December 10, 2015 UPDATE

Romania's Supreme Defence Council convenes in a meeting chaired by President Klaus Iohannis/ The country's trade deficit deepened in the first ten months of the year

Newsroom, 10.12.2015, 20:06

DEFENSE – Some 1,200 Romanian military and over 1,500 gendarmes
will participate in NATO, EU, OSCE and UN missions abroad next year. The
decision was made by Romania’s Supreme Defence Council, which convened on
Thursday. Chaired by Romania’s President, Klaus Iohannis, this was the first
meeting attended by the members of the Ciolos technocratic cabinet. On this
occasion, the Guide to Romania’s National Defence Strategy for 2015-2019 and
the Intelligence Strategy of the Romanian Intelligence Service for the same
period have been approved. According to the Presidential Administration, the
members of Romania’s Supreme Defence Council have also taken note of the fact
that Romania’s relevant institutions applied the sanctions imposed at
international level, between October 2014 and September 2015.

BUDGET– Romania’s state and social security budget bills will be
debated by the joint budget and finance parliamentary committees on Friday. The
two drafts, adopted by the Government, have been submitted to Parliament this
week, with the request to be debated and adopted as part of an emergency
procedure. According to the timetable endorsed by Parliament, the final vote is
expected in a plenary session of Romania’s Parliament next week.

ECONOMY-Romania’s
trade deficit deepened in the first ten months of the year by 1.5 billion euros,
compared with the same period last year, to reach 6.4 billion euros. According
to the National Institute for Statistics, exports accounted for almost 46
billion euros, while imports stood at a little over 52 billion. Cars and
transport equipment, as well as other types of manufactured goods held the
biggest shares in Romania’s exports and imports in the first ten months of the
year.

CORRUPTION-The director
of Evenimentul Zilei daily paper, Dan Andronic, has been detained by
prosecutors as part of investigations into the illegal return of property
confiscated by the communist regime to the rightful owners. A business man, an
advisor to the former Liberal Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu and the
director of a well-known real estate developer have also been detained as part
of the same inquiry. The damage is estimated in this case at 136 million euros.
A number of politicians, including the Liberal Ioan Oltean, have been investigated
recently for involvement in cases of illegal return of property or illegal
compensation granted by the National Authority for Property Restitution.

AWARDS-
Romania’s ambassador to Chishinau, Marius Lazurca, and the military attaché of
the diplomatic mission, Dumitru Neacsu, have received the highest awards of the
Army of the Republic of Moldova (a former Soviet state with a predominantly
Romanian speaking population). The two awards, The Medal for Cooperation and
The Medal for Strengthening the Brotherhood in Arms have been awarded to the
Romanian officials by the Moldovan Defense Minister, Anatol
Salaru. During the ceremony held at the Romanian Embassy in Chishinau, minister
Salaru has thanked ambassador Lazurca for the efforts he has made to promote
peace and democracy and to develop cooperation relations between the armies of
the two neighbouring states. The Moldovan minister has also thanked the
Romanian military attaché for his contribution to boosting Moldova’s defence
capabilities. Ambassador Lazurca has said Romania has been and will further be
a strategic partner of the Republic of Moldova.

NOBEL PRIZE AWARD CEREMONY- Stockholm on Thursday hosted the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony. The event marked 119 years since the death of Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite and the initiator of the most prestigious annual international prizes, that were first awarded in 1901. The Nobel Prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature and the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel are traditionally awarded in Stockholm, whereas the Peace Prize is offered in Oslo, Norway. This year, the most highly acclaimed international prizes have been awarded to scientists and physicians, for neutrino science and for discoveries concerning a novel therapy against infections caused by roundworm parasites, respectively. The only individual awards were those for literature and economy, which went to Belarussian author Svetlana Alexievich and to British professor, Angus Deaton, respectively. The Nobel Prize for economy is financed by the Sveriges Riksbank, whereas the others are granted by the Nobel Foundation. Each Nobel Prize is about 950,000 US dollars.

(translated by Diana Vijeu)