October 26, 2017 UPDATE
Romanian government announces changes for 2018/ Commissioner Gunther Oettinger visited Bucharest
Newsroom, 26.10.2017, 19:52
Justice laws – Romanias supreme court has asked Parliament to send the bill on the amendment of the justice laws back to the relevant ministry. Cristina Tarcea, the president of the High Court of Cassation and Justice, said the bill did not benefit from transparency, cooperation and inter-institutional dialogue and that it violated the legal provisions regulating the mechanism for the drafting and adoption of legislation. She added this was the only solution that would ensure realistic regulations, given that the status of magistrates and the organization and running of the courts of law and of the Superior Council of Magistracy implies analyses and impact studies that have not been conducted and which, under law, can only be done by the competent ministries.
Government session — Romania’s government approved during Thursday’s session a bill that allows Romanian citizens to opt for having an electronic ID card released with or without the image of the two index fingers’ impressions or for a simple ID card without chip. A government communiqué writes that this possibility is also valid for minors, upon the request of their parents or legal representatives. Also during Thursday’s session the finance minister announced significant changes to the fiscal policy for 2018. He added that starting in 2018 Romania would implement the EU directive for combating the externalization of the profits of multinational companies. The labor minister also announced an increase in the minimum gross salary as of January 1, 2018.
EU Commissioner — The EU Commissioner for budget and human resources, Gunther Oettinger, said Thursday in Bucharest that Romania had the chance, in 2017 and 2018, to reach the 3% budget deficit target. He made this statement after meeting with members of the joint parliamentary committees for European affairs and budget, finance and banks. In another development, Gunther Oettinger said that during the talks regarding the EU’s next financial framework, Romania is playing an important role, given that in the first half of 2019 it will hold the presidency of the EU Council. Also on Thursday the European official talked with President Klaus Iohannis and the PM Mihai Tudose about the future budget of the EU.
10 years of EU accession — Romania has to remain a solid partner of the EU in any pro-European action, and this is a responsibility of all Romanian political forces, said Thursday in Bucharest the Romanian President Klaus Iohannis. He participated in the conference entitled “10 years since Romania’s EU accession: from cohesion to convergence” organized by the National Bank of Romania. President Iohannis underlined that in 10 years of EU membership Romania’s GDP almost doubled and the population’s purchasing power increased by 20%. Iohannis added that Romania’s accession to the Euro zone was an essential priority for this country. In turn, the governor of the national bank, Mugur Isarescu, said that Romania needed a new national program, similar to that drafted upon Romania’s EU accession, that should be backed by all political parties for Romania to be able to join the Euro zone.
Tennis — The final White Group matches at the WTA Finals took place on Thursday in Singapore. The Czech player Karolina Pliskova (3 WTA), already qualified to the semifinals, was defeated by Latvian Jelena Ostapenko (7 WTA), 2-0 in the sets. In the other match, the American Venus Williams (5 WTA) qualified to the semifinals after defeating, 2-0 in the sets, the Spanish player Garbine Muguruza (2 WTA).
