February 17, 2025 UPDATE (II)

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 17.02.2025, 19:57

Energy. The Romanian government is to make a decision this week regarding the continuation of the current compensation-capping scheme for electricity and natural gas prices for domestic consumers. The energy minister Sebastian Burduja has stated, however, that the support should be directed to the vulnerable categories of consumers, for whom the payment of utilities is too big a burden. A government decision is to be implemented through an emergency ordinance.

Inflation. The National Bank of Romania has raised its inflation forecast for the end of this year to 3.8%, from 3.5% previously, according to the institution’s latest quarterly report. For the end of 2026, the NBR anticipates a level of 3.1% of the annual inflation rate. Governor Mugur Isărescu explained that starting from the first quarter of this year, including as an impact of the budget consolidation measures, Romania will enter a period of demand deficit – a positive element from the perspective of inflation evolution, which may, however, affect economic growth. He stressed that it is very important that, in combination with the fiscal and monetary policy, this new situation does not lead to recession. Isărescu has also stated that the national currency may slightly depreciate and even exceed the threshold of 5 lei for one euro during this year. The Central Bank Governor has stressed, however, that once internal political tensions are overcome, the leu will remain an anchor of stability, and the Central Bank will allow more flexibility for the exchange rate.

Elections. Germany is getting ready for Sunday’s parliamentary elections, in a more polarized climate than ever over immigration, further inflamed by the Trump administration’s open support for the far right, AFP reports. According to surveys, the nationalist anti-immigration movement AfD will take second place in the legislative elections, with at least 20% of the votes, behind the conservatives, who are rated at 30-32%. In a speech delivered at the Munich Security Conference, the U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance urged the traditional parties in Germany to give up the ‘protective wall’ or ‘sanitary cordon’ that they established after the Second World War to avoid governing with the extreme right. “I refuse such interference in the German parliamentary elections and in the formation of the government that will follow in Germany. I will not let an American vice-president tell me who I should talk to here in Germany”, said the leader of the Christian Democrats, Friedrich Merz, a favorite in the polls to become the next chancellor. In turn, the Social-Democratic chancellor, Olaf Scholz, described the intervention of the American vice-president as unacceptable. Instead, AfD leader Alice Weidel welcomed J.D. Vance’s statements and emphasized the similarities between her program and that of the Trump administration.

Tennis. Romanian tennis player Sorana Cîrstea qualified on Monday for the second round of the WTA 1,000 tournament in Dubai (United Arab Emirates), with over 3,660,000 dollars in prize money. Cîrstea (89 WTA) achieved an impressive victory over Russian Daria Kasatkina (11 WTA), with 6-1, 6-4. The Romanian had not achieved a victory against such a highly ranked opponent since May last year, when she defeated the Czech Marketa Vondrousova (6 WTA at that time), in Rome, in the third round. Sorana Cîrstea will play in the second round against American Alycia Parks. The other Romanian player, Irina Begu (78 WTA), who came from the qualifiers, was defeated in the first round by the German player Eva Lys (87 WTA), 5-7, 7-5, 6-3.

Weather. Romanian meteorologists have issued a yellow code warning for snowfall in place until Wednesday morning in southern and southeastern Romania. The layers of snow are 15 to 25 cm thick, including in the capital. Also, temporarily, the wind will intensify with speeds of up to 45 km/h, blowing the snow. Also until Wednesday, a yellow code for cold weather is in place for the northern half of the country. Over night and in the mornings it will be frosty, locally in the north, center, and northeast of the territory, as well as in mountainous areas, where minimum temperatures will generally fall between minus 17 and minus 10 degrees Celsius. In the rest of the country, maximum temperatures will range between minus 5 and plus 4 degrees. Frost and snowfall are affecting most of the country, but not special issues have been reported in relation to road, railway or air traffic. (MI)