October 21, 2019 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news.

Newsroom, 21.10.2019, 19:57

CORONATION – President Klaus Iohannis on Monday met with Japans Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, as part of his visit to Japan. On this occasion the two expressed hope that the Strategic Partnership between the two countries would be launched in 2021. Prime Minister Abe pointed out the partnership will bring substance to relations between the two states. In turn, President Iohannis said the launch of the Strategic Partnership will be timely and will result in positive effects at both political and economic level. Also on Monday, President Iohannis had talks with his Finnish counterpart, Sauli Niinisto, who extended him an invitation to visit Finland next year, to mark 100 years of diplomatic bilateral relations. On Tuesday President Klaus Iohannis will be attending the ceremony marking the coronation of Japanese Emperor Naruhito. The 126th emperor in an uninterrupted dynastic line, Naruhito took over his imperial prerogatives on May 1, 2019, following the abdication of Akihito, the emperor emeritus of Japan.

ELECTIONS – Polling stations aboad will be set up in schoold, cultural centres, hotels and restaurants with a view to November’s presidential elections. The Electoral Authority has approved the opening of 835 polling stations abroad. Of them, 143 are in Spain, 142 in Italy, 79 in Germany, 72 in the UK and 50 in France. A first at the Romanian elections, Romanians abroad have 3 days to vote for every round of voting. Also, Romanians who have registered online can also vote by post. According to official data, around 43 thousand Romanians settled abroad have opted for postal voting.

CONSULTATIONS – Prime Minister designate Liberal Ludovic Orban is this week meeting with the leaders of parliamentary parties in Bucharest, as well as with representatives of civil society, to discuss the structure of his new government and the governing program, which he said are ready and will be made public in a few days. Orban already has a strategy in place to secure support for his new Government. Outgoing Prime Minister Viorica Dancila expressed confidence that no Social-Democrat MP would vote for the Orban Cabinet.

APPEAL – The High Court of Cassation and Justice on Monday voted in favor of an appeal filed by former Senator Dan Sova, ruling for a retrial of the case where he was sentenced to three years in prison for influence peddling. This follows the Constitutional Courts ruling on judge panels specialized in corruption-related offences. Following this decision, all court cases presided by three-judge panels before January 23, 2019, that have resulted in a final sentence or are still pending, will be remanded for retrial. The National Anticorruption Directorate accused Sova of having received 100,000 euros to facilitate a judicial assistance contract between a thermal power plant in Govora and a local law firm. Dan Sova was released from prison in December last year, after having served six months of his detention time, following a Constitutional Court ruling concerning the illegal structure of the five-judge panel.

INVESTIGATION – Former director general of TAROM, Madalina Mezei, was called on Monday to appear before the National Anticorruption Directorate as a witness in the case where she accused the Interim Transport Minister, Razvan Cuc, of having demanded her to keep planes from taking off on October 10, the day when Prime Minister Viorica Dancila was facing a no-confidence motion in Parliament. Madalina Mezei on Friday said two days ahead of the scheduled vote in Parliament, Minister Cuc had asked her to cancel five domestic flights and identify the MPs who were supposed to board the flights, which she refused. In turn, Minister Cuc has denied the accusations. On the other hand, outgoing Prime Minister Viorica Dancila has dispatched her Cabinets Investigation Unit to the Transport Ministry and the National Airline Company TAROM to clarify all the aspects discussed in the media.

EUROSTAT — Romania had a budget deficit of 3% of the GDP in 2018, the Eurostat has announced. In 2018, Luxembourg (+2.7%), Germany and Malta (both +1.9%), Bulgaria (+1.8%), the Netherlands (+1.5%), Czechia (+1.1%), Greece (+1.0%), Denmark, Slovenia and Sweden (all +0.8%), Lithuania (+0.6%), Croatia (+0.3%), Austria (+0.2%) and Ireland (+0.1%) registered a government surplus. Two Member States had deficits equal to or higher than 3% of GDP: Romania (-3.0%) and Cyprus (-4.4%). At the end of 2018, the lowest ratios of government debt to GDP were recorded in Estonia (8.4%), Luxembourg (21.0%), Bulgaria (22.3%), Czechia (32.6%), Lithuania (34.1%) and Denmark (34.2%). Fourteen Member States had government debt ratios higher than 60% of GDP, with the highest registered in Greece (181.2%), Italy (134.8%), Portugal (122.2%), Cyprus (100.6%), Belgium (100.0%), France (98.4%) and Spain (97.6%). In 2018, government expenditure in the euro area was equivalent to 47.0% of GDP and government revenue to 46.5%. The figures for the EU28 were 45.8% and 45.1% respectively. In both zones the government expenditure ratio decreased between 2017 and 2018, while the government revenue ratio increased, the Eurostat reports.

TENNIS – Romanian tennis player Simona Halep has climbed one spot in WTA standings, now in 5th place. Romanian-born Canadian player Bianca Andreescu is now in 4th place, her career best. Ashleigh Barty of Australia ranks first, followed by Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic and Naomi Osaka of Japan. (Translated by Elena Enache)