June 7, 2019

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 07.06.2019, 14:00

IMF -
The delegation of IMF officials today presented the conclusions of their annual
assessment of Romania’s economy. IMF experts argue that, while Romania’s
consumption-based economic growth remains strong, contributing to reducing development
gaps, macroeconomic imbalances have deepened, while the current account and fiscal
deficits have gone up, together with inflation pressure. The head of the IMF
delegation to Romania Jaewoo Lee pointed out that unless policies are changed,
progress in the field of convergence will be affected, with pensioners and poor
people feeling the effects. The IMF official said a more balanced mix of
policies is needed, that should start with fiscal consolidation, strengthening monetary
policy and greater flexibility for the exchange rate, in addition to increased predictability
and improved governance. Right now Romania has no ongoing agreement with the
IMF, although the Fund is every year monitoring the evolution of Romanian
economy. International financial institutions estimate Romania’s economy will
report an economic growth below 4% in 2019.

JHA -
Romanian Interior Minister Carmen Dan is today chairing the Justice and Home
Affairs Council meeting in Luxembourg, held on the sidelines of the Romanian
Presidency of the Council of the European Union. In the home affairs section
the Council will propose concrete measures to manage migration, including the
adoption of regulations for the creation of the Migration and Asylum Fund.
Regarding the Schengen accession of Romania and Bulgaria, Minister Dan said
there is consensus at the level of the JHA. Also today, Minister Dan is
attending the signing of the new Europol- FRONTEX joint action plan, in the
presence of Europol executive director Catherine de Bolle, FRONTEX executive
director Fabrice Leggeri and EU Commissioners Dimitris Avramopoulos and Julian
King.

UN – Foreign
Minister Teodor Melescanu is today taking part in the round of election on the
sidelines of the UN Security Council, where Romania is running for a
non-permanent seat in the 2020-2021 tenure. The UN General Assembly is today
electing by secret vote the five new non-permanent members of the Security
Council. The Security Council consists of 15 member countries and is the
strongest UN body and the only one to sanction warfare actions at global level.
It comprises five permanent members with veto rights: the United States,
Russia, China, France and Great Britain, and another 10 members elected for two
years and who are replaced by countries from the same geographic region upon
the expiry of their term in office. Next year another 5 members will be
elected, two from Africa, one from the Asia-Pacific region, one from Latin
America and the Caribbean and one from Eastern Europe. To earn a seat in the UN
Security Council, a country must gather the support of two thirds of General
Assembly members, tantamount to 129 of the total 193 votes in the General
Assembly.

BREXIT -
Theresa May is today expected to officially resign as leader of the
Conservative Party and as British Prime Minister after her failure to persuade
the Chamber of Commons to vote the Brexit agreement with the European Union,
which led to postponing Brexit until October 31. May will continue to serve as
Prime Minister until her replacement is appointed by the end of July, the
Conservative Party has announced. The official campaign for appointing a new
Prime Minister will start on Monday. A total of 11 Conservative candidates are
vying to become UK’s next Prime Minister.

FOOTBALL – Romania’s national
football team is today playing Norway away from home in the 2020 European
Championship preliminaries. On Monday, Romania will play Malta, also away from
home. In the first two games in March, Romania lost to Sweden 1-2 away from
home and won 4-1 against the Faeroe Islands at home. The first two teams in
each group will advance to the final tournament. The draw for the 2020
championship will take place in Bucharest on November 30. Romania’s capital
city will host four matches, three in the group phase and one in the round of
16. We recall Romania’s under-21 team will this month play in the European
Under-21 Championship in Italy and San Marino in Group C, alongside England,
France and Croatia.
(Translated by V. Palcu)