November 6, 2014

For a roundup of domestic and international news, click here.

Bogdan Matei, 06.11.2014, 13:51

ELECTION — The Central Election Bureau in Romania has announced the final results of the first presidential ballot held last Sunday. Prime Minister Victor Ponta, representing the alliance made up of the Social Democratic Party, the National Union for the Progress of Romania and the Conservative Party won 40.44% of the vote, while his main opponent, Christian Liberal Alliance representative and mayor of the city of Sibiu Klaus Iohannis grabbed 30.37% of the vote. The two will face each other in the presidential runoff scheduled for November 16. The Constitutional Court has dismissed all challenges requesting to invalidate Sunday’s first ballot, including those filed by candidates who have left the race for Cotroceni.

INFLATION — The National Bank of Romania has lowered its inflation forecast for the end of the year, from 2.2% to 1.5%. National Bank Governor Mugur Isarescu says the change is the result of a drop in oil prices, the stability of natural gas prices, this year’s bumper crop, but also rising imports from states that have suspended trade relations with Russia. Mugur Isarescu believes a stable inflation rate in 2015 will hold prospects for long-term economic growth.

FOOTBALL — Romania’s football champions, Steaua Bucharest, are today playing the return leg against Rio Ave of Portugal, in Group J of the Europa League. In the first leg, Steaua beat its opponent 2-1. Steaua, having six points of nine possible, took first place in a group that includes Aalborg of Denmark and Dinamo Kiev of Ukraine. Also today, in Group D, Romania’s vice-champions, Astra Giurgiu, meets at home Celtic Glasgow, after getting defeated in Glasgow 1-2. Astra has no points, and is last in its group, headed right now by Celtic, a group that also includes Dinamo Zagreb of Croatia and Red Bull Salzburg of Austria.

REPORT — Several EU Member States, including Romania, have misspent some 7 billion euros from community funds last year, accounting for 4.7% of the total funds earmarked, a recent report of the European Court of Accounts reads. According to European auditors, most error-prone spending areas were regional policy and rural development. The report comes at a delicate time for the EU, with criticism very likely to spike in Germany, the largest net contributor to the EU budget and in the United Kingdom, a country that over the last years has been pushing back on large budget bills.

ARREST – Suspended president of the Constanta County Council Social Democrat MP Nicusor Constantinescu was taken into custody on Bucharest Otopeni International Airport pending the confirmation of the arrest warrant. Constantinescu is wanted in a criminal investigation of several court cases under the authority of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate. He was admitted in a private hospital in Turkey several days ago, after for the last six months he sought medical treatment in the United States.

AFGHANISTAN — NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is today paying his first official visit to Afghanistan, with nearly two months before the end of the ISAF operations in this country. Jens Stoltenberg will meet with Afghan president Ashraf Ghani, with ISAF Commander General John Campbell and other NATO officials. Former Norwegian Social-Democrat Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg has replaced Danish Anders Fogh Rasmussen in September as Secretary General of NATO. After the full withdrawal of ISAF troops from Afghanistan, NATO will continue its operations in 2015 with a reduced assistance and training contingent totalling 12,500 military, of which 10,000 American. Next year Romania will contribute 200 military to NATO operations in Afghanistan.

UKRAINE — Tension is running high on the ground in Eastern Ukraine, where clashes between Government forces and pro-Russian militias have killed over 4,000 people since the outbreak of violence in April, with the death toll among military and civilians increasing by the day. Yesterday’s negotiations between Kiev, Moscow and rebel representatives have resulted in little progress in terms of “trust”, the OSCE’s Mission to Ukraine’s spokesman has said. In another development, Prime Minister Arsenyi Yatsenyuk has announced that Ukraine is confronted with a severe economic slump, and will thus stop sending social security allowances to rebel-held areas. The statement follows after last Sunday’s parliamentary and presidential elections in the self-proclaimed independent republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, which Russia has recognized and which Ukraine and pro-Western powers believe will hinder the peacemaking process.