October 20, 2015 UPDATE

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România Internațional, 20.10.2015, 12:30

The Romanian economy has stabilized, 2015
being the 5th consecutive year when economic growth has been
reported, the governor of the National Bank of Romania, Mugur Isarescu, told
the EU ambassadors to Romania at the annual working meeting regarding the evolution
of local economy. The economy is expected to grow in 2015 by 3.5%, over the EU
average rate, the Romanian governor said. Referring to the economic risks
generated by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Isarescu said the risk
was controllable. From the point of view of energy independence Romania ranks
third in the EU (after Estonia and Denmark), with energy imports from Russia
standing at about 4%. As regards the financial sector there are no direct links
between the Romanian banking system and the Russian and Ukrainian ones.
According to estimates, in 2015 Romania will remain close to the budget target,
but the future tax cuts and the increase in the state employees’ salaries could
significantly affect the structural deficit in the coming years, Mugur Isarescu
warned.

Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu
on Tuesday held talks in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister and Foreign
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Aurescu underlined the importance of rebuilding
trust as the prerequisite for the resumption of peace talks between Israel and
the Palestinians reiterating his appeal for defusing tension in the region. The
two officials have reconfirmed the privileged bilateral relations. Aurescu
spoke about developing cooperation in various fields such as the military and
cyber security. Also on Tuesday, the Romanian minister met the president of the
Israel Parliament, the Knesset, Yuli-Yoel Edelstein, who expressed Israel’s
interest for common projects in top fields of activity, such as IT, research and
development, as well as renewable energy. Aurescu also met the opposition
leader in the Knesset during his two-days visit to Israel and Palestine. The Romanian official was received on Monday by the
president of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah.

The National Anti-corruption Directorate in Romania has again called
for the beginning of penal prosecution and detention in the case of MP Elena
Udrea. According to investigators, this would be the third corruption file
leveled against Udrea, former minister of Regional Development and Tourism, who
is currently facing several charges, such as bribery, influence peddling, money
laundering and forgery committed between 2009 and 2012. She has also been
accused of instigation to abuse of office with undue benefits and of carrying
out financial operations incompatible with her position. Elena Udrea was placed
under judicial control on June 16th, when the court ruled to commute
the house arrest sentence she was serving. The former minister was sent to
court in April in another corruption file with charges of bribe taking, abuse
of office and the use of documents to obtain European funds in order to fund a
private boxing event in Bucharest.

Slovenia will be calling on the EU to
dispatch additional police forces to its border with Croatia so that it may
cope with the increasing number of migrants bound for Western Europe, president
Borut Pahor said on Tuesday. In a press conference held in Brussels, following
a meeting with European Council president Donald Tusk and with that of the
European Commission Jean-Claude Junker, the Slovenian president said the
country is in dire need of EU assistance. According to the Slovenian Interior
Ministry, nearly 20 thousand refugees have entered the country since last
Friday, after Hungary had closed its border with Croatia. In another
development, the European Commission said it would come with a new plan of
redistributing 200 thousand refugees from the camps in Turkey, Jordan and
Lebanon to stem the massive flow of migrants coming to Europe. Over 600
thousand migrants have entered Europe since the beginning of the year.