THE WEEK IN REVIEW

28.10-1.11 2024

Roxana Vasile, 02.11.2024, 13:12

Electoral campaigns in Romania

The electoral campaign for the parliamentary elections in Romania started on the night of Thursday to Friday and will end on November 30. During this period, the parties, alliances or independents entering the race for a seat in the new bicameral Legislature of the country will have to convince the electorate to grant them the vote on December 1. There are currently 330 parliamentarians in the Chamber of Deputies, and 136 in the Senate. A week before, the presidential election campaign started in Romania. The first round of voting for the highest office in the State will take place on November 24, and the second round – on December 8. On Wednesday, the Permanent Electoral Authority approved the list of the headquarters of the 950 polling stations abroad for presidential and parliamentary elections. There are 35 more polling stations than in June, when Romanians abroad elected their representatives in the European Parliament. 2024 is, after two decades, the year of all types of elections. In the summer, combined with the European parliaments, local ones also took place in Romania.

Romania, in solidarity with Spain

Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu summoned, on Thursday, the ministers and representatives of several government institutions to discuss the situation of Romanians in southeastern Spain affected by the recent catastrophic floods. According to the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bucharest, approximately 160,000 Romanian citizens live in the Valencia region alone. The prime minister asked those present at the meeting to form an action group to see under what conditions a logistics center can be set up in Castellón de la Plana, through which the Romanian State can offer the affected Romanians additional help compared to what the Spanish state offers. Marcel Ciolacu also requested the ministries to maintain permanent contact with the Spanish authorities and with the Romanians in Spain, and to offer support, including by providing transport for repatriation, in case there are requests in this regard. Meanwhile, in the flood-affected areas, the rescue operations of people who have been severely affected by the weather continued. As for the damages, if initially it was about hundreds of millions of euros, now we are talking about billions. Houses, cars, tunnels, bridges, viaducts, or train lines were completely destroyed.

Government debt on the rise

The government debt increased, in Romania, to over 876 billion lei (about 175 billion euros), meaning to 52% of the Gross Domestic Product, according to the data made public, this week, by the Ministry of Finance. They reflect the situation at the end of July. For the end of 2024, according to an emergency ordinance approved on Wednesday, the Executive instituted the increase of the public debt ceiling to the level of 53% of GDP. On the other hand, a mission of the International Monetary Fund will come to Bucharest, next week, to analyze the country’s recent economic and financial developments. In the Fund’s most recent report on the outlook for the global economy, the estimates regarding the advance of the Romanian economy this year are revised down, from 2.8%, as forecast in April, to 1.9%.

The Republic of Moldova and the European Union

The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Moldova confirmed, on Thursday, the results of the October 20 referendum on European integration. As a result, the Constitution will be supplemented with a new chapter on the basis of which the accession of the majority Romanian-speaking state to the community block becomes a strategic objective. Regardless of the political color of the governments that will follow, they will be obliged to promote policies that correspond to this objective. Also, the Parliament will be able to ratify the constitutive agreements of the European Union only with the help of a simple majority. We recall that, in the election about two weeks ago, the difference in votes in favor of the integration of the Republic of Moldova into the European Union was only a few thousand votes. On the other hand, the European Commission praised the progress of the Republic of Moldova, but also of Ukraine, on the path of reforms necessary for joining the EU. In the annual report on the expansion of the Union, in which it makes an assessment of all candidate or aspirant states for accession, the Commission expresses its hope that, next year, it will be able to start discussions on negotiation chapters with the officials from Chisinau and Kiev. Brussels points out, however, that efforts are still needed in many areas.

Radio Romania – 96 years

Radio Romania turned 96 on Friday! On November 1, 1928, the first broadcast of the Radiotelephone Broadcasting Society in Romania was broadcast, with the announcement “Hello, hello, here is Radio Bucharest”, uttered by the president of the Society, Dragomir Hurmuzescu, the founder of Romanian radio. In the beginning, Radio Bucharest (as the Society was known) broadcast only a few hours a day, with news, dance and classical music, as well as weather reports. Gradually, the broadcast expanded and complex broadcasts appeared, which have been entering the homes of listeners from the country and abroad for 96 years. As a sign of appreciation, November 1 was also declared, by law, National Radio Day, in recognition of the decisive role of the Romanian Broadcasting Corporation in the country’s history.