October 20, 2015

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Newsroom, 20.10.2015, 12:00

The Romanian economy has stabilized, 2015 being the 5th consecutive year when economic growth has been reported, the governor of the National Bank of Romania, Mugur Isarescu, told the EU ambassadors to Romania at the annual working meeting regarding the evolution of local economy. The economy is expected to grow in 2015 by 3.5%, over the EU average rate, the Romanian governor said. Referring to the economic risks generated by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Isarescu said the risk was controllable. From the point of view of energy independence Romania ranks third in the EU (after Estonia and Denmark), with energy imports from Russia standing at about 4%. As regards the financial sector there are no direct links between the Romanian banking system and the Russian and Ukrainian ones. According to estimates, in 2015 Romania will remain close to the budget target, but the future tax cuts and the increase in the state employees’ salaries could significantly affect the structural deficit in the coming years, Mugur Isarescu warned.

The Romanian President, Klaus Iohannis met Tuesday in Bucharest with the representatives of an IMF delegation, who have already had discussions with the representatives of the finance ministry on the state budget for 2016. Last week, minister Eugen Teodorovici said he was considering the possibility of concluding a new agreement with the IMF. Since 2009 up to now Romania has concluded three consecutive loan agreements with the IMF and the EU. The latest agreement, that expired last month, was worth 2 billion euros, and the authorities in Bucharest did not access the funds. The agreement was a precautionary one, its aim being to protect the Romanian economy from possible shocks on the financial markets.

The draft law on postal voting for the Romanian citizens who live abroad is being debated today by the Chamber of Deputies. On Monday the bill was passed by the Senate by a large majority. The bill was supported by both the Social Democrats, the main party in the ruling coalition, and the opposition Liberal Party members. This method of voting will be used in the parliamentary, presidential and euro-parliamentary elections only by the Romanian citizens residing or living abroad. Several months ahead of each election voters have to register in the Electoral Register. According to the bill, drafted by the Permanent Electoral Authority, an electoral bureau for postal voting will be set up for each 10,000 voters.

The Romanian Foreign Minister, Bogdan Aurescu, stated in Jerusalem that Romania supported the resumption of direct peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority and underscored the importance of creating a climate of relaxation and trust. The Romanian foreign minister made these declarations at the meeting with the Speaker of the Knesset, Yuli-Yoel Edelstein. In turn, the Speaker of the Knesset expressed the interest of his country in developing common projects in such domains as IT, research and development and renewable energies. Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu is paying a 2-day visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories. Yesterday minister Aurescu was received in Ramallah by the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.

The Slovenian Parliament might adopt a law, on Tuesday, allowing the army to help the border police, in the context in which thousands of migrants have entered Slovenia coming from Croatia, after the Hungarian authorities decided to close the border with Croatia. On Monday, according to the Slovenian authorities, over 8,000 migrants entered the country, of whom only 2,000 could continue their travel to Austria. The Slovenian government said they could not ensure the passage of more than 2,500 migrants per day. In another development, the European Commission announced they would come up, in March, with a new plan for the distribution among the EU states of 200 thousand refugees from the camps located in countries such as Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon, to counterbalance the massive flow of immigrants coming to the EU. Over 600 thousands immigrants have entered the EU since the beginning of the year.