August 11, 2015
A roundup of news from Romania and abroad
România Internațional, 11.08.2015, 12:00
The Romanian prime minister, Victor Ponta, reiterated that the new Fiscal Code is sustainable and the impact on the budget of the fiscal relaxation measures can be attenuated by economic growth and by an efficient collection of taxes to the state budget. He has drawn attention that, if the new Code is not approved by Parliament, this will prevent the implementation of a new salary law in the state-owned sector, because the two documents are closely related. The fiscal relaxation measures have been criticized by the Romanian President, Klaus Iohannis, the governor of the National Bank of Romania, Mugur Isarescu, and the IMF and EC representatives. The new fiscal code bill, sent by the president on July 17th back to Parliament for re-examination, will be analyzed in an extraordinary session at the end of August. The Liberal opposition announced they would only vote for the new Fiscal Code if the measures included in the code sustained the fiscal relaxation measures.
The leaders of the Romanian communities in the Diaspora, who these days are attending the Summer University in Izvoru Muresului (in central Romania), have expressed their discontent with the way they are helped by the Romanian authorities to keep their national identity. For the 3rd consecutive year the Romanians in the Timoc Valley, quoted by the Radio Romania Actualitati correspondent, requested the withdrawal of the Romanian ambassador to Belgrade and of the consul in Zaicear, in eastern Serbia. They denounce the anti-Romanian policy these people have adopted and say they are under much pressure of being assimilated. In a message addressed to the Romanians in the Diaspora present in Izvoru Muresului, the Romanian foreign minister, Bogdan Aurescu, has given assurances that the institution he is heading will do its best to solve their problems. The Summer University gathers, for one week, the representatives of the Romanian communities in the Diaspora as well as MPs from Romania and the neighboring Republic of Moldova.
Greece and its international creditors, the EU, the European Central Bank and the IMF have today reached an agreement after a negotiations marathon that last all night, regarding the granting of a 3rd financial aid package worth 86 billion euros (94.75 billion dollars), Reuters reports. Although, according to some European officials, there are still several minor issues to solve, the parties have agreed on the conditions of the loan. They set the country’s budget targets for the period 2015- 2018 and new austerity measures to be implemented by Greece. The Greek government wants to conclude the agreement before paying off a debt to the European Central Bank, falling due on August 20th. As of July 1st Greece technically went into payment default. The country’s total debt stands at over 320 billion euros, of which 65% is due to countries from the euro zone and to the IMF.
Out of a total of 2.4 billion euros, Romania will benefit from 98.4 million — one of the largest amounts allocated Monday by the European Commission to help 19 countries to improve, by 2020, their capacity to deal with refugees and to secure their borders. The sum is barely a 5th of the amount received by Italy and Spain, but it is bigger than that received by Hungary and Bulgaria, France Press reports. Italy will benefit from 560 million euros, Spain from 522 million and Greece from 473 million euros. The money comes from the asylum, migration and integration fund and the internal security fund, which have a total budget of 7 billion euros for the period 2014-2020.
Ukraine started emergency consultations with France, Germany and Russia against the backdrop of a new wave of violence in the countrys eastern breakaway region. Kiev accused Russia and the pro-Russian rebels once again of undermining the Minsk ceasefire agreement. According to the Ukrainian foreign ministry, the government troops managed to reject a pro-Russian offensive, launched by the separatists in a strategic area between Donetsk and the port of Mariupol. Three civilians and a Ukrainian soldier have lost their lives in the past 24 hours. The EU condemned the offensive and NATO announced it is closely monitoring the developments in Ukraine and recalled that the key to peace is the Minsk agreement. The separatist conflict in the east of Ukraine that broke out in March 2014 has left behind over 6,800 dead.
