ELECTION
\n– The Constitutional Court of Romania on Thursday validated the result of
\nSunday’s presidential runoff. Also on Thursday, the Central Electoral Bureau
\nannounced the final results, according to which the incumbent president Klaus
\nIohannis, supported by the National Liberal Party, won the election with 66% of
\nthe votes, double the result of his contender, the former Social Democratic PM
\nViorica Dancila. The turnout was 54.46% of the registered voters, accounting
\nfor approximately 10 million people. 994.077 Romanians living abroad went to
\nthe polls, of whom 94% voted for Klaus Iohannis. <\/p>\n
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ECONOMY- Romanian economics experts
\nwarn about the budget risks entailed by the increase in pensions, stipulated by
\nthe laws in force. One of its effects might be a higher trade deficit, of up to
\n6.5% by 2022. Central Bank chief economist Valentin Lazea believes that the
\nenforcement of the pension law should be postponed and that an increase in
\nfiscal revenues should not necessarily be followed by an increase in taxes and
\nduties. On the other hand, PM Ludovic Orban has said that next year’s budget
\nshould be drawn up by taking into account a 40% increase in pensions, and that
\nany intervention, through emergency decrees, in this sensitive field
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NATO – The NATO member countries
\nhave agreed to allow the US to reduce its contribution to the Alliance’s
\nbudget, several officials announced on Thursday, quoted by FP. At the 2018
\nsummit, the US president Donald Trump had asked for the reduction of his
\ncountry’s contribution, accounting for some 22% of NATO’s direct funding. The
\n29 NATO member countries pledged in 2014 to increase their defense expenses to
\n2% of their GDPs by 2024. Eight of them have already done that, namely the US,
\nGreece, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Great Britain, Romania and Poland. <\/p>\n
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REPORT – Life expectancy in
\nRomania is among the lowest in the EU and, although it has increased since
\n2000, it is still below the European average by six years. The high number of
\ndeaths caused by treatable causes is an indication of the fact that the
\napproach to risk factors must be changed and the efficiency of medical care
\nincreased. Moreover, the underfunding of the health-care system in Romania
\nundermines the country’s capacity to meet the actual needs of the population,
\nshows a report issued by the European Commission and made public on Thursday. <\/p>\n
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CLIMATE EMERGENCY – The European
\nlawmakers have issued a resolution declaring an EU-wide climate emergency. The climate declaration
\nwas passed on Thursday in Strasbourg during a European Parliament
\n(EP) debate on the upcoming United Nations’ COP25 climate summit that kicks
\noff on December 2 in Madrid. They also urged the European Commission
\nto make sure all relevant legislative and budgetary proposals are fully
\naligned with the 1.5-degrees-Celsius (2.7-degrees-Fahrenheit) target
\nlimit on global warming. Also, the resolution calls on the EU to cut emissions
\nby 55% by 2030 to become climate neutral by 2050. <\/p>\n
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EARTHQUAKE – Rescuers from several
\ncountries are making huge efforts to find survivors of the earthquake which hit
\nAlbania, killing 40 people and injuring more than 650. Chances of finding survivors,
\nhowever, are dropping by the hour. Tuesday’s earthquake
\nwas the strongest to hit Albania in decades. The quake struck 34km (21
\nmiles) north-west of the capital, and the latest aftershock had a magnitude of
\n5.6 on the Richter scale. Help has come from many countries, including Italy,
\nGreece, France and Romania. The Romanian Defense Ministry has sent two planes
\ncarrying 50 rescuers. Both president Klaus Iohannis and the Foreign Ministry
\nhave sent messages of condolence to the grieving families. <\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A roundup of domestic and international news<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":75903,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-103956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n