May 26, 2015 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news.

Newsroom, 26.05.2015, 12:15

IMF and European Commission representatives concluded on Tuesday their technical assessment mission to Bucharest. The current financial program under assessment is due to end this autumn. The talks mainly focused on the changes brought to the Fiscal Code and the economic measures to be implemented starting January 1st, 2016. On Monday, the experts held talks with Prime Minister Victor Ponta and Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici, on the impact that the reduction of fees and taxes would have on the state budget. The government insists that Romania needs fiscal relaxation, which was also acknowledged by the international financiers. The latter, however, want guarantees that the budget deficit targets set by the Romanian Government are maintained. The delegation will return to Bucharest in late June, for a full assessment of the running agreement.

Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta on Tuesday in Tirana, Albania, pleaded for peace, stability and cooperation among the countries in the region, especially at present, when Europe and the Middle East are confronted with major conflicts and challenges. He also said that Romania was determined to contribute to the development of the regional cooperation, given its stable political situation and its solid economic growth. Ponta attended the summit of the South-East European Cooperation Process hosted by Tirana. The main topics on the agenda of talks were regional developments and the European prospects of the Western Balkan countries. The Foreign Affairs Minister Bogdan Aurescu accompanied the Prime Minister. Albania is currently holding the presidency of the process. The participating countries are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Macedonia, the Republic of Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey and Kosovo.

The performance staged by the Odeon Theatre in Bucharest, “For Sale, directed by Gianina Carbunariu, got the award for best performance in 2014, granted by the Theatre Union in Romania, UNITER. In the best director category, the award went to Victor Ioan Frunza for the performance “Furniture and Pain, staged at the ‘Nicolae Balcescu UNESCO Cultural Center in Bucharest. The best leading actor award went to Vlad Ivanov for his role in “The Good Person of Szechwan, after Brecht, by the Bulandra Theatre in Bucharest, and the award for best leading actress went to Anca Hanu, for her part of Amalia in the show “Breathe Deep, Amalia, staged at the National Theatre in Cluj-Napoca.

The European Commission informed Romania on Tuesday on its official decision to approve the National Rural Development Program for 2014-2020. Under this program, Romania will have 9.3 billion euros earmarked for this sector, of which 8 billions are European funds and 1.3 billion euros represent Romanias contribution.

750 Romanian, Bulgarian and American soldiers are participating in southeastern Romania in the annual training module part of an international training exercise. Also, by May 28th, over 1,500 soldiers from Canada, Britain, Romania and the US are taking part in the ‘Trident Poseidon 2015 exercise, held in Romanias territorial waters and the international waters of the Black Sea. The exercise is aimed at strengthening interoperability among the NATO forces, as well as at boosting cooperation among agencies in Romania, against the current difficult security background.

According to a release issued by the Romanian Cultural Institute, Brussels hosted on Tuesday a debate on the Republic of Moldovas European prospects. The event brought together experts from research institutes, members of the European Parliament, European diplomats and representatives of the Moldovan mission with the EU, in the aftermath of the recent Eastern Partnership Summit in Riga, whose aim was to bring Europe closer to the six former members of the USSR. We recall that last year Chisinau concluded association and free-trade agreements with the EU, whose member it hopes to become in 2020.

Romania has the smallest budget expenditure in the EU, according to the latest data by Eurostat made public on Tuesday. The budget of a EU country collects and spends almost 50% of the GDP on average. The Romanian budgets expenditure, however, is only a little over 35% of the GDP. As regards the allocation of funds on sectors, one third of Romanias budget is spent on social assistance services, over 11% goes to the health system, 8% to the education system and 2.2% to the field of defence.