November 17, 2023 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 17.11.2023, 20:00

BUDGET PM Marcel Ciolacu said on Thursday that there will be no new
taxes next year and that the Romanian government will have money by fighting
tax evasion. According to him, in October, revenue collection to the state
budget reached a record level, around EUR 8. By keeping the same pace and
maintaining non-essential expenses under control, the PM added, by the end of
the year we will meet the deficit target agreed with the European Commission.
The statement comes after, recently, the Liberal leader Nicolae Ciucă argued
that Romania cannot afford an increase in taxes next year and that funding
sources must be found to support the draft pensions law.

POVERTY
One in 5 Romanians was affected by poverty in 2022, the National Statistics
Institute reported. The number of people in need was 4.2 million, slightly
below the figure reported in the previous year. The highest poverty rate was
reported among youth up to 24 years of age, with the poverty rate for
households with children and youth 5.2% higher than in households without dependent
children and youth. The National Statistics Institute also said that, without
pension and other welfare payments, nearly half of the population would have
been below the poverty threshold, and the situation would have been even worse
among the elderly.

VISIT
Romania and Tanzania have agreed on mutual student grant programmes. The
president of Romania, Klaus Iohannis had a meeting with his counterpart, Samia
Suluhu Hassan in the capital city Dar es Salaam on Friday, and discussed the
development of this country’s relations with the EU. Tanzania may count on
Romania as regards promoting and encouraging its relations with the EU, president
Iohannis said after the meeting. He presented Romania’s view on giving a fresh
impetus to the country’s relations with African states, based on the recently
adopted National Strategy for Africa. Iohannis also said agreements were
reached on bilateral cooperation in areas like education, civil protection,
agriculture, forestry, IT and cyber security. In turn, the president of Tanzania
announced that Romania decided to provide 10 grants for students from Tanzania,
which in turn will be providing 5 grants to young Romanians who wish to study
there. Two memorandums were also signed on disaster risk management and
cooperation and research in agriculture. The president of Romania is on a tour
in Africa, which began on Tuesday in Kenya. On Saturday, Klaus Iohannis will be
received by the president of Zanzibar, Hussein Mwinyi, and then he will travel
to the Republic of Cabo Verde, for talks with president Jose Maria Neves. The
tour concludes on November 23 in Senegal, with political consultations with
president Macky Sall.

MILITARY The Romanian
company Aerostar, based in Bacău, eastern Romania, Friday signed a cooperation
agreement with Derco Aerospace (a member of the US group Lockheed Martin),
concerning technology transfer for the repair of F-16 aircraft equipment operated
by the Romanian Army. Attending the event was NATO’s deputy secretary general
Mircea Geoană. He said NATO was interested in 2 goals-expanding the defence
industry in all member states and creating an innovation ecosystem for dual-use
industries (civilian and military), benefiting the newer NATO member states.
The agreement was signed just days after the opening of the first European F-16
training centre, at the Feteşti air base in the south-east of Romania, and capitalises on 26 years of cooperation between Lockheed Martin and Romania.

FOOTBALL
Romania’s national football team are in Hungary for a match against Israel on
Saturday evening, in Qualifying Group I of the 2024 European Championship to be
hosted by Germany. Because of the war at home, the Israelis had to postpone
their October-November matches, and to play abroad the matches scheduled at
home. Romania completes the qualifying stage on Tuesday, in Bucharest, with a match
against Switzerland. Undefeated in the first eight matches, Romania has 16
points and is behind group leader Switzerland on goal difference. Next comes
Israel, with 11 points, and Kosovo, with 10 points. The two top-ranking teams
in each group go to the final tournament. Romania last qualified for a final European
tournament in 2016 and for a World Cup in 1998. (AMP)