THE WEEK IN REVIEW
November 13-17, 2023
Corina Cristea, 18.11.2023, 18:43
Presidential tour in African countries
The tour that President Klaus Iohannis is currently making in Africa includes state visits to Kenya, Tanzania, Cape Verde and Senegal. According to the Presidential Administration in Bucharest, the tour represents the first political-diplomatic approach at this level in the last 30 years, and aims to relaunch Romanias relations with the African continent, but also the need to revive the European Unions relations with Africa, in the spirit of a new partnership. In discussions with his counterparts, but also with other high-ranking African dignitaries, President Klaus Iohannis seeks to identify measures for the development of commercial relations and the growth of economic exchanges, boosting cooperation in areas of common interest, but also strengthening Romanias profile as an education provider, starting from to the tradition of cooperation in this field with the countries of the region.
The new pension law in Parliament
The Bucharest Senate adopted the Governments draft law on the public pension system. The law was examined under an accelerated procedure, because the PSD-PNL coalition government wants it to be adopted by the Parliament by November 20, and be applied from January 1. The same procedure will be run in the Chamber of Deputies, which is the decision-making body in this case. From the opposition, the USR submitted that the situation is unprecedented and unacceptable in the case of such an important law, and the Alliance for the Union of Romanians claims that the new law benefits those with large pensions. Although in the opposition, after governing until a few months ago alongside the PSD and the PNL, the UDMR voted in favor of the document. The project provides for two increases in pensioners incomes in 2024: one in January and another in September.
Protests in Romania
About 2,000 employees from numerous fields gathered in front of the government headquarters in Bucharest, in a protest action organized by the Meridian National Trade Union Confederation. The main complaints are related to the system of the new law of the public pension system and some fiscal-budgetary measures. The demands of the trade unionists concerned retirement rules, which, they say, suppress certain benefits in terms of the age of leaving the system and the size of pensions. The so-called austerity law will also have a major impact on budgets, the protesters say. Protests also took place in other parts of the country. Dissatisfied, mainly with the conditions and the high workload, this week also saw protests by officials from pension houses, employment agencies, and agencies for payments and social inspection, from county health departments public, employees from the Ministry of Health, as well as pharmacists.
Economic data and forecasts
In Romania, the annual inflation rate fell in October to 8.1%, from 8.8% in September, according to the data presented this week by the NIS. On the other hand, the autumn economic forecasts of the European Commission show that Romania will register a decrease in economic growth due to high inflation. Thus, Romanias GDP growth is corrected downward to 2.2%, due to higher inflation than the European average, low external demand, and restricted financing conditions. Romanias real GDP growth could be 3.1% in 2024 and 3.4% in 2025, and the public deficit is forecast to decrease from 6.3% of GDP this year to 5.3% in 2024 and 5.1% in 2025, as a result of fiscal consolidation measures to be implemented in January. Romania is under excessive deficit procedure, and, if it fails to reduce the difference between public expenses and revenues, it risks losing tens of billions of European funds.
European F-16 Training Center
At Air Base 86 in Feteşti, in the southeast of Romania, the European F-16 Training Center was inaugurated on Monday, in the presence of the Romanian and Dutch defense ministers. It will be an international hub for the training of pilots on this type of aircraft, from allied and partner states, including Ukraine. At the same time, it will contribute to the acceleration of the training process of Romanian pilots, in the context in which the Romanian Army will receive 32 F-16 aircraft, purchased from Norway. The training center already has five F-16 planes, and another 18, from the Netherlands, will arrive in Romania by the end of the year. The air fleet of the Romanian Army currently has 17 F-16s, purchased from Portugal. The European Training Center was created on the basis of a collaboration agreement through which Romania provides the base, training facilities and support to the host nation. The Royal Dutch Air Force provides F-16 aircraft, and the American company Lockheed Martin, manufacturer of the aircraft, provides the instructors and the maintenance.
New repatriations from Gaza
This week, more Romanian citizens and their family members were evacuated from the Gaza Strip and arrived in Romania, on board special flights operated by the national TAROM company – the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bucharest reported. The evacuees arrived on Egyptian territory through the Rafah border point, being later taken over by the representatives of the Romanian Embassy in Egypt. A mobile team of the Crisis Cell of the MFA then accompanied them to Cairo, where they were boarded planes headed for Romania. The MFA specifies that the dialogue with the Israeli and Egyptian authorities continues, with a view to facilitating the evacuation of the other Romanian citizens and family members in the Gaza Strip who requested to leave, depending on the developments on the ground and the agreement of the parties involved.
