January 8, 2014
Click here for a roundup of domestic and internatinal events
Leyla Cheamil, 08.01.2014, 12:14
Romania’s president Traian Basescu has asked the Senate to reexamine the law of the selling of plots of land to natural persons. Basescu shares the opinion that the title of the document itself is confusing with respect to the scope of the law, since the document does not make reference to legal persons from the EU member states who, according to a paragraph of the aforementioned law, are entitled to buy plots of land in Romania. Basescu said that the law should cleanly stipulate whether it applies to legal persons of Romanian nationality, or only to those with a nationality of another EU member state other than the Romanian one. Romania’s Parliament last month adopted the draft law. By dint of the European Union Accession Treaty Romania will have to liberalize the land market for legal persons from across the EU, as of January the 1st 2014. At present, 8 % of Romania’s farming land is used by foreign citizens.
Romania’s Minister Delegate for Higher Education, Scientific Research and Technological Progress Mihnea Costoiu in Washington will be taking part in the International Spatial Exploration Forum. As part of the event, The Romanian minister will make the presentation of Romania’s involvement in the field fo scientific research, according to a press release of the Romanian Education Ministry. High on the Romanian officials agenda are also bilateral talks at the United States Department of State, as well as meetings with members of the Romanian scientific diaspora from the universities in the Washington area, with the purpose of promoting Romanian higher education and research. Minister Costoiu will also hold meetings with representatives of the Romanian Cultural Center in Portland (Oregon), with whom he will be examining the project of setting up a school in Romanian, as well as the prospects of Romanian-born researchers working in the USA cooperating with Romanian universities.
The ruling Conservative Party deputy Gheorghe Coman has been arrested in a file where he is accused of having used his political influence in order to receive undue gains. Coman’ s arrest has occurred against the backdrop where also early this year, Romania’s Prime Minister in the early 2000, the Social Democrat Adrian Nastase was sentenced to four years in prison, with full execution of penalty, in a corruption file.
The International Monetary Fund is set to raise its forecast for global growth, the Fund’s managing director Christine Lagarde said in Nairobi. We recall that in December 2013 Lagarde appreciated the rebound in the economy of the USA which is the world’s strongest economy. The IMF’s global economy growth forecast for 2014 stands at 3.6 %. Lagarde also stated the reduction of the bonds purchase made by the USA’s Federal Reserve could have a negative impact on emerging economies, since the rebound of developed economies might increase the risk of problems on the financial markets. The United States’ Federal Reserve announced that as of January 2014 it would reduce its monthly bonds purchase program from 85 billion to 75 billion dollars.
