October 22, 2015

A look at some of the main stories in Romania today

Newsroom, 22.10.2015, 12:00

The International
Monetary Fund has estimated that Romania’s budget deficit will reach 3% of the
GDP in 2016 and will most likely exceed this level in 2017 as a result of
massive tax cuts and planned salary rises, while the recommended budget deficit
for next year is 1.5%. According to a press release from the head of the Fund’s
mission to Romania Andrea Schaechter, Romania’s
macroeconomic indicators have improved considerably in recent years, but
consolidating this progress is crucial at a time of growing global risks, in
particular in the emerging economies. Under the circumstances, Romania must
maintain fiscal discipline to consolidate its public finance and renew its
commitment to structural reforms, especially with respect to state-owned
companies. The representatives of the International Monetary Fund have also
said that unless Romania modernises its transport infrastructure, the
advantages of its strong economic activity will be short-lived and its progress
slow. A Fund delegation was on a one-week trip to Romania to discuss with the
authorities the situation of the country’s economy, future developments and the
state budget for 2016.

Romania sold on
Wednesday 2 billion euros of eurobonds offering 10- and 20-year maturities,
writes the American publication Bloomberg. Romania thus followed Poland and
Lithuania, two countries that have already accessed the international bond
market. This is for the fist time that Romania has issued eurobonds with a
20-year maturity. The commentators cited by Bloomberg say investors had been
waiting for a long time for Romania to return to the markets and that they were
interested in longer maturities.

The
General Prosecutor’s Office in Bucharest continues hearings in an investigation
looking into the so-called miner raids between 13 and 15 of June 1990 that
put an end to wide-scale demonstrations against the left-wing government that
came to power after the collapse of the communist regime. On Wednesday,
prosecutors charged the former president Ion Iliescu and two of his aides at
the time, the director of the Romanian Intelligence Service Virgil Magureanu
and the defence minister Victor Stanculescu, with crimes against humanity.
Following violent incidents in Bucharest that the army had already managed to
contain, Ion Iliescu appealed to the population to save democratic institutions
from a far right coup. Groups of miners from Jiu Valley, a large mining area in
the centre, descended on Bucharest, where they stormed the University building
and the headquarters of the opposition parties and independent newspapers. Four
people were officially killed in the incidents, while hundreds of people were
wounded and over 1,000 were subject to abusive arrest.

The Parliament
of the Republic of Moldova will today ratify an agreement on reimbursable
financial assistance from Romania worth 150 million euros. The document was
signed in Chisinau on 7th October and later approved by Bucharest’s
Parliament. Moldova will pay the same amount of interest rate on this loan as
that paid by the Romanian state. The loan is given over five years and consists
of three payments, of 60 million euros in 2015, 50 million euros in 2016 and 40
million euros in 2017. The authorities in Bucharest say payment of the three
tranches depends on the signing of an agreement between the Moldovan government
and the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission and the World
Bank.

The European Commissioner for Migration and Home
Affairs Dimitris Avramopoulos is today having talks with the Slovenian
authorities, who requested additional financial assistance from the European
Union to face the inflow of migrants, writes France Presse news agency.
Following Hungary’s building of anti-immigration fences, Slovenia has become,
together with Serbia and Croatia, one of the main transit routes for refugees
on their way to northern Europe. Since Saturday, almost 21,500 immigrants have
arrived in Slovenia. On Sunday in Brussels, the head of the European Commission
Jean Claude Juncker will hold a meeting with the leaders of the countries faced
with a massive flow of migrants. Heads of state and government from eight
European countries, including Romania, will try to coordinate their actions in
the face of this emergency situation in the Balkans, the European Commission
has indicated. According to the United Nations, around 643,000 migrants have
arrived in Europe since January.