August 30, 2023 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 30.08.2023, 20:00

MEASURES – The European Commission is yet to present its
conclusions following this week’s talks with Romanian government
representatives. According to EU sources, the plans and measures presented by Romanian
ministers failed to convince the Commission they are enough to gap Romania’s
budget deficit. The proposals for postponing or modifying budget deficit
targets were also met with skepticism, all the more so as the situation in
Romania is fragile in this sector and Romania is the only EU Member State
facing infringement procedures in this respect. The opposition in Bucharest
claims the European Commission allegedly said no to increasing the budget
deficit because it distrusted the reform promises of the current government. In
turn, representatives of the business sector have told European Commission
representatives that a number of red lines must be drawn with regard to the
current fiscal measures promoted by Romanian lawmakers. Companies want all fiscal
modifications to be postponed to January 2024 at the earliest, while the
government should announce fiscal measures at least 6 months before they take
effect in order to ensure predictability in the business sector.

CREVEDIA EXPLOSIONS – 19 of the almost
60 people injured in Saturday’s explosions in Crevedia have been discharged
from hospital, and the condition of a few others has improved – according to
the latest information provided by the Health Ministry. However, 9 of the
injured are still in critical condition. Six are being treated in hospitals
abroad, and three in Romania. No other deaths were reported besides the two
reported immediately after the LPG station blast. Meanwhile the authorities
continue the damage assessment. Data so far shows that, following the
explosions followed by a fire, 11 houses were affected, 8 of which were
completely destroyed. Intervention teams are present at the scene of the
disaster, and the firefighters continue to cool some LPG tanks left in the
area. The security perimeter was also extended, because two of the tanks have
gas leaks. Meanwhile, prosecutors are collecting documents for several open
criminal cases.

NETWORK – Prosecutors with the Directorate for Investigating
Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) in cooperation with the Romanian Police
have shut down a segment of an global computer network that infected hundreds
of thousands of computers in dozens of countries with a view to accessing the
finances of their users. According to investigators, the victims were usually
sent links which, once accessed, uploaded viruses to their computers, allowing
hackers to copy financial records. The administrators of this network were
allegedly paid 50 mln EUR in ransoms by the victims over 2021-2023.

KOREA-ROMANIA RELATIONS – 2023 marks 15 years since the establishment of the
Strategic Partnership between South Korea and Romania. During this time,
economic relations have seen an exponential increase, the South-Korean
Ambassador in Romania, HE Rim Kap-soo said in an interview during his visit to
the headquarters of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation in Bucharest. As
a result of intensified economic exchanges, two-way trade stood at 1.3 bln EUR
last year. Last week, Seoul donated to Romania 81 pieces of lab equipment worth
approximately 3.67 mln EUR, which will be used by the National Institute for
Public Health. HE Rim Kap-soo explained this was a gesture of goodwill in light
of the excellent cooperation between the two countries during the COVID-19
pandemic, when Romania offered Seoul 1.5 million doses of anti-COVID-19 vaccine.
(LS & VP)