FISCAL AMENDMENTS<\/b> -The Romanian Government on Wednesday
\nadopted a series of amendments to the Fiscal Code. Finance minister Ionut Misa
\nclaims the amendments bring significant benefits to both citizens and
\ncompanies, such as a cut from 16 to 10% in the tax on income, that is salaries,
\npensions, rents, interest rates, copyrights and others. There will also be a 2%
\ncut in social contributions, which will be transferred from employers to employees.
\nAccording to Misa, all these measures will have as main effect an increase in
\nthe employee’s net income, without the employer’s paying more to the state
\nbudget. In exchange, the right wing opposition has vehemently criticised the
\namendments promoted by the government. The leader of the National Liberal
\nParty, Ludovic Orban, deemed them a calamity and announced his party will
\ninitiate and table a censure motion against the Tudose cabinet. He also added
\nthe National Liberal Party will make use of all legal and constitutional forms
\nof protest to prevent the implementation of those fiscal aberrations, which run
\nthe risk of ruining the Romanian economy. The big trade confederations have
\nrepeatedly said that the amendments will actually reduce the employees’ incomes
\nand announced that protests will continue at national level, and might
\nculminate with an all-out strike. <\/p>\n
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CURRENCY<\/b> -
\nThe national currency, the leu, on Wednesday continued to lose ground against
\nthe Euro, plummeting to the lowest level in the past five years. The leu also depreciated significantly on
\nthe inter-banking market against the USD and other currencies in the region,
\namid growing uncertainty caused by the government’s adoption of amendments to
\nthe fiscal code, harshly criticised by trade unions, employers’ associations
\nand economic analysts. <\/p>\n
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EBRD<\/b> – Romania’s economy could report a 5.3% economic growth,
\nwhich is estimated to go down to 4.2% in 2018, reads the latest forecast issued
\nby the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Previous
\nestimates pointed to a 4% growth for 2017 and 3.5% for 2018. The National
\nForecast Committee last week also revised its economic growth forecast to 6.1%
\nin 2017 as compared to the previous estimate of 5.6%. In October the IMF upgraded
\nits economic growth forecast for Romania from 4.2% to 5.5%.<\/p>\n
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DEFENCE<\/b> – Security in the Black Sea area and
\nRomanian-American military cooperation in Afghanistan were the focal points of
\nthe talks held in Brussels on Wednesday by Romanian defence minister Mihai
\nFifor and his American counterpart, James Mattis. Relative to the bilateral
\nStrategic Partnership, Fifor said he talked with the US defence secretary about
\nconsolidating NATO’s advanced presence on the eastern flank, laying emphasis on
\nthe United States’ participation in the Black Sea region initiatives. The two officials held talks on the sidelines of the meeting of the NATO defence ministers. <\/p>\n
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THE KING<\/b> – King Mihai I of Romania is in grave
\ncondition at his house in Switzerland, which is why no event will be held to
\nmark his name day on the feast day of Saint Archangels Michael and Gabriel. On
\nTuesday Mihai was administered the Holy Eucharist, after on Monday the Royal
\nHouse announced his condition had taken a turn for the worse. Aged 96, the King
\nis suffering from two forms of cancer. Ascending the throne in 1940, Mihai I
\nwas forced to abdicate and go into exile in 1947 by the new communist
\nauthorities. Mihai I returned to Romania only after the anti-communist
\nrevolution of 1989, when he regained Romanian citizenship and part of the
\nestates seized by communist authorities.<\/p>\n
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ENERGY<\/b> – Romania has stepped up its negotiations with China with a
\nview to building reactors 3 and 4 at the Cernavoda nuclear power plant and a
\nnew black coal unit at the Rovinari thermal power plant, Energy Minister Toma
\nPetcu said on the sidelines of a ministerial conference held in Bucharest,
\nattended by a Chinese delegation. In turn, Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu
\nexpressed Romania’s interest to taking part in projects fostered as part of the
\nnew Silk Road project in China. Melescanu highlighted Romania’s strengths in
\nthis respect, its geographic position and its transport facilities, the port of
\nConstanta, the Danube and the Danube-Black Sea canal.<\/p>\n
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EUROSTAT<\/b> – 25.8% of Romania’s population was
\nemployed in agriculture in 2015, placing the country on the top position at EU
\nlevel, against a community average of 4.4%, reads the latest report made public
\nby Eurostat. In 2015 some 10 million EU citizens worked in agriculture, of
\nwhich 7.5 in Romania, Poland, Italy, France, Spain, Bulgaria and Germany.
\nAccording to Eurostat, the rate of completing higher education studies varies
\nbetween 1.6% in Romania and 25% in the UK amongst agriculture workers. Finally,
\nRomania has the lowest rate at EU level, 1.5%, in terms of full-time
\nagriculture workers, as compared to the EU average of 16.4%.<\/p>\n
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THE POPE <\/b>– Pope Francis has accepted an
\ninvitation to become honorary member of the Romanian Academy, extended by an
\nofficial delegation of the Academy at the Vatican on Wednesday. The Pope
\naccepted the distinction, underlying his friendly relations with Romania. The
\naward will be sent to the Holy See by the Apostolic Nunciature in Bucharest.
\nPope Francis is the second pope to be named honorary member of the Romanian
\nAcademy, after John Paul II, who became a member in 2001.<\/p>\n
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CATALONIA <\/b> – Spain’s Constitutional Court on
\nWednesday officially revoked the unilateral declaration of independence adopted
\non October 27 by Catalonia’s Regional Parliament. According to pundits, the
\ndecision was an expected step to be taken by the Madrid authorities, after the
\nsecessionist move had already been suspended in court. Trade unions in the region called an all-out
\nstrike on Wednesday, to protest against the actions taken by the Spanish
\njustice against the former Catalan government. Radio Romania’s correspondent in
\nSpain says roads have been blocked, railway traffic has been brought to a halt
\nand all activities in schools and institutions have been suspended. One Tuesday
\nsome 200 Catalan mayors and pro-independence MEPs met in Brussels with the
\nformer Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont, which faces harsh accusations levelled
\nby Spain, after having favoured the organisation of the so-called
\npro-independence referendum. Although he is being prosecuted, Puigdemont has
\nmade public his acceptance to be the main candidate of his party in the future
\nspan ballot called for December 21, by the Spanish government. <\/p>\n
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FOOTBALL<\/b> -
\nOn Thursday Romania’s national football team is playing Turkey at home in Cluj
\nNapoca, central Romania, and will next play the Netherlands on November 14.
\nBoth games are friendly. Coach Cosmin Contra has called up 30 players, of whom
\n17 play for clubs abroad. The two games are bound to prepare preparations for
\nthe 2020 European Cup preliminaries. Romania failed to qualify to the 2018
\nWorld Cup to be hosted by Russia, after a subpar campaign with German Christoph
\nDaum at its helm. We recall Romanian Mircea Lucescu is currently Turkey’s
\nheadcoach. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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