EU. Romania has a real chance to
\noccupy an important position at European level, says the country’s prime
\nminister Marcel Ciolacu, referring to the scenario in which president Klaus
\nIohannis may take over the presidency of the European Council following the
\nresignation of Charles Michel. According to the Romanian media, Iohannis has a
\nchance to occupy this top European position as EU leaders are trying to prevent
\nHungary’s Viktor Orban from taking over. If Iohannis steps down before the end
\nof his term, the Senate speaker, a position currently held by the Liberal
\nleader Nicolae Ciuc\u0103, is to serve as interim. Romania will this year see
\npresidential, as well as parliamentary, European and local elections. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Bank. The managing board of the
\nNational Bank of Romania is today holding its first monetary policy meeting
\nthis year, having kept the interest rate at 7% throughout last year. According
\nto analysts, the central bank may agree on a first cut in interest rate given
\nthe slowdown of the economic growth rate and a drastic reduction in lending. The
\ngovernor of the National Bank of Romania Mugur Is\u0103rescu earlier suggested that
\ntalks on a possible reduction in the reference interest rate may begin when the
\ninflation rate drops below 7%. In December, the latter went down to 6.61% from
\n6.72% in November. The National Bank forecast indicates an annual 7.5%
\ninflation rate at the end of 2023. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Healthcare. Following pressure from the
\nhealth care sector, the government has decided to unblock over 7,600 jobs in medical
\nfacilities faced with staff shortages. 2,500 are for physicians and 365 for
\nambulance staff. Prime minister Marcel Ciolacu said the budget of the health ministry
\nis 40% bigger than last year. He emphasised that every new job must translate
\ninto better services for patients. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Football. The Romanian international
\nRadu Dr\u0103gu\u015fin signed up with the
\nLondon side Tottenham Hotspur until 2030. He was transferred from the Italian Serie
\nA team Genoa for 30 million euros, thus becoming the most expensive Romanian
\nfootball player in history. According to the BBC, Dr\u0103gu\u015fin is the second player
\nrecruited by Tottenham this winter, after the German
\nstriker Timo Werner, who came from RB Leipzig. (CM)<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A roundup of local and international news.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":105194,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-612090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n