September 7, 2016
Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 07.09.2016, 12:00
PHONE TALK Romanian president Klaus Iohannis has talked with the president of the European Council Donald Tusk about the summit in Bratislava, which has on the agenda, among other things, the EUs future after the Brexit. In the phone call, Iohannis said the EU countries must remain united and committed to winning the citizens trust in the European project adding that for Romania, the consolidation of the EU is a strategic objective. President Iohannis will be having talks in Berlin on Friday with German chancellor Angela Merkel about the preparations for the summit in Bratislava due on September 16th.
TENNIS The worlds fifth tennis player, Romanian Simona Halep, is today taking on Serena Williams currently ranked world No. 1 in women’s singles tennis, in the quarter finals of the US Open, the years last Grand Slam tournament with total prizes of 22 million dollars. We recall that Serena leads Simona, 7-1 in their head-to-head. Serena Williams, holder of 22 Grand Slam titles, have won the US Open six times while Simona obtained her best performance in Flushing Meadows in the semis of 2015. Halep remains Romanias single representative in this tournament after the Romanian-Dutch pair Jean-Julien Rojer has been eliminated in the eighth finals by Swedish Robert Lindstedt and Aisam Al-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan.
TAX CUT The Senate in Bucharest has passed a draft law on amending the Fiscal Code so that pensions above 235 euros will be exempted from the 16% tax, while health insurances are to be paid from the state budget. The document is to be submitted to the decision-making Chamber of Deputies shortly. The discussions on the document have been marked by heated debates between the Liberals and the Social Democrats. The latter say the law has been expected by many pensioners and blamed the Liberals for having cut incomes when they were in power. The Liberals response was that the law would favour those with big pensions while the budget impact would be a significant one. The initiative has been frowned upon by the government in Bucharest.
HOLIDAY 24th January, a day marking the unification of the Romanian principalities, has been declared a state holiday in Romania, under a decision by the Chamber of Deputies in Bucharest. The unification of the Romanian principalities on January 24th took place in 1859, after ruler Alexandru Ioan Cuza had been elected in two of Romanias historical provinces, Wallachia and Moldavia.
SCULPTURE Romanians have been left only this month to raise donations for Constantin Brancusis statue ‘Wisdom of the Earth. The funds raised so far amount to 700 thousand euros. Under these circumstances an amendment has been recently voted on in the Chamber of Deputies in Bucharest obliging the government to find money to buy the sculpture irrespective of the sum raised by October 1st. The final vote is to be given by the Chamber of Deputies in Bucharest. Currently part of a private collection, the ‘Wisdom of the Earth is estimated at 11 million euros, out of which the government pledged 5 million. The rest of the money was supposed to come from donations. ‘Wisdom of the earth together with ‘The Kiss and “The Prayer belongs to the artists best period of creation.
