The Week in Review 13-17.06.2016
Click here for a roundup of the week's main stories.
Newsroom, 18.06.2016, 14:00
IMF and World Bank warnings for Romania
The IMF and the World Bank have again warned Romania, at a debate on economic issue held in Bucharest, of the danger posed by the continuation of fiscal relaxation policies, which Romania does in fact no longer need in the opinion of the two institutions. According to the two international bodies, Romania faces the risk of entering the excessive deficit procedure in 2017. The head of the IMF mission to Romania, Reza Baqir, again recommended to the Romanian authorities to cancel or postpone the fiscal relaxation measures scheduled for 2017. The government is trying to implement a program meant to gradually reduce the deficit. The finance minister, Anca Dragu, has said that the recent decision passed by the Senate to reduce the social security contribution by 5% cannot be applied as of next year. She says the impact of the measure would account for around 1.8 billion euros, at a time when the pressure on the budget deficit is already high.
The Italian President Sergio Mattarella visits Bucharest
The Romanian President Klaus Iohannis and his Italian counterpart Sergio Mattarella have talked in Bucharest about the intensification of the bilateral strategic partnership, the challenges facing the EU and the upcoming NATO summit in Warsaw. They also agreed to better capitalise on their countries’ economic potential. Klaus Iohannis:
“We have agreed to take economic cooperation to a new level. Trade exchanges already reached a record level of more than 13 billion euros at the end of 2015, with Italy being Romania’s second biggest trade partner. We have also agreed that it is important for the economic sector in general to boost Italian investment in Romania”.
President Iohannis also spoke about the more than 1.2 million Romanians living in Italy and pointed to the need to carry on joint efforts to boost their participation in Italy’s social and political life.
NATO to strengthen defense of its eastern flank
The NATO defence ministers agreed on Tuesday in Brussels to strengthen security in the Black Sea area and one way of doing it is through the presence of ground forces in Romania in the form of a multinational brigade. Attending the meeting, the Romanian defence minister Mihnea Motoc pointed out that the brigade, subordinated to the Bucharest-based NATO Multinational Division Southeast, will facilitate training activities for the allied states in the southeastern part of the Organisation. Motoc explained that NATO’s measures are of a defensive nature, being in line with the need to strengthen national and NATO defence. Even if the relations between NATO and Russia are at their lowest since the latter’s annexation of Crimea in March 2014 and the start of the offensive of the pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, the Alliance does not want a new cold war. The Romanian and Bulgarian presidents, Klaus Iohannis and Rosen Plevneliev, respectively, have also expressed their support for strengthening defence in the Black Sea area.
Romanian PM Dacian Cioloş visits Canada
The Romanian PM Dacian Cioloş on Wednesday paid a visit to Canada, the first at this level in the last 10 years. The main topic of discussions with his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau was the visa waiver for the Romanian citizens. PM Cioloş handed to the Canadian prime minister a joint letter signed together with the Bulgarian PM Boyko Borissov, in which they ask for the lifting of visas for the citizens of Romania and Bulgaria, the only EU countries whose citizens still need visas to travel to Canada. Ciolos and Trudeau also discussed the good bilateral relations between their countries, also fostered by the community of almost 200,000 Romanian-born Canadian citizens who are perfectly integrated into Canadian society.
The Romanian Constitutional Court rules on abuse of office
The Constitutional Court of Romania has ruled on a complaint that the legal provision on abuse of office is unconstitutional, saying it is only partly unconstitutional. The judges of the Court have decided that the provisions in the criminal law related to the abuse of office are constitutional to the extent that there is proof that the flawed fulfilment of the responsibilities of office involve the breaking of the law. The interim president of the Constitutional Court of Romania Valer Dorneanu says this does not mean that abuse of office crime has been decriminalised, while his colleague Petre Lăzăroiu said a clarification of the wording was necessary in this case. The chief prosecutor of the National Anticorruption Directorate Laura Codruta Kovesi previously warned that the decriminalisation of abuse of office would block 800 cases under investigation and make it impossible to recover the losses caused by this crime, which stood at 620 billion euros last year.
The brother of the former Romanian president Traian Basescu gets 4-year prison sentence for peddling in influence
Mircea Basescu, the brother of the former Romanian president Traian Basescu, was imprisoned on Thursday soon after receiving a 4-year prison sentence for peddling in influence. According to the National Anticorruption Directorate, between February 2011 and February 2012, Mircea Basescu received a quarter of a million euros to use his influence with the magistrates to obtain a favourable ruling for a third party.
Romania fights for a place in the last 16 at Euro 2016
Sunday will see the final Group A matches at Euro 2016. To reach the last 16, Romania need to win against Albania. Romania previously lost to France and drew against Switzerland. They are now in third place with one point, with Albania in fourth with zero points. In the other Group A fixture, group leaders France face Switzerland, who are currently in second place.
