The Week in Review (13-17.03.2017)

A look at the main headline-grabbing stories this week.

Roxana Vasile, 18.03.2017, 11:07

Romania’s budget deficit, under the spotlight of the European Commission

The European Commission has warned that Romania could register the highest budget deficit rise at EU level this year, to 3.6% of the GDP, despite reporting the biggest economic growth rate last year. The head of the European Commission Representative Office in Bucharest, Angela Cristea, says the country report on Romania, released earlier this week, signals a series of paradoxes. Angela Cristea:

“On the one hand, the poverty rate in Romania has gone down, on the other, social inequality has gone up, with Romania seeing the biggest growth of income inequality in the EU. We notice that this is not an isolated occurrence, but that this tendency has existed since 2012. In fact, it has also been reported in other EU member states and we believe that it reflects the global effects of the [economic] crisis complicated by the effects of globalisation.”

Romania needs robust economic policies to consolidate the economic growth it has seen in recent years, given that the current financial and budget framework presents a series of risks, experts with the International Monetary Fund also said during a meeting they had with President Klaus Iohannis on Thursday. They say Bucharest should shift its focus from boosting consumption to supporting investment and production, as well as increasing its absorption of EU funds.

EU fund absorption — success and failure

Romania needs to take urgent action to step up its EU fund absorption rate. This was the main point on the agenda of this week’s meeting between EU Commissioner for Regional Policy, Corina Cretu, and Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu, held in Bucharest. The EU Commissioner previously warned that Romania’s absorption rate for the 2014-2020 financial framework is zero halfway through the programme. Corina Cretu believes 2017 is a critical year for Romania in terms of EU fund absorption. The good news, however, is that Romania had a 90% absorption rate in the previous financial framework, 2007-2014, absorbing some 17 billion euros of the total of 19 billion available, which it invested in the Romanian economy, the results thereof being visible at local level. For his part, Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu firmly stood for unblocking certain areas that would allow attracting European funds, that the EU funds are the engine of economic growth.

Interior Ministry presents its annual report

Crime rates have substantially fallen for the fifth consecutive year in Romania, according to the figures presented on Wednesday by the Interior Ministry as part of its annual work report. More specifically, fewer cases of manslaughter, domestic violence, theft and robbery have been reported. Equally important, 2016 was the fourth consecutive year with under 2,000 deaths caused by traffic accidents. Another major achievement last year was the capture of a total 2,663 kilos of cocaine. At the same time, according to the 2016 report, one of the priorities of the Interior Ministry was to prevent and fight economic and financial crime and corruption. More than 200 criminal groups have been dismantled. Minister Carmen Dan, with more details:

“The operations aimed at preventing and curbing tax evasion, corruption and smuggling focused on measures to recover the losses caused by such offences, which resulted in a higher contribution to state budget revenues. The activities conducted by the Ministry with respect to fighting economic and financial crime resulted in the investigation of 32,000 offences, and in the freezing of assets

The activity of the Interior Ministry, Carmen Dan added, is however hindered by the shortage of staff.

Romanian women exploited in Italy

The Government of Romania sent an official delegation to Italy after reports pointed to cases of abuse involving Romanian citizens employed in Sicily farms. After talks between the Romanian minister for the diaspora Andreea Pastarnac and local officials and experts, the Romanian and Italian authorities decided to set up a support and assistance centre for the victims and for people vulnerable to trafficking, as well as mobile units providing on-site assistance, counselling and healthcare. According to an investigation carried last Sunday by the British weekly The Observer, nearly 7,500 female workers, mostly Romanian, are treated as slaves in farms in the south of Italy. They are subject to many forms of abuse, including beatings, threats and rape, which are perpetrated with almost total impunity. (Translated by V. Palcu & A.M. Popescu)