The Week in Review 5-11 November

A roundup of the week's main stories

Corina Cristea, 10.11.2018, 12:09

Forecasts on Romanian economy

The European Commission has revised
downwards its forecasts on Romania’s economic growth this year from 4.5% down to
3.6%. According to the autumn forecast published on Thursday by the European
Commission, Romania’s economic growth is slowing down against the background of
decreasing private consumption and the increasing negative contribution of
exports. In 2019, Romania’s economic growth is expected to stand at around 3.8%
down from 3.9% forecasted in spring. The Commission has also revised its
forecasts on Romania’s inflation, which is to increase slightly from 4.2% to
4.3%. The consumer price index will maintain its upward trend and the annual
inflation rate is expected to go down in the following months to 3.5% from more
than 5%, the highest in the EU, Central Bank governor Mugur Isarescu explains.
According to Isarescu, who has recently presented the institution’s latest
quarterly report on inflation, the inflation rate in Romania is going to keep
its downward trend in 2019 as well. Isarescu has also said that the relatively
stable evolution of the domestic currency this year has contributed to the
process of keeping the dynamics of consumer prices at bay. Romania’s trade
deficit went up by more than one billion Euros in the first nine months of this
year, to 10 billion Euros, the National Institute for Statistics has announced.

A Constitutional Court Ruling on Judicial Panels

Romania’s Constitutional Court has
ruled that there is a legal conflict of constitutional nature between
Parliament and the High Court of Cassation and Justice with regard to the
creation of 5-judge panels. Constitutional Court magistrates have argued the
Supreme Court has issued several rulings since 2014, according to which only
four out of the five panel members are designated by drawing lots. These
5-judge panels at the Supreme Court are currently looking into cases involving
some high-ranking politicians, including the leaders of the parties in the
ruling coalition, the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and
Democrats, namely Liviu Dragnea and Calin Popescu Tariceanu,
respectively, as well as businessman Sebastian Ghita and the former
Constitutional Court judge Toni Grebla, the incumbent secretary general of the
government. According to Florin Iordache, the president
of a special parliamentary committee in charge of amending the justice laws,
all five judges from the panels that analyze ongoing cases must be selected by
drawing of lots, whereas people who are unhappy with previous
rulings can now invoke that the judicial panels that ruled in their case were
set up non-legally. Opposition MP Stelian Ion from the Save
Romania Union says the Constitutional Court’s ruling comes as an
unpleasant surprise and that it may have been influenced politically,
which undermines its credibility.

Expulsions from the Social-Democratic Party

Two leaders of the Social-Democratic
Party were expelled from the party after they had publicly criticized its
leadership. On Monday, the PSD National Executive Committee decided with a
large majority the expulsion of two leaders from the party, namely
Vice-president Adrian Tutuianu and general secretary Marian Neacsu. The reasons
invoked in their case were alleged actions harmful to the ruling party. The
allegations have been rejected as ungrounded by the two Social-Democrats, who
added that speaking about the problems affecting the party doesn’t mean being
against the party itself. Journalists have recalled that Adrian Tutuianu said
in a meeting of the local PSD branch that he leads – a speech recorded without
his consent – that the Social Democratic Party is a party of monkeys if they
accept Liviu Dragnea to nominate a Prime Minister out of the blue and that the
present cabinet is a tragedy in terms of quality. Deputy Prime Minister Paul
Stanescu was on the side of the two expelled leaders saying that kicking them
out of the party was a great mistake while the mayor of Bucharest, Gabriela
Firea said in a communiqué that it was hard to be a PSD member under the terror
of expulsion and dissolution.

Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila’s visit to Qatar and Oman

Romanian Prime Minister Viorica
Dancila has this week paid a formal visit to the Sultanate of Oman and to
Qatar. The tour was aimed at consolidating the bilateral political dialogue and
economic cooperation with member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council. On Monday,
during a business forum in Muscat, the Romanian Prime Minister pointed out that
in its capacity as an EU member state, Romania is interested in building
bridges between the European Union and Gulf countries, which may lay robust
foundations for the extension of bilateral relations. On Wednesday, Viorica
Dancila chaired an economic forum in Doha, where she presented the main
projects and business opportunities, which could be accomplished under a
public-private partnership as well as the readiness of the Bucharest
authorities to tighten cooperation with business partners from the Gulf area.
Prime Minister Dancila also underlined Romania’s geo-strategic position and the
latest upward trend of its economy launching an invitation to the business
people from the two countries to invest in Romania’s key sectors, such as
infrastructure, agriculture, tourism and healthcare.