7 November, 2019

A roundup of the main stories in Romania today.

Newsroom, 07.11.2019, 14:00

Economy. The growth rate of
the Romanian economy will see a slight rise this year to reach 4.1% of the GDP,
before slowing down to 3.6% in 2020 and 3.3% in 2021, according to the European
Commission’s autumn forecast. Private consumption is expected to decrease but
will nevertheless remain the main growth engine for the forecast period as
disposable incomes continue to be supported by an expansionist fiscal policy
and solid salary growth, the Commission’s report also says. Also, the
Commission expects inflationist pressure in Romania to drop from 4.1% in 2018
to 3.9% in 2019 and to return to the figure targeted by the National Bank of
Romania, namely 2.5 plus/minus 1%, in 2020. The European Commission warns that
the budget deficit will rise to 3.6% this year following significant pay rises
in the public sector. The deficit level is expected to rise significantly in
the following two years to 4.4% and 6.1% of the GDP following the pensions
rises adopted in the summer of 2019, the European Commission has also emphasised.

Government. Romania’s new prime
minister, the Liberal Ludovic Orban, is today attending the handover of the
ministries of health, education and research, public works, development and
administration, the environment and forests, labour and culture. The new health
minister Victor Costache has today warned that this field lacks the needed
funds to end the year. He says a priority of his term is the organisation of
the medical residency examination on the 8th of December, as agreed
with the representatives of students. The minister of education Monica Anisie
says she wants transparency in the decision-making process and measures to
benefit young people. The new minister for public works, development and
administration Ion Stefan says his number one priority is developing the gas supply
network in Romania.

Elections. From midday on Friday, local
time, until Sunday evening, Romanian citizens living abroad have three days to
cast their ballots and elect a president for the next five years. It’s for the
first time that elections are taking place over a 3-day period in the Romanian
diaspora, both in the first and the second round. The first round is taking
place this week and the second between the 22nd and the 24th
of November. The Romanians living abroad who have registered online can also
vote by mail. The president of the Permanent Electoral Authority said recently
that this year’s presidential elections in Romania are the most expensive so
far. The total amount allocated is around 150 million euros, of which 50
million is spent on the voting process abroad. To avoid long queues like in the
past, 835 polling stations were created, twice as many as in the previous
elections. In Romania, voters can cast their votes only on Sunday, on the 10th
of November, and on the 24th for the second round. 14 candidates are
in the race for the highest office, both from parliamentary and
non-parliamentary parties and independents.

Protest. 100 miners from the mines in Paroşeni and
Uricani, in the centre-west, continue their protest, demanding a monthly
supplementary income for two years for the people laid off when the mines close
and for this period to be added up to their pension. Protesters say they will
stay underground, where they have barricaded themselves since the beginning of
last week until an emergency order is passed to guarantee protections for those
who are laid off. A draft order document was discussed yesterday by the new
government. Trade unions say this is the longest protest by Romanian miners in
the last 15 years. The process to close and clean up the two mines began in
2017. Also, tens of miners from the Ocna Dej salt mine in the north-west have
barricaded themselves underground to protest against the fact that they have
not received their holiday vouchers. For this reason, the salt production was
suspended for a week at several salt mines in Romania.

Table tennis. European
champions Romania have reached the quarterfinals of the Women’s Table Tennis World
Cup under way in Tokyo after defeating Vanuatu
3-nil in Group C. Romania, who lost 1-3 to Taiwan on Wednesday, have finished
second in their group with 3 points, after Taiwan with 4 points, and ahead of Vanuatu
with 2 points. On Friday, in the quarterfinals, Romania will be facing Japan,
who won a group that also included the United States and Austria. In the other
quarterfinal matches, China face the US, Hong Kong face Taiwan and South Korea take
on Ukraine. In September, Romania won the gold medal at the European table
tennis championship in Nantes, in France, after defeating Portugal in the
final.

Football. The
Romanian football champions CFR Cluj are facing the French side Rennes at home
in a Group E match as part of the Europa League. In the first leg, Cluj won in
Rennes 1-nil. In their first two group matches, CFR defeated Lazio Rome 2-1 at
home and lost nil-2 to Celtic Glasgow away. The Scottish side are in the lead
with 7 points, followed by CFR with 6 points, Lazio with 3 points and Rennes
with 1 point.