October 23, 2015 UPDATE
Click here for a round-up of news from Romania.
Newsroom, 23.10.2015, 20:00
BUDGET ADJUSTMENT-The Romanian Government on Friday approved a second budget adjustment in 2015, a positive one, under which all funds requested by the state institutions are being allotted, Prime Minister Victor Ponta announced. According to him, if the allotted money is entirely spent, the deficit target of 1.86% of the GDP, agreed upon with the international financial institutions, will be observed. Revenues and expenditures will increase by approximately 2.6 billion lei (that is approximately 600 million Euros) each. The largest amounts of money will go to the agriculture ministry. In exchange, the transport and energy ministries, respectively, will lose important amounts. The budget of the national health insurance fund will be increased, to finance the pay rises, in place as of October 1st. The Liberals have criticised the fact that, under this budget adjustment, road infrastructure funds are again slashed.
DEFENSE CAPABILITIES- Romania implements its own reconfiguration and adjustment measures of its defensive capabilities to the new realities, the country’s defence minister, Mircea Dusa, said on Friday in a message on the Romanian Army Day. According to minister Dusa, Romania witnesses, alongside its allies, a very complex security situation. The crisis in Ukraine and the developments at NATO’s southern border have prompted the Alliance to reconsider its priorities. At national level, Romania’s top priority is to strengthen the army’s operational capability. Mircea Dusa also said that Bucharest will further pay special heed to its strategic partnerships, that with the US, in particular.
MINI-SUMMIT-European Commission chief, Jean-Claude Juncker, has called a mini-summit in Brussels for Sunday, October 25, to tackle the migrant crisis along the Western Balkans route. The leaders of Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Romania and Slovenia will meet their counterparts from non-EU states Macedonia and Serbia, Junckers office stated. Tensions have built along the migrant trail after Hungary shut its borders, diverting the flow west to Slovenia, which in turn has also limited arrivals, along with Croatia. Over 12,000 migrants have crossed the border into Slovenia in the last 24 hours alone. In turn, Greece, the first stage on the refugees’ Balkan route, has asked for additional financial support while Turkey argues that the migrant wave gets bigger because of military operations around the Syrian city of Aleppo.
MIGRANT CRISIS-The Governments in Belgrade and Zagreb, respectively, have agreed to organise a more fluid crossing of the Serbian-Croatian border, by train, for thousands of migrants who arrive in the area every day, on their way to Western Europe. The agreement was reached during a meeting between the interior ministers of Serbia and Croatia, held at the Bajakovo-Batrovici border crossing point on Friday. The two officials also agreed that the refugees registered in Serbia and whose biometrical data have been collected by the relevant authorities should receive a document that they can use to cross into Croatia. Every day, between 5,000 and 10,0000 migrants coming particularly from the Middle East, cross the border from Macedonia into Serbia, to continue their way to Western Europe, via Croatia and Slovenia. The most sought after destination is Germany.
DECEMBER 1989 EVENTS-The President of the December 21 Association, Teodor Maries, calls for the mediation of Romania’s President, Klaus Iohannis, after the Anti-Communist Revolution file was closed. He also made public his intention to contest the ruling at the High Court. The prosecutors assigned by the Military Prosecution Department of the Prosecutor’s Office, with the High Court of Justice and Cassation, on Friday closed the case regarding the December 1989 events, which resulted in the death, injury and deprivation of liberty of several individuals, as well as in the destruction of property. According to a communiqué issued by the General Prosecutor’s Office, the offences committed in the context of the December 1989 events, initially made the subject of 4,544 criminal cases.
WINTER TIME-Romania is switching to the winter time on Saturday to Sunday night, when 4:00 AM becomes 3:00 AM. This makes Sunday, October 25, the longest day of the year, with as many as 25 hours. The switch to the Eastern European Time (EET) will not change the current timetable of trains. Daylight Saving Time (DST) is the practice of turning the clock ahead in March, as warmer weather approaches and back, in October, as it becomes colder again so that people will have one more hour of daylight in the afternoon and evening during the warmer season of the year. The assumption is also that it would decrease the need for artificial light sources and, as a result, save energy. In Romania, clocks will spring ahead an hour on the last Sunday in March.
TENNIS– WTA’s second ranked Romanian tennis player Simona Halep will play in the Red Group of the Champions’ Tournament in Singapore, as the first seed, alongside Russian Maria Sharapova, Polish Agnieszka Radwanska and Italian Flavia Pennetta, according to Friday’s draw. Playing in the other group of the Champions’ Tournament, held between October 25 and November 1st, will be Spanish Garbine Muguruza, Czech Petra Kvitova, German Angelique Kerber and Czech Lucie Safarova. The two players with the best results in each group will qualify for the semi-finals.
