January 25, 2025 UPDATE 2
A roundup of local and world news
Newsroom, 25.01.2025, 20:00
RATING The financial rating agency Standard & Poor’s confirmed Romania’s ‘BBB minus’ rating, but revised the outlook from “stable” to “negative”. The reasons are related to high fiscal and external risks, the agency reports. According to S&P, the fragmented and uncertain political environment, as well as the substantial spending ahead of the elections, pushed the fiscal deficit to almost 8.7% of GDP, far above expectations. The Romanian finance minister Tánczos Barna says the change in the outlook from stable to negative indicates that measures are needed to reduce the budget deficit, and that the country needs a balanced public budget and a streamlined government structure. He also said that the government’s measures to reduce the deficit and consolidate economic growth must be implemented at an alert pace, in the form already agreed on with the EU.
UKRAINE The president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that, taking into account Ukraine’s cooperation with the Republic of Moldova, it is possible for Kyiv to cover Moldova’s entire electricity demand, and a 30% discount on the supply price is also possible. He made these statements at a meeting on Saturday in Kyiv with the president of Moldova, Maia Sandu. The two officials also discussed possible coal deliveries to the Republic of Moldova. In turn, Maia Sandu accused Russia of trying to create economic and social chaos in Moldova and bring a pro-Russian government in power in Chisinau. She traveled to Kyiv amid energy tensions in Transnistria, a pro-Russian breakaway region between the two countries, AFP reports. This strip of land with a population of about half a million, which remains outside Moldova’s control, was supplied by the Russian natural gas giant Gazprom for free, through a pipeline that crossed Ukraine. The latter ended the contract with Moscow on January 1, thus cutting off supplies to Moldova, including to Transnistria, which declared a state of emergency. With Kyiv fighting the Russian invasion for three years, Chisinau is worried about a possible spillover of the conflict to its territory, especially through the destabilisation of Transnistria by Russia. The rest of Moldova is for now safe from energy cuts, thanks to electricity and gas imports from Romania.
ELECTIONS The Liberals will convene on Sunday in a special National Council meeting to validate the former party president Crin Antonescu as the joint candidate of the ruling coalition in Romania. The Social Democrats scheduled a special congress on February 2 for the same purpose, and UDMR will make its decision at the beginning of next week. The first and second rounds of the presidential elections are scheduled for May 4 and 18. So far, the mayor of Bucharest, Nicuşor Dan, the independent candidate Călin Georgescu and the president of Save Romania Union, Elena Lasconi, have announced plans to run for president. The latter two were top placed in the presidential elections canceled last year. After the first election round on November 24 was validated, the Constitutional Court of Romania canceled the election as a whole on December 6, although voting in the second round had already begun abroad. The Court made its decision after the Supreme Defence Council published a report indicating foreign interference in the electoral process, but investigations have so far failed to confirm it. Tens of thousands of Romanians took to the streets to demand that the second round be resumed.
EXHIBITION Romania’s foreign ministry announced that on Saturday the National Museum of History of Romania (MNIR) and the Culture Ministry were notified that an explosion took place and several exhibits were stolen at the Drents Museum in the Netherlands, which is hosting an exhibition called ‘Dacia! Rijk van goud en zilver’ (Dacia! Kingdom of gold and silver), organised jointly with MNIR. According to the institution, initial investigations indicate that the blast was design to help as yet unidentified perpetrators to break into the museum building and steal pieces from Romania’s Dacian treasure. The foreign ministry notified the Romanian interior ministry and the Romanian police, and the Romanian embassies in all neighboring countries are on alert. Romania’s foreign minister Emil Hurezeanu spoke with his Dutch counterpart Caspar Veldkamp, highlighting the exceptional importance of the stolen exhibits. The Dutch side assured Romania of its operational and political determination to solve the case. The Dutch police also activated cross-border cooperation mechanisms and informed the Interpol of the matter.
HOLOCAUST The minister of culture Natalia Intotero will represent Romania, on Monday, at the ceremony commemorating the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Poland. The event, held under the patronage of the president of Poland, marks the International Holocaust Remembrance Day declared by the United Nations, and brings together camp survivors, official delegations of states and international organisations. Romania’s participation in the ceremony on January 27 reflects its solid commitment to keeping alive the memory of the victims of the Holocaust, to fighting all forms of denial, distortion, or downplaying of this tragic moment, as well as to fighting anti-Semitism, xenophobia, radicalisation and hate speech, while at the same time promoting respect for fundamental human rights, both at national and international level, the Romanian culture ministry said. (AMP)
