December 18, 2019 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 18.12.2019, 19:50

GOVERNMENT
– The Government in Bucharest on Wednesday adopted the draft state budget and
the social security budget for next year. Romanian PM Ludovic Orban has
officially announced that the Bucharest Government will seek Parliament’s vote
of confidence over the two bills. Next year’s draft national budget and social
security budget have been published on the finance ministry’s website for debate.
The national budget is built on a 4.1% economic growth rate, a budget deficit
of 3.59% and an average inflation rate of 3.1%. Nine ministries will receive
more money, among which labor, defense, home affairs while smaller amounts will
be allocated to regional development. President Klaus Iohannis, who chaired the
Higher Defense Council meeting on Tuesday, where the budgets of the military
institutions were decided on, said he is satisfied with the draft law.

COMMEMORATION
– Events marking 30 years since the anti-communist revolution continued on
Wednesday in the city of Timisoara, in western Romania. On December 18, 1989,
protesters were shot on the stairs of the Orthodox Cathedral, while 43 corpses
were stolen from the morgue of the county hospital and taken by the Securitate,
the former political police, to the crematory in Bucharest, in an attempt to
hide the truth. Tuesday was a day of mourning in Timisoara, in memory of the
victims.

MINORITIES
– By promoting policies based on respect, mutual observance of rights and
values, dialogue and democratic representation at political and institutional
level, Romania has become one of the most appreciated models of minority rights
protection, Prime Minister Ludovic Orban said on Wednesday, on the occasion of
the National Minorities Day. The Romanian society has evolved in the last 30
years from multiculturalism to interculturalism, by proving that diversity does
not mean division, but a plus for all, Orban has also said. As many as 18
ethnic minorities live in Romania at present. In Romania’s Parliament, 17
minorities have one MP while the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in
Romania holds 21 deputy seats and 1 senator seat.

VISIT – Defense Minister
Nicolae-Ionel Ciuca, Interior Minister Marcel Vela and the Chief of General
Staff, General Daniel Petrescu paid a working visit to Afghanistan. According
to a Defense Ministry release, Nicolae Ciuca visited the military bases in
Kandahar, in the south, and in Kabul, where he met with the military deployed
to these areas. Nicolae Ciuca met with General Giles Hill, deputy commander of
NATO Resolute Support. The two officials looked the security context in
Afghanistan, Romania’s contribution to the Resolute Support Mission, the
sixth-largest contributor to this theatre of operations, US support to Romanian
military as well as the prospects of the 2020 Multinational Command. In turn,
Interior Minister Marcel Vela met in Kabul with the 24 Romanian gendarmes who
are taking part in the Resolute Support mission. The Romanian gendarmes are
trusted by their partners and are completing their missions with
professionalism. Right now, the Romanian Army has deployed over 1,200 military
in external missions, of whom 775 in Afghanistan. Since 2002, 30 Romanian
military were KIA in theatres of operations in Afghanistan, Irak and Kosovo, 27
in Afghanistan alone.

FIGHTER JETS – President Klaus Iohannis on Wednesday ratified the law on the
procurement of an additional five F-16 fighter jets from Portugal. The law was
passed as a top priority in Parliament, as the offer to the Government expired
at the end of the year, Defense Minister Nicolae Ciuca has said. Romania right
now has 12 F-16 fighter jets, all bought from Portugal.

FOOTBALL
– At the Romanian Football Awards, Razvan Lucescu has been designated coach of
the year for having won the championship and cup of Greece with PAOK
Thessaloniki and the Asian Champions League with the Saudi side Al-Hilal. From
the beginning of his career Lucescu proved to be one of the best Romanian coaches.
Aged 37, Lucescu in 2006 coached Rapid Bucharest to the quarterfinals of the
UEFA Cup after beating teams like Feyenoord Rotterdam, Shaktar Donetsk, Hertha
Berlin and SV Hamburg. Rapid failed to qualify to the semifinals after two
draws against Steaua Bucharest. Between 2009 and 2011 Lucescu coached Romania’s
national team

(Translated by Elena Enache & V. Palcu)