December 13, 2018 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 13.12.2018, 19:49

BRUSSELS – Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis is attending in Brussels
the European Council meeting and the Euro Summit. The Council’s agenda includes
negotiations on the future EU budget after 2020, the Union’s Single Market,
migration, climate change and the fight against racism and xenophobia. As
regards the future budget of the EU, Romania’s president pleads for its rapid
adoption, specifying that Romania, while holding the presidency of the Council
of the EU, will act towards ensuring significant progress in the negotiations. Also,
he supports the efforts made by the members states with regard to the external dimension
of migration and an active involvement in the dialogue with the external
partners, the countries of origin and transit. On the sidelines of the summit,
president Iohannis has had a meeting with the German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
They have discussed the informal summit on the future of Europe to be hosted by
the Romanian city of Sibiu on May 9th, 2019, which will play a major
role in outlining the strategic agenda of the EU for 2020-2024.

COOPERATION – Romania benefits from
the US’s unequivocal support for a quick accession to the Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), according to the conclusions drawn
at the meeting in Washington between the Romanian Minister for the Business Environment,
Stefan-Radu Oprea, and the US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. The two
officials discussed Romania’s priorities during its term at the helm of the Council
of the EU and boosting investment under the strategic partnership between the
two countries. According to statistics, bilateral trade exchanges stood at a
total 2 billion dollars in the first nine months of the year, 6.8% more than in the same period last year.
Romanian exports to the US grew by 29%, up to 1.15 billion dollars, and imports
from that country dropped by 15%, to 800 million dollars.

NO-CONFIDENCE -
A no-confidence motion against the Government formed by the Social Democratic
Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats and headed by the Social
Democrat Viorica Dancila will be filed in the Romanian Parliament on Friday.
The document has been signed by 163 Senators and Deputies members of the opposition National Liberal Party,
Save Romania Union and People’s Movement Party, as well as by non-affiliated
MPs. The initiators of the motion say that this is not a just request from the
opposition, it’s a national emergency, and those who will try and reject it
will carry a historic responsibility on their shoulders. The motion will be
debated and voted on next week.

MOLDOVA – The local and parliamentary elections that are
due in the Republic of Moldova next year pose risks to the economic development
of the former Soviet state, with a predominantly Romanian-speaking population,
according to analysts with the Expert-Grup Center in Chisinau, quoted by Radio
Romania correspondents. In their opinion, a drop in foreign assistance and
budget revenues could increase the internal debt and also fees and taxes. For
2019, experts forecast an economic growth within the 3.5 – 5.2% range. However,
they also warn that decreasing taxes only a few months before the elections
will diminish budget revenues and therefore, after the election, the future
Government might increase other taxes and resort to loans from the internal
market, especially given that foreign financing has been dropping. Business
people are reluctant to investing, waiting for the result of the elections.
Parliamentary elections are scheduled for February, and the local ones are due
in June. Opinion polls indicate the pro-Russia Socialists as the favourites,
followed by the pro-European opposition and the ruling Democratic Party.

HANDBALL – On Friday night in Paris, Romania’s national women’s handball
team will face the Russian team, in the semi-finals of the European
Championship hosted by France. In the same stage of the competition, the host
country plays against the Netherlands. The Romanian handballers have also
secured their participation in the World Championship in Japan, next year. The
star and leader of the Romanian team, Cristina Neagu, dubbed the best scorer in
the history of European competitions, has unfortunately sustained an injury and
she will not be able to play.