November 6, 2019 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 06.11.2019, 20:20

FORECAST The European Bank for
Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has revised up its estimates concerning Romania’s
economic development in 2019 and has maintained its forecast about Romania’s
GDP in 2020, an EBRD report published on Wednesday reads. According to the
latest EBRD forecasts, Romania’s economy might have a 4% growth as compared to
a previous forecast in May this year of only 3.2%. Last month another
prestigious financial institution, the IMF, also revised up its forecast on the
Romanian economy this year, which is expected to see a 4% growth while next
year is to be around 3.5%.

COMMISSIONER The
Romanian MEP Adina Valean was accepted by the elected European Commission
president Ursula von der Leyen for the position of the European Commissioner
for Transport, an EU spokesperson announced on Wednesday. Romania’s candidate is
to be interviewed by the Transport Committee of the European Parliament on
November 14th. Romania’s new Prime Minister Ludovic Orban on
Wednesday said the MEPs Siegfried Muresan and Adina Valean were the
government’s proposals for this position. Orban specified he had made this
decision after talks with the country’s president Klaus Iohannis. According to
the European Commission’s spokeswoman Mina Andreeva, there were serious doubts
over the legitimacy of the proposal coming from the country’s former PSD government
led by Viorica Dancila, who didn’t consult the country’s president on their
candidate, the former minister delegate for European Affairs Victor Negrescu. We
recall that another PSD candidate, Rovana Plumb had been rejected by the
European Parliament.

TALKS Romanian president Klaus Iohannis
on Wednesday held talks with Avraham Duvdevani, chairman of the World Zionist
Organisation. High on the agenda were the relations between Romania and Israel
as well as the efforts Bucharest makes to fight Antisemitism, xenophobia and
intolerance. According to a communiqué from the presidential administration,
Iohannis has underlined the fact that Israel is a trustworthy partner for
Romania as the two countries have enjoyed 71 years of uninterrupted diplomatic
relations based on political dialogue and good cooperation. Iohannis gave
assurances he would continue to pay special attention to the partnership
between Romania and Israel adding that the legislation against Antisemitism,
intolerance and xenophobia must be applied rigorously and the education about
the holocaust must be promoted.

PROTEST Romanian haulers have pointed to
the serious issues reported at the Hungarian border in the last few days, where
freight trucks have been waiting in a 25-km-long line to cross the border. One
of the biggest employers in the field has announced protests and the blocking
of crossing points for light traffic. The Europa 2002 Association of Transport
Employers from Arad says crossing the Hungarian border has never been harder,
pointing the finger at the Hungarian authorities, who starting November 1 have
been performing detailed inspections of freight transport vehicles, which
incrementally increases waiting times for crossing the border.

WIN The Romanian men’s handball side Dinamo Bucharest on
Wednesday clinched a 27-26 win against Kadetten Schaffhausen of Switzerland in
Champions League Group D. Dinamo has thus secured mathematical qualification for
the playoff. The Romanian side ranks first in the group tables with 10 points,
followed by GOG Svendborg of Denmark with 8 points, Kadetten of Switzerland
with 6 points, Wisla Plock of Poland with 5 points, Chehkovskie Medvedi of
Russia with 4 points and Kristianstad of Sweden with 3 points. The top two
teams will advance to the next phase. In the women’s Champions League, CSM
Bucharest has already qualified to the main group phase, while champions SCM
Ramnicu Valcea on Sunday is playing SG BBM Bietigheim of Germany in Group C. Brest
Bretagne Handball of France is top of the tables with 6 points, followed by
Buducnost of Montenegro with 6 points, SCM Ramnicu Valcea with 2 points and SG
BBM Bietigheim with 0 points. The top three teams will qualify to the main
group phase.

(translated by
bill)