences cannot be fully removed through the efforts of the affected or threatened state.

JUSTICE – The Romanian Justice Minister, Raluca Prună, offered Bucharests support for the reform process in the Republic of Moldova. At a Forum organised in Chisinau and focusing on fighting corruption, she emphasised that a state cannot be modernised and reformed without an independent judicial system. According to a news release issued by the Romanian Justice Ministry, the Forum is organised by Ms Pruna jointly with her Moldovan counterpart, Vladimir Cebotari, and is intended to become the main communication platform leading to the development of bilateral cooperation in this sector.

INFLATION – The National Bank of Romania has kept its inflation estimate for this year at negative 0.4%, but has revised its forecast for next year from the 2% estimated in August to 2.1%, reads the Quarterly Report on Inflation presented today by the central bank governor Mugur Isărescu. The National Bank chief mentioned, among the factors that influence inflation, several international elements, like the uncertainty in financial markets induced by the outcome of the US presidential election and by the decisions of oil exporting countries, as well as domestic elements, such as the increase in consumption. The international factors reduce the inflation, whereas the domestic ones encourage it, Isarescu says. According to him, domestic demand has been stimulated excessively, which led to an increase in imports.

RADIO LICENSE FEE – The President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, is taking part today in a debate on the write off of the public radio and television license fee. The event is designed to facilitate the dialogue between the head of state and journalists, representatives of mass media organisations and civil society members, about the current state of the public broadcasters. The meeting takes place after Parliament endorsed a bill that scraps more than a hundred taxes and fees, including the radio and television license fees. In a separate debate on the same topic, held on Monday at the Romanian Television Corporation, participants emphasised that by eliminating the radio and television license fees, the direct connection between citizens and public services is cut off. Moreover, this would endanger the very operation of the two public broadcasters as of January 1 next year.

FOOTBALL – Romanias national football team is preparing for tomorrows game on home turf against Poland, in the qualifying stage for the 2018 World Cup hosted by Russia. In the first 3 matches in Group E, Romania has a 5-0 win in Yerevan, against Armenia, and 2 draws, 1-1 at home against Montenegro and 0-0, away from home against Kazakhstan. With 7 points each, Montenegro and Poland top the group standings, with Romania ranking 3rd with 5 points. During this qualifying campaign, the national team is for the first time in history managed by a foreign coach, the German Cristoph Daum.