November 9, 2019 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news.
Newsroom, 09.11.2019, 20:05
ELECTION — In Romania, the first round of the presidential elections is taking place on Sunday. A total of 14 candidates have enrolled in the race. Voters will hit the polls on Sunday in Romania, but Romanians living abroad can vote over the course of three days, starting Friday at noon and ending Sunday evening. Postal voting was for the first time introduced for the voting process abroad and 25 thousand people opted for it. Around 250 thousand Romanian citizens in the Diaspora cast their ballot by Saturday evening, most of them in Britain, Italy and Spain. The second ballot is scheduled for November 24 in Romania and will also last three days abroad. These measures were taken to avoid the long waiting hours, which were reported at the last presidential election and the European Parliament election.
TREASURE – The activity of the joint Romanian-Russian committee on studying the problems emerged from the history of bilateral ties, including the issue of Romania’s treasure stored in Moscow during WW1 has been resumed after a tree years’ break, the Romanian Foreign Ministry has announced. The 5th meeting of this committee was held on November 7 and 8 in Moscow. The Romanian Foreign Minister, Bogdan Aurescu, has hailed the resuming of talks. During WW1, since Bucharest was occupied by Germany, the Romanian administration moved to Iaşi (north-eastern Romania), and with them, the most valuable objects which belonged to the Romanian state. Fearing an eventual German victory, the Romanian government decided to send the Treasure abroad. The Romanian government signed a deal with the Russian government which stated that Russia would safe keep the Romanian Treasure in the Kremlin until the end of the war. The treasure has never been returned to Romania.
BERLIN WALL – On Saturday Germany celebrated the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall that divided East and West Germany. The toppling of the Wall was followed a year later by the reunification of Germany in 1990. President Frank-Walter Steinmeier welcomed the leaders of Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Hungary in Berlin. The fall of the Wall shows there no excuse not to fight for freedom, according to Chancellor Angela Merkel. “The values on which Europe is founded — freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law, respect for human rights — are anything but self-evident. And they have to be filled with life and must be defended again and again,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said at the ceremony. American President Donald Trump hailed on Saturday Germany’s extraordinary efforts to reunify the country.
FINANCE – The decision of Fitch Rating Agency to reconfirm Romania’s country rating to BBB minus with a stable outlook is supported by the moderate level of the public debt and the positive evolution of the GDP per capita, the Romanian Finance Ministry has announced in Bucharest. The solidity of the banking system is a positive factor, according to the ministry. In the upcoming period, the Finance Ministry will focus on the budget revision and the 2020 national budget.
HEARINGS – The hearings of the new commissioners designated by Romania, Hungary and France will be held on November 14, the European Parliaments leaders decided on Friday. Once the candidates are greenlit by the JURI Committee on Legal Affairs, which will investigate any potential conflicts of interest, the three candidates, namely Adina Valean from Romania, Olivier Varhelyi from Hungary and Thierry Breton from France, will appear before Parliaments special committees. The European Commissions President Elect Ursula von der Leyen will subsequently present her team and governing program in a joint Parliament session. We recall the nomination of Romanian MEP Adina Valean for the position of EU Commissioner for Transport was accepted by Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday.
INFLATION – Romania in neither in the precipice, nor on the verge of it, Central Bank Governor Mugur Isarescu said upon presenting the quarterly report on inflation. According to the Romanian official, the countrys main vulnerability is that most of the economic growth is based on consumption. Mugur Isarescu also said that Romanias deficit of 6.1% for 2021, as estimated by the European Commission, cannot be taken into account, because it would endanger Romanias position on the external markets, where it has incurred significant debt. Isarescu has said that the Central Bank has decreased to 3.8% the inflation forecast for the end of the year and estimates a 3.1% inflation rate for end-2020. The Central Bank estimated, in August 2019, a 4.2% inflation rate for the end of 2019 and of 3.4% for December 2020.
MEETING – Prime Minister Ludovic Orban on Friday met US Ambassador Hans Klemm. The parties agreed to deepen and develop the Strategic Partnership between the two countries in all its aspects, with a focus on military and security cooperation, reads a Government release. Ludovic Orban underlined Romanias openness towards dialogue in order to ensure a stable and investor-friendly environment. (Translated by Elena Enache)
