February 2, 2025 UPDATE 2

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 02.02.2025, 19:01

President. The joint permanent bureaus of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate rejected the proposal of the sovereignist parties to suspend president Klaus Iohannis from office. The members of the bureaus said the proposal did not comply with the parliamentary procedure in that it was not submitted at the same time by the leaderships of the two chambers. The request to suspend the president was submitted to Parliament on 16^th January by MPs from the Party of Young People POT), the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) and SOS. President Iohannis’ second and final term in office came to an end in December, but the Constitutional Court ruled that he was to stay in office until a successor is elected through a new ballot, after the election process to elect the president was cancelled at the end of November over foreign meddling. According to the Constitution, in the event of serious actions, the president of Romania can be suspended from office by the two chambers in a joint meeting, with the majority vote of deputies and senators, following an opinion from the Constitutional Court.

Candidate. Former Liberal Party leader Crin Antonescu officially became the candidate of the ruling coalition to the presidential elections in May after being confirmed today at an extraordinary congress of the Social Democratic Party. His candidacy has already been given the green light by the two other parties in the ruling coalition, namely the National Liberal Party and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania. “Leaving the country to fall prey to mystical nationalism would be an unforgivable betrayal for Romania’s future. We are obliged today to come before the Romanian people united and with a just alternative, we must come before the Romanian people with a man who has presidential stature, a capable man, with experience, education, who is honest and especially a patriot, a man with strong principles and who has fought for his values. This man is Crin Antonescu”, said the leader of the Social Democrats, Marcel Ciolacu. “We need to respect and defend our status as a country of the European Union, NATO, the Strategic Partnership with the United States. We have a fee things to do after we win these elections. I believe the big battle is not just the elections, but that the big battle begins after the elections, because these are not easy times”, Crin Antonescu said. 15^th March is the deadline for the submission of candidacies for the presidential elections. The first round will be held on 4^th May and the decisive round on the 18^th of May.

Budget. The ruling coalition is making efforts to hold the parliamentary debates and vote on the 2025 budget bill according to the timetable announced for next week, said prime minister Marcel Ciolacu. He said he was convinced that the bill would see no difficulties being passed by Parliament. Amendments to the bill, which was approved by the government on Saturday, may be submitted by Monday. The advisory committees will meet on Tuesday and the joint budget committees on Wednesday, while the state budget and the social securities budget bills are to be put to the vote in Parliament on Thursday. The Chamber of Deputies and the Senate will vote on the membership of a number of parliamentary committees on Monday.

Tariffs. The Chinese government has criticised the move by the Trump administration to impose a 10% tariff on imports from China, while leaving the door open for talks with the US that may prevent the conflict from deepening. Beijing will contest the tariffs at the World Trade Organisation and will take unspecified “countermeasures” in response, the Chinese finance and trade ministries said. Trump on Saturday ordered tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico of 25% and on those from China of 10%. Mexico’s president Claudia Sheinbaum asked the country’s economy minister to respond with tariff and non-tariff measures on the goods coming from the US, while Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau announced substantial 25% tariffs on American products. For its part, the European Union described the move by the Trump administration as “hurtful for all sides” and said low tariffs promote growth and economic stability. The European Commission warned that the community bloc would respond firmly to any unfair tariffs.