January 31, 2024
A roundup of local and international news.
Newsroom, 31.01.2024, 14:00
DEFICIT – Romania ended 2023 with a budget deficit of 5.68% of the GDP. A level of 4.4% had been initially forecast when the state budget for last year was drawn up. The deficit is however below the 6.3% estimated by the European Commission in its forecast. According to data supplied by the Finance Ministry, the difference between revenues and expenditure was almost 18 billion euros.
REPORT – With 46 points out of 100, Romania continues to be one of the EU countries countries with the poorest results in the implementation of anti-corruption measures, according to Transparency Internationals annual Corruption Perceptions Index. The organizations recommendations for Romania include updating the legislation in the field of public integrity, improving organizational and decision-making transparency, standardizing and clarifying administrative procedures.
VISIT – The Turkish Foreign Minister, Hakan Fidan, is on a visit to Bucharest, for a meeting with his Romanian counterpart Luminiţa Odobescu. The Turkish official will also have talks with Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu and the Senate Speaker, Nicolae Ciucă. According to the Turkish media, Hakan Fidan is meeting with his counterparts from Albania, Bulgaria and Romania to discuss bilateral relations, as well as current regional and global developments. The relations between Romania and Turkey unfold within the framework of a Strategic Partnership signed by the two countries in 2011 at the level of presidency, followed by a joint action plan, signed in 2013 by the foreign ministers.
EU — Romanian President Klaus Iohannis is in Brussels to participate in a ceremony staged by the European Commission in memory of Jacques Delors (1925 – 2023), a former European Commission president between 1985 and 1995, and to attend, on Thursday, the extraordinary meeting of the European Council. The Council meeting will focus on reaching an agreement on the main elements of the proposed revision of the Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027. The most important decisions are the support for Ukraine, including military support under the European Peace Facility, in keeping with the country’s needs. Klaus Iohannis will firmly plead for Ukraine to remain a top priority on the EU agenda.
PROTESTS – In Romania, employees of hundreds of town halls in the rural area are on a warning strike today. Their main demand is related to salaries. According to the trade unions in the field, almost 11,000 employees from over 800 town halls in the country signed for the protest. Unionists threaten with an all-out strike starting on February 5. On the other hand, on Tuesday, trade unions in the healthcare sector announced that they are continuing protests, as the current salary offer made by the government in Bucharest is not what they expected. (EE)
