November 11, 2024

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 11.11.2024, 13:55

VISIT – Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu will make an official visit to London this week, to meet with his British counterpart, Keir Starmer, and with the speaker of the House of Commons, Lindsay Hoyle. Talks will focus on strengthening bilateral relations and collaboration between the two countries, especially in the economic field and on combating tax evasion. The Romanian Prime Minister will also participate in the Romania – Great Britain Economic Forum. Last week, in view of this visit, the Romanian Executive adopted a memorandum that updates the convention between the two countries regarding taxation and the prevention of tax evasion. The new document takes into account the changes made in the Romanian legislation during the year 2023, as well as those related to the perspective of Romania’s goal of joining the OECD.

VOTE – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz could request a vote of confidence in Parliament before Christmas after the government coalition broke down last week. The date would thus be earlier than January 15, which he had announced last week, and the decision was taken following pressures for the legislature to take a decision more quickly, as the president and the conservative opposition want. The chancellor said that he would be willing to ask Parliament to decide by the winter holidays, and a negative decision would pave the way for the organization of early elections next spring. The political crisis comes against the backdrop of stagnation in some German economic fields or decline in others, in the context of Donald Trump returning to the White House, who said he was in favor of increased taxation of imports, something that would affect Germany, the largest European exporter.

TALKS – The US President-elect, Donald Trump, had, a few days ago, a conversation with the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, whom he advised not to escalate the conflict in Ukraine and to whom he reminded that “Washington has a vast military presence in Europe” , writes the American press. Previously, Donald Trump had also had a telephone conversation with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky. The press agencies recall that during the election campaign Trump declared that he would find a solution to end the war in one day, and an adviser to the president-elect indicated that the future administration in Washington will focus on achieving peace rather than recovery of Ukrainian territory occupied by Russia. On June 14, President Putin laid out his conditions for ending the war: Ukraine should give up its ambitions to join NATO and withdraw all its troops from the territory of four regions claimed by Russia. Ukrainian authorities have rejected these demands, saying they would amount to capitulation, and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has presented a “victory plan” that includes requests for additional military support from the West. On the other hand, the adviser for national security of the White House, Jake Sullivan, declared that in the more than two months left until the transfer of power, Joe Biden will try to convince Congress and the new Administration that support for Ukraine must be maintained.

VERETANS DAY –  The Romanian Ministry of National Defense is organizing today, on the occasion of the Veterans Day in the theatres of operations, military and religious ceremonies in Bucharest and in the garrisons where there are military units that have carried out missions in the war zones. November 11 was chosen for its symbolism: the entry into force, in 1918, of the truce between the Entente Powers and Germany, which ended the First World War and created the necessary conditions for the Great Union in Romania. The significance of this day for the Romanian Army is also related to the fact that on November 11, 2003, Second Lieutenant Iosif-Silviu Fogaraşi, the first Romanian soldier to die in the theatre of operations in Afghanistan, fell in the line of duty.

BNR – The Governor of the National Bank of Romania, Mugur Isarescu, is today presenting the quarterly report on inflation. According to him, inflation will increase slightly at the end of the year, so an increase in prices is expected in the following period, and in the first half of 2025, the indicator will fluctuate and remain above the level desired by the Central Bank. Only in 2026 will the annual inflation rate resume its decline and fall below the proposed target of 3.5%, according to the report analyzed and approved on Friday by the Administrative Council of the BNR. At the same time, the Central Bank decided to maintain the key interest rate at 6.5% per year, after taking a similar decision at the October meeting.

CUSTOMS – Romanian customs will be equipped with five new X-ray scanner systems from next month, and eight more units will be installed in 2025, according to data from the Romanian Customs Authority. At present, Romania has four scanners in customs, including mobile devices for the control of trucks and cars. The Customs Authority specifies that, since the X-ray scanners were installed in customs, drugs, cigarettes, money and even weapons have been discovered. On the other hand, tons of drugs were discovered by the Romanian police in the first nine months of the year. The police announce that 33 criminal groups, made up of almost 240 people, were dismantled

BITCOIN – The bitcoin digital currency has crossed the threshold of 81 thousand dollars today, a second record in just a few days. The increased level reached by bitcoin is attributed by economic analysts to the election of Donald Trump as president of the US, given that, over time, he was in favor of digital currencies, and in the electoral campaign he promised to relax regulations in the US related to crypto-currencies.