November 6, 2014 UPDATE

A roundup of the main stories in Romania today

România Internațional, 06.11.2014, 12:15

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 rival, Christian Liberal Alliance representative and mayor of the city of Sibiu Klaus Iohannis won 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 requests to declare Sunday’s vote invalid, including those filed by candidates who have left the race for president.

MEP Monica Macovei has said she will support the candidate of the Christian Liberal Alliance, Klaus Iohannis in the second round of the presidential elections due on November 16th. Macovei, who was in the presidential race herself, ranked fifth in the first round with 120,000 votes. The Social Democrat leader Victor Ponta and Klaus Iohannis will face each other in the second round run-off. Iohannis says he supports the principles upheld by Macovei with respect to the rule of law and the fight against corruption. The Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, which had two candidates in the first election round, urged its supporters to vote in the second round as their conscience dictates.

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.

Talks with International Monetary Fund experts over Romania’s budget for 2015 will begin next month. A final version of the budget is not expected earlier than mid January, at the same time as the next mission for the assessment of the country’s agreement with the Fund. In an interview to Radio Romania, the finance minister Ioana Petrescu said the government maintained its 2.8% growth forecasts for this year, despite the downward revision of the European Commission in its autumn report, which puts Romania’s economic growth rate at 2%.

Suspended president of the Constanta County Council, the Social Democrat MP Nicusor Constantinescu was received by the police at the Bucharest Otopeni International Airport and taken to court for the confirmation of his arrest warrant. Two days ago, he was detained in Turkey based on an international arrest warrant. Constantinescu is being investigated by the National Anti-Corruption Directorate in connection to several cases. He was admitted into a private hospital in Turkey, after seeking medical treatment in the United States for the last six months.

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.

The Russian Federation is the guest of honour of the 21st Gaudeamus Book for Learning Fair held in Bucharest between the 19th and the 23rd of November. Organised by Radio Romania, Gaudeamus is the biggest event of its kind in this country. This year, it brings together over 400 local and foreign publishing and printing houses, educational institutions, cultural centres and institutes, media institutions, book distribution agencies, multimedia companies, literary agencies, NGOs in the field of culture and education, professional associations, libraries and book shops. Last year, the fair had a special focus on the Nordic states: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

At the invitation of the famous Romanian soprano Angela Gheorghiu, the main conductor of Radio Romania’s Orchestras and Choirs Tiberiu Soare will be conducting a series of concerts across Europe. This month, the Romanian musicians will appear on three legendary stages: Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris on November 9th, Musikverein Graz on November 16th and Concertgebouw in Amsterdam on November 25th. These performances are part of a bigger project initiated by Angela Gheorghiu to stage concerts in a number of European and world concert halls.