June 7, 2019 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news.

Newsroom, 07.06.2019, 19:54

IMF – A delegation of IMF officials on Friday presented the conclusions of their annual assessment of Romanias economy. IMF experts argue that, while Romanias consumption-based economic growth remains strong, contributing to reducing development gaps, macroeconomic imbalances have deepened, while the current account and fiscal deficits have gone up, together with inflation pressure. The head of the IMF delegation to Romania Jaewoo Lee pointed out that unless policies are changed, progress in the field of convergence will be affected, with pensioners and poor people feeling the effects. The IMF official said a more balanced mix of policies is needed, that should start with fiscal consolidation, strengthening monetary policy and greater flexibility for the exchange rate, in addition to increased predictability and improved governance. Right now Romania has no ongoing agreement with the IMF, although the Fund is every year monitoring the evolution of Romanian economy. International financial institutions estimate Romanias economy will report an economic growth below 4% in 2019.

JHA – Romanian Interior Minister Carmen Dan on Friday chaired the Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting in Luxembourg, held on the sidelines of the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union. In the home affairs section the Council proposed concrete measures to manage migration, including the adoption of regulations for the creation of the Migration and Asylum Fund. Regarding the Schengen accession of Romania and Bulgaria, Minister Dan said there is consensus at the level of the JHA. Also on Friday, Minister Dan attended the signing of the new Europol- FRONTEX joint action plan, in the presence of Europol executive director Catherine de Bolle, FRONTEX executive director Fabrice Leggeri and EU Commissioners Dimitris Avramopoulos and Julian King.

BREXIT — On Friday, Theresa May officially resigned as leader of the Conservative Party and as British Prime Minister after her failure to persuade the Chamber of Commons to vote the Brexit agreement with the European Union, which led to postponing Brexit until October 31. May will continue to serve as Prime Minister until her replacement is appointed by the end of July, the Conservative Party has announced. The official campaign for appointing a new Prime Minister will start on Monday. A total of 11 Conservative candidates are vying to become UKs next Prime Minister.

MEETING – Romanian Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici will head the EU Council delegation at the G20 meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors held on June 8 and 9 in Fukuoka, Japan. According to the Finance Ministry, the meeting’s agenda includes topics such as financing, global economy, international taxation, global imbalances, ageing, investments in infrastructure and problems of the financial sector. At the end of the meeting, participants will present the conclusions of the works.

PSD — The Executive Committee of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), the main party of the ruling coalition, announced on Friday that a party congress would be held on June 29. At the congress the party’s statute will be modified, new leaders will be elected and the Social Democrats’ candidate at the presidential elections will be decided. The congress is held following the incarceration, last week, of the former heavyweight of the ruling coalition in Bucharest, the Social Democrat Liviu Dragnea, on grounds of corruption.

DECREES – Romanian President Klaus Iohannis signed on Friday the decrees for the appointment of Ana Birchall as Justice Minister, Roxana Minzatu, as Minister of European Funds and Natalia Intotero as Minister for the Romanians Everywhere, the presidential administration announced. On May 29, PM Viorica Dancila sent to the President the proposals for new ministers, and also for the seat of deputy prime minister for the implementation of strategic partnerships, in the person of Titus Corlatean. President Iohannis rejected the latter proposal, arguing he sees Titus Corlatean as “the artisan of the disaster in the 2014 elections.” (Translated by Elena Enache)