September 1, 2018

The leadership of the Social Democratic Party, PSD, the main party in the ruling coalition, has gathered in the Romanian Black Sea resort of Neptun, to attend a session of the National Executive Committee

România Internațional, 01.09.2018, 13:34

PSD– The leadership of the Social Democratic Party, PSD, the main party in the ruling coalition, has gathered in the Romanian Black Sea resort of Neptun, to attend a session of the National Executive Committee. A meeting of the parliamentary groups in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate will also be held there. A 7 month activity report by the cabinet led by Viorica Dăncilă and the stage of implementation of the measures included in the governing program are the focal points of the talks held by the Social-Democrats. Also, the PSD leadership, jointly with the parliamentary groups will establish a strategy for the autumn parliamentary session, having the pension law as a priority. The Social-Democrats should also decide who will be the care-taker at the Research and Innovation Ministry or whether or not they will make a new nomination for this portfolio and submit it to the President, after the line minister, Nicolae Burnete tendered his resignation on Friday.

FINANCES – The Romanian Finance Minister, Eugen Teodorovici, considers it a good omen the fact that Standard & Poor’s rating agency has confirmed the rating and stable outlook of the Romanian economy, thus confirming that Romania continues to be attractive to foreign investors. Standard & Poor’s confirms Romanias rating for long and short terms debts in hard currency and local money at BBB-A-3, with a stable outlook. According to the agency, the rating is supported by the moderate level of the foreign debt and by solid growth perspectives. However, the GDP per capita stood at 10,000 USD in 2017,one of the lowest in the EU. Standard & Poor’s analysts claim the low level of incomes and wealth are impacting Romanias rating, just like many other factors like the budget deficit, the poor institutional and governmental efficiency and last but not least political uncertainty. As regards 2018, Standard & Poor’s expects the real growth of the GDP will slow down to 4.3%, against the backdrop of a consumption which will get back to normal and a decreasing external demand.

MARCH – The participants
in the Centennial March, who started their journey on July 1 in Alba Iulia,
central Romania, the symbolical venue for the Great Union of 1918 , have today
reached Chișinău, the capital of the
Republic of Moldova, the final point of the march, which will host a big
Centennial assembly. They have marched some 1,300 km and have made stopovers in
places of high significance for WWI and the reunification of Romania. 34 Romanian
citizens participating in the March have reached Chishinau after being allowed
to cross the border into the Republic of Moldova. The only one who was denied
access to the Republic of Moldova is the leader of the Action 2012 Movement, George
Simion, the organiser of the March, whom the customs authorities accuse of aggressive
and inadequate behaviour. He has rejected the accusations. The leader of the
Unionist Platform Action 2012, George
Simion, had previously been declared persona non grata in the Republic of
Moldova, in 2015 and 2016. The Moldovan ambassador to Bucharest has been
invited to provide explanations on the reasons for which the Romanian citizens
were initially denied access to the Republic of Moldova. The Romanian Foreign
Ministry had earlier declared it was attentively and concernedly watching the
situation emerging at the border with the Republic of Moldova and had demanded explanations.

MULTINATIONAL EXERCISE – Some 40 Romanian military of 61st Mountain Troops Brigade “General Virgil Bădulescu are taking part in the Multinational Exercise “Rapid Trident 18 which is unfolding in Yavoriv, Ukraine, over September 1-15. The drills which are organised by the United States Army Europe, USAREUR, jointly with the Ukrainian Armed Forces are aimed at training military for the planning and execution of coalition-led multinational operations, at brigade and battalion level.

ASF-
Bulgaria has reported a first outbreak of African swine fever, ASF, in a
household in the north-east. The
Bulgarian government has recently erected a 133 km long fence alongside its
border with neighbouring Romania, to stop wild boars from entering into
Bulgaria. In Romania, some 800 ASF outbreaks have been confirmed in Romania since June. The Bucharest
authorities continue to take measures to prevent the spread of the virus, and
pigs have been culled in the areas where the presence of the virus has been
confirmed, that is in a quarter of Roumania’s counties. The authorities have
imposed preemptive restrictions on the sale of pork and veterinary -safety
checkpoints have been set up on the
borders of the counties where the virus has been confirmed. The Romanian government has given assurances
the affected pig owners will receive
damages.

GOLDEN STAG– The central Romanian city of Braşov this evening will be hosting the award gala of the Golden Stag International Festival. Apart from the big trophy, at this years anniversary edition which celebrates the Great Union Centennial and the festivals 50th anniversary, the 18 singers running in the contest, among whom three Romanian nationals, also stand the chance to win one of the special prizes, for best rendition of a Romanian piece, the prize of the city of Brasov, the publics award, the press prize and the prizes of the Public Radio and Television Corporations. The gala will also include some special recitals, one given by Edwin Marton who will be playing his Stradivarius violin, another one by Eleni Koureira, a member of the jury and the representative of Cyprus at Eurovision, by The Motans and Carla’s Dreams. Another long awaited moment is also the recital given by Nicole Scherzinger, a member of the band Pussycat Dolls.

GEORGE ENESCU FESTIVAL – As from today, Bucharest is hosting the 16th edition of the George Enescu International Festival. No less than 270 budding musicians from 39 countries, among whom 22 from Romania and the Republic of Moldova, will compete in the four sections – Composition, Violin, Cello and Piano. This is the 60 year anniversary of the festival dedicated to the famous composer, violinist, pianist and conductor George Enescu. The festival, which comes to a close on September 23, will bring to the public a number of exceptional recitals with three great musicians, who are going to also be members on the festival’s jury. Among the guests are Italian violinist Salvatore Accardo, Swedish pianist Peter Jablonnski and British cellist Raphael Wallfisch.