November 7, 2017

Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news

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Newsroom, 07.11.2017, 14:36

MEETING The government will cover cuts in town halls budgets, Romanian Prime Minister Mihai Tudose has today said during a meeting with representatives of the Association of Municipalities in Romania on the fresh fiscal amendments planned by the executive. On Monday, Bucharest’s mayor, Gabriela Firea, said the measures would also lead to cuts in investment budgets in town halls all over the country. Also on Monday, Prime Minister Mihai Tudose explained that the new fiscal measures are meant to strengthen economic-financial discipline, step up efficiency in the anti-smuggling fight and improve the VAT collection.

PROTEST Employees of Romania’s largest carmaker, Dacia, owned by French giant Renault, are today staging a protest rally against the government’s decision to transfer the social insurance contributions from employers to employees; they also protest the delayed construction of the Pitesti Sibiu highway. The executive is to approve a series of fiscal measures such as the aforementioned transfer of the social insurance contribution from employer to employee, the payment by the employer of the so-called workmen’s compensation insurance, which should cover unemployment and medical leaves, as well as to bring income taxes down from 16 to 10%. These measures have attracted a lot of heat from major trade union confederations, the country’s president and the right-wing opposition. President Iohannis has said the date of these laws’ coming into effect, January 1st 2018, is badly timed.

VISIT US president, Donald Trump, has today arrived in South Korea, the second leg of his large-scale Asian tour. Trump has visited the US camp Humphreys, 90 kilometers south of Seoul, which is home to 28,500 soldiers. The White House leader has further met his South-Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in, who has hailed the historic relation between the two countries, which led to peace and prosperity in the Korean peninsula and the whole region. Moon says he hopes that Trump’s visit will diminish the South-Koreans’ anxiety caused by Pyongyang’s nuclear programme and will be a watershed moment in solving the north-Korean nuclear issue. The talks between the two officials have also focused on bilateral relations. On Monday, president Trump visited Japan and is to go to China on Wednesday. His tour, which is the biggest by an American president in the past 25 years, is also to include Vietnam and the Philippines.

MOTION The Liberal opposition in Bucharest has today tabled a motion against Energy Minister Toma Petcu. According to the National Liberal Party, the sector is facing many issues related to soaring energy prices, stored natural gas, the shortage of infrastructure investment and decapitalized state companies. According to the Liberals, all these problems have been caused by of mismanagement and the Minister has to be sacked or step down.

FAIR 50 businesses are representing Romania this year at the largest international travel fair underway in London. The Alba Iulia tourist destination in central Romania, the cultural circuits, spa and adventure tourism are all promoted during the fair. The theme of the Romanian stand illustrates the 100 years that have passed since the Great Union of 1918, which created the Romanian unitary state, when Bucharest gained authority over all the Romanian historical provinces. The Tourism Ministry is due to present as a first the Centenary logo, a unique element of identification for all the events Romania is to stage next year.