September 20, 2024 UPDATE

A roundup of local and world news

Newsroom, 20.09.2024, 20:00

BUDGET Early next week the government of Romania is scheduled to discuss a proposed budget adjustment presented by the finance ministry, with significantly increased expenditure. This is the first state budget adjustment this year, and public healthcare, education and transportation are expected to receive additional funding. Under the draft order posted on the finance ministry website, most of the money will go to transport (about EUR 1.1 billion), with healthcare, internal affairs and investments earmarked an extra EUR 600 mln each. The social security fund is also to be increased to ensure money for the pensions raised as of September 1. There are also authorising entities that will have smaller budgets: the general secretariat of the government, the ministry of the economy, the Senate, the Chamber of Deputies and the Special Telecommunications Service. According to the draft, the budget deficit will deepen to almost 7%, 2% up compared to early-year forecasts, while the economic growth rate is now predicted to reach 2.8% as opposed to 3.4% previously forecast.

INTERIOR MINISTRY The Romanian interior minister, Cătălin Predoiu, had a telephone discussion with his British counterpart, Yvette Cooper. The talks highlighted the very good cooperation between the two parties, with activities conducted both under the Romanian-British Strategic Partnership, and for the development of operative cooperation between equivalent structures. The dynamics of intelligence, data and know-how exchange has seen an upward trend in recent years. The 2 officials focused on topics of interest in the field of illegal migration and cross-border crime, and have agreed to strengthen future cooperation in the field of internal affairs.

POLLS The former Deputy General Secretary of NATO, Mircea Geoană, has a minimal lead over the left-wing Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu in the first round of the presidential elections that will take place this autumn in Romania, according to an opinion poll conducted by the INSCOP research institute. Mircea Geoana (66), a former president of the Social Democratic Party, who lost the presidential elections in 2009 and who is now running as an independent, is predicted to get 21.4% of the votes in the first round, and the current Social Democratic leader, Marcel Ciolacu (56), 20.3%. Elena Lasconi, leader of the right of centre Save Romania Union (USR), in opposition, ranks third, with 14.2% of the votes, while the Liberal leader Nicolae Ciucă comes in sixth place, below two ultra-nationalist candidates. Eleven candidates have so far announced their plans to run for president and replace Klaus Iohannis, who ends his second and last term in office in December. Although the president’s role is largely ceremonial, his prerogatives include appointing the prime minister after elections, appointing judges and prosecutors, and sending draft legislation back to parliament for reconsideration. The presidential elections will take place in two rounds, on November 24 and December 8, respectively, with parliamentary elections in between. 1,102 people participated in the September survey, which has a margin of error of 3%.

INVESTIGATION The criminal case concerning the December 1989 anti-communist revolution in Romania, in which the defendants include the former president Ion Iliescu and the former senior deputy PM Gelu Voican Voiculescu, has been sent back to the prosecutor’s office because of irregularities on the part of the military prosecutors on the case. The decision was made by the supreme court on Friday, and it is final. The High Court of Cassation and Justice argued that the indictment was unable to define the object and the limits of the trial. In mid-June, a separate supreme court panel ruled that irregularities existed in the indictment and gave the Military Prosecutor’s Office time to address them, but prosecutors have failed to comply.

AID The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has announced a EUR 10 billion aid package from the EU Cohesion Fund for the Central European countries, including Romania, affected by floods. ‘This is an emergency response,’ she stated after a meeting with the heads of government from Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria and Slovakia. “For me it was (…) heartbreaking to see the destruction and devastation” caused by storm Boris, said the EC chief. Since last week, strong winds, exceptionally heavy rainfall and flooding have killed at least 24 people in the region: seven each in Romania and Poland, and five each in Austria and the Czech Republic.

NOKIAN TYRES Partnership with the private sector is the sure way for Romania’s development, the Romanian PM Marcel Ciolacu said on Friday, during a working visit to the Nokian Tyres factory in Oradea (west), which was inaugurated on Thursday. Relocated from Russia to Romania, the factory is a success story that brings together a world-class investor, local authorities and the Government of Romania, which strongly supported such an investment, he added. Nokian Tyres is the world’s first tyre factory with zero carbon dioxide emissions. As of 2025, its 550 employees will produce 6 million car tyres annually, including for large SUVs. The factory uses green energy only, and all the technological steam is obtained without fossil fuels. The Finnish investment in Oradea, put at EUR 650 million, to which the Government contributed with a state aid of EUR 100 million, is one of the most valuable made in Romania in recent years.

ELECTION The foreign ministry Friday posted the Guidelines for postal voting for the 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections. The deadline for the Romanian nationals living abroad to register as voters by mail is October 10 for the presidential election and October 17 for the general election. All the necessary information has been made public on the foreign ministry’s home page, at www.mae.ro.