September 1, 2015 UPDATE
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Newsroom, 01.09.2015, 12:05
On Tuesday, the first day of the autumn parliamentary session, the Romanian Senate endorsed the new Fiscal Code bill. Originally passed unanimously by the Senate and Chamber of Deputies, the draft Code was sent back to Parliament by President Klaus Iohannis, on grounds that it was not sustainable. Last week the political parties decided to endorse the bill in its original form, but to postpone the implementation of certain provisions. The first measure stipulated in the new Code is a two-stage cut in the VAT, to 20% as of January 2016 and to 19% as of 2017. The bill will be discussed and voted on in the Chamber of Deputies on Thursday.
Supporting Romanian capital in the EU and outside it must be the priority of the Romanian diplomats, the participants in the annual meeting of the Romanian diplomacy agreed on Tuesday. The head of the Romanian Chamber of Commerce, Mihai Daraban, said the Romanian diplomats must work closely with the business community to efficiently promote their interests. In turn, the members of the diplomatic corps encouraged the Romanian business people to enter markets outside the EU, which are highly profitable and where they can promote the economic interests of the entire Union. A traditional event, the annual meeting brings together in Bucharest, every autumn, the heads of the Romanian diplomatic missions abroad. Also taking part are the Romanian diplomats holding high-level positions in international organisations, such as Sorin Ducaru, assistant to the NATO Secretary General, or Cornel Feruţă, chief coordinator at the International Atomic Energy Agency. Focusing on the eastern and southern borders of NATO and the EU, this years meeting will have as special guests the foreign ministers of Poland, Slovakia, Norway and Jordan.
The Romanian Education Ministry announced that around 24% of the 55,000 participants have passed the autumn session of the Baccalaureate. Most of them completed 12th grade this summer. The percentage is 1.83% higher than the pass rate in the autumn session last year, whereas in the summer session the pass rate was nearly 66%. In the summer session there were 42 high schools where all graduates have passed the Baccalaureate, as well as 55 where no candidate managed to pass. According to the Education Ministry, these might be closed down because of the poor results.
Romanian anti-corruption prosecutors Tuesday detained the former head of the Directorate Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism, Alina Bica, and the former chief of the National Tax Administration Agency, Şerban Pop. They are suspected of having received 230,000 euros in bribes from a businessman. Bica, chief prosecutor in charge with fighting organised crime in Romania, had already been indicted for corruption offences in two separate cases.
Romanias national football team leaves for Budapest on Wednesday, to play on Friday against Hungary in the qualifiers for the European Championship. The match will be followed by a game against Greece, in Bucharest on Monday. After 4 wins and 2 draws in 6 games, the Romanians are the leaders of the qualifying Group F, with 14 points, followed by Northern Ireland with 13, and Hungary with 11. The group stage concludes in October, when Romania is to take on Faroe Islands away from home and Finland on home turf. Romania last took part in the European final tournament in 2008. According to the sports media in the country, the national team is the last hope for local football fans, after all the 4 teams in the European inter-club competitions failed to reach the group stage, an unprecedented situation in the past 12 years.
The Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, no 2 in the world, Tuesday qualified into the second round of the US Open, after New Zealands Marina Erakovic quit in just 47 minutes, at 6-2, 3-0. In the same round of the competition, the Romanian Alexandra Dulgheru was defeated by Germanys Angelique Kerber, 6-3, 6-1.
