{"id":848474,"date":"2025-01-05T20:00:58","date_gmt":"2025-01-05T18:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/?p=848474"},"modified":"2025-01-05T20:29:55","modified_gmt":"2025-01-05T18:29:55","slug":"january-5-2025-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/news-and-current-affairs\/newsflash\/january-5-2025-update-id848474.html","title":{"rendered":"January 5, 2025 UPDATE"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>BUDGET<\/strong> \u2013 The government seeks to set the final details for the draft budget for 2025 by the end of the month, so that the new Parliament may debate and vote on the law in a special sitting. The government relies on a budget deficit of 7% of the GDP, as per a deal with the European Commission, without taking additional fiscal measures. The authorities need to slash public spending and carry out reforms stipulated in the Recovery and Resilience Plan. The government wants to freeze salaries in the public sector as well as child-rearing allowances. Party funding will also be cut by 25% compared to the previous year. A hiring freeze will be introduced in the public sector, while certain institutions will undergo a restructuring process. The tax on dividends is expected to go up from 8% to 10%, while a new tax on special constructions will be introduced. Pensions too will see no increase this year, with the reference point expected to stagnate at 16 EUR. The authorities also seek to cut overspending by 1% of the GDP, tantamount to some 19 bln EUR, but also to boost budget revenues by implementing reforms provided in the Recovery and Resilience Plan.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>ELECTION<\/strong> \u2013 Interim PNL president, Ilie Bolojan, has warned that the presidential election might be postponed for May unless parliamentary parties adopt the election timetable by next week at the latest. The Liberals want the election to take place before Easter. As regards the official designation of former PNL leader Crin Antonescu as the common candidate of the ruling coalition, Bolojan explained the candidacy may be validated by each party once the election timetable is approved. Ilie Bolojan called for consistency and solidarity in supporting a single candidate. In turn, UDMR leader Kelemen Hunor said the date of the presidential election must be set as soon as possible, also arguing in favor of holding the election before Easter. Instead, USR leader Elena Lasconi accused ruling coalition parties of seeking to preserve power and privileges to the detriment of the country\u2019s stability.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>AGREEMENT<\/strong> \u2013 Former PNL leader, Crin Antonescu, says the ruling coalition agreement for supporting his candidacy in the 2025 presidential election is <em>de facto<\/em> suspended. Antonescu told a private TV station on Saturday that he won\u2019t withdraw from the race, but that he noticed the four political leaders who nominated him \u201cdid not make a powerful enough commitment when signing the agreement\u201d. We recall that on December 23, ruling coalition parties (PSD, PNL, UDMR and the group of national minorities) agreed to support Crin Antonescu\u2019s candidacy in the 2025 presidential election, with the executive bodies of each party being expected to vote the decision. The first round of the presidential election is scheduled for March 23, while the second round will take place on April 6, with the authorities expected to pass a decree on this matter by January 7.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>CHRISTMAS<\/strong> \u2013 Eastern rite Orthodox Christians are making preparations to celebrate Christmas on January 7, according to the Julian calendar. Armenians in Romania celebrate Christmas on January 6.\u00a0 Following the Christmas\u00a0 Eve vigil, groups of young children and men go caroling from house to house, bringing the new of the birth of Jesus\u00a0 Christ, Rafaela Cazazian, producer on Radio Rom\u00e2nia Constan\u0163a, explains. Guesthouses in the Danube Delta but also in mountain resorts are fully booked on this occasion.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>HANDBALL<\/strong> \u2013 The Romanian men\u2019s handball team lost to Georgia 34-35 the last match in the Carpa\u021bi Trophy tournament. Also today, Serbia won 35-30 against Turkey. Romania on Friday grabbed a 35-26 win over Turkey, and drew 31-31 against Serbia, the team that finished in top position.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>TENNIS<\/strong> \u2013 Five Romanian tennis players will represent Romania in the qualifiers of the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament of the year set to kick off on January 12. Ana Bogdan (114 WTA) will play Destanee Aiava of Australia (194 WTA) in the first round. Anca Todoni (118 WTA) will take on Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva of Andorra (156 WTA). Gabriela Ruse (121 WTA) will play Leonie Kung of Switzerland (221 WTA), while Miriam Bulgaru (213 WTA) will go up against Giorgia Pedone of Italy (193 WTA). In the men\u2019s competition, Filip Cristian Jianu (214 ATP) will play Mitchell Krueger of the USA (147). Three Romanian players, Sorana C\u00eerstea, Jaqueline Cristian and Irina Begu, are already seeded in the main draw. (VP)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BUDGET \u2013 The government seeks to set the final details for the draft budget for 2025 by the end of the month, so that the new Parliament may debate and vote on the law in a special sitting. The government relies on a budget deficit of 7% of the GDP, as per a deal with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":731769,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[161111,29795,31241,161113,161121,158915,31116],"coauthors":[116091],"class_list":["post-848474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-2025-draft-budget","tag-australian-open","tag-carpati-trophy","tag-crin-antonescu-en","tag-eastern-rite-christmas","tag-ilie-bolojan","tag-presidential-election"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>January 5, 2025 UPDATE - Radio Romania International<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/news-and-current-affairs\/newsflash\/january-5-2025-update-id848474.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"January 5, 2025 UPDATE - Radio Romania International\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"BUDGET \u2013 The government seeks to set the final details for the draft budget for 2025 by the end of the month, so that the new Parliament may debate and vote on the law in a special sitting. The government relies on a budget deficit of 7% of the GDP, as per a deal with [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/news-and-current-affairs\/newsflash\/january-5-2025-update-id848474.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Radio Romania International\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-01-05T18:00:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-01-05T18:29:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Newsflash-stiri-alb-960x540-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"540\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Newsroom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Newsroom\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/news-and-current-affairs\\\/newsflash\\\/january-5-2025-update-id848474.html#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/news-and-current-affairs\\\/newsflash\\\/january-5-2025-update-id848474.html\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Newsroom\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4a479940371b9fdefd194f561e8a7f88\"},\"headline\":\"January 5, 2025 UPDATE\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-01-05T18:00:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-01-05T18:29:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/news-and-current-affairs\\\/newsflash\\\/january-5-2025-update-id848474.html\"},\"wordCount\":714,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/news-and-current-affairs\\\/newsflash\\\/january-5-2025-update-id848474.html#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/Newsflash-stiri-alb-960x540-1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"2025 draft budget\",\"Australian Open\",\"Carpati Trophy\",\"Crin Antonescu\",\"Eastern rite Christmas\",\"Ilie Bolojan\",\"presidential election\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Newsflash\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/news-and-current-affairs\\\/newsflash\\\/january-5-2025-update-id848474.html\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/news-and-current-affairs\\\/newsflash\\\/january-5-2025-update-id848474.html\",\"name\":\"January 5, 2025 UPDATE - Radio Romania International\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/news-and-current-affairs\\\/newsflash\\\/january-5-2025-update-id848474.html#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/news-and-current-affairs\\\/newsflash\\\/january-5-2025-update-id848474.html#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/Newsflash-stiri-alb-960x540-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-01-05T18:00:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-01-05T18:29:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4a479940371b9fdefd194f561e8a7f88\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/news-and-current-affairs\\\/newsflash\\\/january-5-2025-update-id848474.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/news-and-current-affairs\\\/newsflash\\\/january-5-2025-update-id848474.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/news-and-current-affairs\\\/newsflash\\\/january-5-2025-update-id848474.html#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/Newsflash-stiri-alb-960x540-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/Newsflash-stiri-alb-960x540-1.jpg\",\"width\":960,\"height\":540,\"caption\":\"Newsflash\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/news-and-current-affairs\\\/newsflash\\\/january-5-2025-update-id848474.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Homepage\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"News and Current Affairs\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/news-and-current-affairs\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Newsflash\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/news-and-current-affairs\\\/newsflash\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"January 5, 2025 UPDATE\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/\",\"name\":\"Radio Romania International\",\"description\":\"Totul despre Rom\u00e2nia \u015fi rom\u00e2ni, \u00een 13 limbi\\\/dialecte!\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4a479940371b9fdefd194f561e8a7f88\",\"name\":\"Newsroom\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/author\\\/newsroom\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"January 5, 2025 UPDATE - Radio Romania International","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/news-and-current-affairs\/newsflash\/january-5-2025-update-id848474.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"January 5, 2025 UPDATE - Radio Romania International","og_description":"BUDGET \u2013 The government seeks to set the final details for the draft budget for 2025 by the end of the month, so that the new Parliament may debate and vote on the law in a special sitting. The government relies on a budget deficit of 7% of the GDP, as per a deal with [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/news-and-current-affairs\/newsflash\/january-5-2025-update-id848474.html","og_site_name":"Radio Romania International","article_published_time":"2025-01-05T18:00:58+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-01-05T18:29:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":960,"height":540,"url":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Newsflash-stiri-alb-960x540-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Newsroom","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Newsroom","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/news-and-current-affairs\/newsflash\/january-5-2025-update-id848474.html#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/news-and-current-affairs\/newsflash\/january-5-2025-update-id848474.html"},"author":{"name":"Newsroom","@id":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/#\/schema\/person\/4a479940371b9fdefd194f561e8a7f88"},"headline":"January 5, 2025 UPDATE","datePublished":"2025-01-05T18:00:58+00:00","dateModified":"2025-01-05T18:29:55+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/news-and-current-affairs\/newsflash\/january-5-2025-update-id848474.html"},"wordCount":714,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/news-and-current-affairs\/newsflash\/january-5-2025-update-id848474.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Newsflash-stiri-alb-960x540-1.jpg","keywords":["2025 draft budget","Australian Open","Carpati Trophy","Crin Antonescu","Eastern rite Christmas","Ilie Bolojan","presidential election"],"articleSection":["Newsflash"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/news-and-current-affairs\/newsflash\/january-5-2025-update-id848474.html","url":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/news-and-current-affairs\/newsflash\/january-5-2025-update-id848474.html","name":"January 5, 2025 UPDATE - Radio Romania International","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/news-and-current-affairs\/newsflash\/january-5-2025-update-id848474.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/news-and-current-affairs\/newsflash\/january-5-2025-update-id848474.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Newsflash-stiri-alb-960x540-1.jpg","datePublished":"2025-01-05T18:00:58+00:00","dateModified":"2025-01-05T18:29:55+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/#\/schema\/person\/4a479940371b9fdefd194f561e8a7f88"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/news-and-current-affairs\/newsflash\/january-5-2025-update-id848474.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/news-and-current-affairs\/newsflash\/january-5-2025-update-id848474.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/news-and-current-affairs\/newsflash\/january-5-2025-update-id848474.html#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Newsflash-stiri-alb-960x540-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Newsflash-stiri-alb-960x540-1.jpg","width":960,"height":540,"caption":"Newsflash"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/news-and-current-affairs\/newsflash\/january-5-2025-update-id848474.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Homepage","item":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"News and Current Affairs","item":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/news-and-current-affairs"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Newsflash","item":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/news-and-current-affairs\/newsflash"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"January 5, 2025 UPDATE"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/","name":"Radio Romania International","description":"Totul despre Rom\u00e2nia \u015fi rom\u00e2ni, \u00een 13 limbi\/dialecte!","inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/#\/schema\/person\/4a479940371b9fdefd194f561e8a7f88","name":"Newsroom","url":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/author\/newsroom"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/113"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=848474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/731769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=848474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=848474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=848474"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=848474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}