September 18, 2019

Constitutional Court to discuss deadlock between Government and Presidency today; Enescu Festival continues

Newsroom, 18.09.2019, 13:57

DEADLOCK The Constitutional Court in Bucharest is to discuss today the notification filed by PM Viorica Dancila with respect to a possible conflict of powers, triggered by the Presidents refusing to appoint interim ministers. Last week President Klaus Iohannis announced he would not accept the reshuffling proposed by the Prime Minister, which he dismissed as “void and unsuitable. Last Wednesday Viorica Dancila sent the head of state a document nominating members of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for the vacant positions in Cabinet after that party left the ruling coalition last month. Also today, the Social Democratic Partys National Executive Committee convenes to discuss the situation of the Cabinet, which has many minister positions still unfilled.

VISIT The prime Minister of Romania Viorica Dăncila received in Bucharest today her Polish counterpart Mateusz Morawiecki, for a second round of inter-governmental consultations between the 2 countries. This is the second inter-government meeting after the one in Warsaw last May, and it takes place in the context of the celebration of a decade-long strategic partnership, of 3-decades long democratic regime and of a century of diplomatic relations. The members of the 2 governments will sign a memorandum of agreement in major sectors, including infrastructure, energy, transport, communications, digitisation, entrepreneurship and the management of European funds.

FESTIVAL In Bucharest, classical music lovers are invited today to concerts with highly appreciated artists, as part of the George Enescu International Festival. Todays programme includes a concert of the Lille National Orchestra, conducted by Vlad Vizireanu, at the Romanian Athenaeum. The soloists, Sergey Khachatryan, on violin, and Timothy Ridout, on the viola, will perform George Enescus Chamber Symphony for 12 instruments, Johannes Brahmss Violin Concerto in D major and ‘Harold in Italy’ by Hector Berlioz. The George Enescu International Festival, with Radio Romania as a co-producer, will continue until September 22, bringing together 2,500 of the worlds most celebrated musicians in 84 concerts and recitals. Bucharest and other cities in Romania and in Germany, France, Italy, Canada and the Republic of Moldova are hosting performances as part of this years Festival.

BILL A bill on the taxation of special pension benefits, introduced by the Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici, has been passed by the Senate today after being approved by the budget committee on Tuesday. The document concerns a 30% tax rate on special pensions ranging between approx. 1,480 euro and 2,115 euro, and a 50% tax rate on pensions above this threshold. Senators also decided that country presidents emoluments in excess of roughly 1,480 euro should be subject to taxation. The bill will be sent to the Chamber of Deputies, the decision making body in this respect.

EMPLOYMENT Most EU citizens working part time last year (26% of the total) said they could not find full-time jobs, while another 24% chose part-time work because they were looking after children or incapacitated adults, according to data released today by the European Statistics Office, Eurostat. The highest percentage of people who were working part-time in 2018 because they did not find full-time employment was reported in Greece (70%), Italy (66%), Cyprus (65%), Bulgaria (59%), Spain (56.5%) and Romania (54.9%). The lowest rates were reported in Estonia (6%), Belgium, the Czech Republic and Slovenia (7% each) and Netherlands (8%). Around one-fifth of the total number of employed EU citizens had part-time jobs last year, accounting for 31.2 million women and 9.5 million men.

ISRAEL The Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and his challenger Benni Gantz are shoulder to shoulder, with 32 seats each in the new Parliament, according to Tuesdays election results after counting over 92% of the votes. Israeli mass media note however that none of them has enough allies for a governmental majority. Israel Our Home party, whose 9 seats in Knesset make it indispensible for a ruling coalition, proposed a national unity government, but its leader Avigdor Lieberman is one of Netanyahus opponents. According to Radio Romanias correspondent, Israeli citizens would not agree to a new election campaign, and the countrys president vowed to avoid a third early election.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)