April 15, 2015 UPDATE
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Roxana Vasile, 15.04.2015, 12:14
The European Commission wants an improvement in infrastructure, particularly in the EU’s less developed countries — the commissioner for regional policies Romanian Corina Cretu said during her visit to Cluj in central Romania. The EU official has visited a section of Corridor lV, a European motorway crossing the country to the Black Sea. Cretu has congratulated the Romanian authorities on drawing up the General Transportation Plan and has voiced hope that Romania will attract more money for large-scale projects. The executive in Bucharest in February approved the final version of the General Transportation Plan with a total funding of 45 billion euros until 2030 and which includes road, rail, naval, air and multimodal projects. The Plan also provides for the construction of 13 hundred kilometers of highway.
Romanian Defence Minister, Mircea Dusa on Wednesday assessed an alert exercise, which involved the participation of 3,000 soldiers from garrisons in southern Romania. A similar exercise, aimed at checking the degree of troops preparedness was last staged in Romania six years ago due to financial constraints. Minister Dusa was satisfied with the troops’ reaction response. Part of these troops are to join another multinational exercise called “Wind Spring 15“ due to unfold until April 30th. The drill will bring together 22 hundred soldiers and military gear from Britain, the Republic of Moldova, Romania and the USA. They will be involved in operational planning, shooting drills as well as complex tactical situations.
Romania has already met part of the criteria for the Visa Waiver programme, the US consul in Bucharest, Henry Leighton said on Wednesday. The US official said a working group on consular issues, made up of US and Romanian officials, are trying to find solutions so that Romania could meet the rest of the requirements as well. Among the conditions a country must meet in order to join Visa Waiver is the strengthening of the legislative framework concerning data exchanges with the USA, the introduction of electronic passports, some counter-terrorist measures and a visa-rejection rate under 3% per fiscal year. According to the US official, the rejection rate for the first time went down under 10% last year. Visa Waiver allows the citizens of other countries to travel to the USA for tourist or business purposes for a period of maximum 90 days without needing a visa.
The IMF has adjusted upwards its estimate for Romania’s GDP growth this year, setting it at 2.7%. This was part of the World Economic Outlook report issued on Tuesday by the international financial institution. Last autumn, the IMF issued an estimate of 2.4% growth for the Romanian economy in 2015. For 2016, the IMF at this point expects 2.9% growth, instead of the 2.5% that they were anticipating in October last year. Minister of Finance Eugen Teodorovici will be traveling to the US Thursday to hold talks with the IMF, EC and World Bank on measures introduced by the news Fiscal Code in Romania. The country is currently in a loan agreement with the IMF. The two billion dollar fund is of the stand-by type, and has not yet been accessed by Romania.
In Romania, the fight against high-level corruption is impressive, said European Commission Secretary General, Catherine Day, during yesterday’s hearing in the European Parliament on the Mechanism for Cooperation and Verification in Justice for Romania and Bulgaria. The European official, however, mentioned that it was necessary to consolidate progress made in justice and in fighting low-level corruption. The hearings in Brussels were held by the European Parliament budget committee. The talks were attended by EC officials who write justice monitoring reports, and the moderator was MEP Monica Macovei, former minister of justice in Bucharest. Romania was represented by Minister of Justice Robert Cazanciuc and head of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate Laura Codruta Kovesi.
