The Week in Review 3-9 August
A look back at the weeks top stories in politics, economy, society, culture and sports.
România Internațional, 09.08.2014, 13:48
Tycoon Dan Voiculescu behind bars
One of the most influential characters in post-communist Romania, businessman Dan Voiculescu, the founder of the Conservative Party in the ruling coalition, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for money laundering. Anti-corruption prosecutors proved that Voiculescu used one of his companies to buy from the Foodstuff Research Institute a plot in a real estate paradise, for a much lower price. The state lost, according to estimates, over 60 million euros. Throughout the 6-year trial, Voiculescu, a proven collaborator of the communist political police, the Securitate, pleaded not guilty.
Top-level officials disagree on political issues
The President of Romania, Traian Basescu, has rejected the nominations made by the Social Democratic PM Victor Ponta for the culture and budget ministers. The head of state described as inappropriate the two nominations, Rozalia Biro, from the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, for culture minister, and Claudiu Manda, from the Social Democratic Party, for budget minister. Under a Constitutional Court ruling, the President has the right to reject the Prime Minister’s nominations once, and new nominations have to be made in this case.
In another development, President Basescu urged the PM to reconsider his decision to denounce the so-called co-habitation agreement the two signed in 2012, in a delicate political context. The PM argues that the agreement, primarily intended to ensure political stability and which also included a code of conduct, was signed by the President in bad faith. In 2012, PM Ponta was the co-leader of the ruling Social-Liberal alliance, which took several steps to remove the President from office, including a referendum on his impeachment.
The European Commission approves Partnership Agreement with Romania
The European Commission has validated the 2014-2020 Partnership Agreement with Romania, in which Bucharest has outlined the planned spending of the funds earmarked for the country in the current budget cycle. The validation proves that the document sent by Bucharest meets the EC requirements, the Romanian minister for European funds, Eugen Teodorovici said.
Earlier this year, the European Commission harshly criticised the first draft of the document. From the current EU budget, Romania has available some 43 billion euros. Bucharest is under tremendous pressure, according to analysts, given that in the previous budget framework, for 2007-2013, Romania had the smallest EU fund absorption rate, namely 37%.
The National Bank of Romania lowers key interest and inflation forecast
The National Bank of Romania has lowered the monetary policy interest, from 3.5% to 3.25% per year. It is a new signal for cheaper lending, but not for reducing interests paid for deposits, the central bank governor, Mugur Isarescu, said.
Also this week, the National Bank adjusted its inflation forecast, to 2.2% for the end of this year and 3% for late 2015. The lower inflation is not a reason for concern as regards the economic growth, stimulating employment or productivity, Governor Isarescu added. The National Bank official also mentioned that low inflation is one of the five convergence criteria for accession to the eurozone, a goal Romania seeks to achieve in 2019.
Romanian entities come under cyber attacks
The Romanian Intelligence Service announces that several entities in the country are targeted by large-scale cyber attacks. According to the Service, the targets include public institutions, such as ministries and governmental agencies, private companies and even individuals. The attacks come from state actors, cyber crime groups and extremist terrorist groups, the Romanian Intelligence Service explained.
Three Romanian football teams qualify in European competitions
Three of the four Romanian football teams that played in the third preliminary round of the European cups have qualified in the playoffs preceding the group stage. Champions Steaua Bucharest defeated FK Aktobe from Kazakhstan 2-1 on home turf to moved on to the playoffs.
In the Europa League, Astra Giurgiu and Petrolul Ploiesti won their matches against two Czech teams, Slovan Liberec and Viktoria Plzen, respectively. In the first leg, Astra had won 3-nil, and Petrolul only managed a 1-all draw. The fourth Romanian participant in the European football competitions, CFR Cluj, lost at home, 0-2, to Dinamo Minsk, which had also won the home match in Belarus.
