September 1, 2019

A roundup of domestic and international news.

Newsroom, 01.09.2019, 13:55

GOVERNMENT – The Romanian PM Viorica Dancila has announced she will discuss with President Klaus Iohannis, over the phone, about his refusal to endorse the three interim ministers that she proposed. Dancila has warned she will take the matter to the Constitutional Court unless the President approves the new Social Democrat ministers that should replace the members of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats who resigned following their party witdrawal from Government. PM Dancila has also said that a Government reshuffle that should be presented to Parliament is not an urgent matter. These decisions were taken on Saturday, at a meeting of the Executive Commitee of the Social Democratic Party held in Mamaia, on the Black Sea coast. The head of state had priviously called on the Government to ask for the Parliament’s vote of confidence following the change in the Government’s structure.

BREXIT – The EUs lead Brexit negotiator has rejected the demands of the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson for the Irish backstop to be scrapped. Michel Barnier said the backstop – intended to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland – was the “maximum flexibility” the EU could offer, the BBC reports. The UK is due to leave the EU on 31 October, with or without a deal. Large-scale protests took place on Saturday in London and other cities against the Government’s decision to suspend Parliament. Boris Johnsons plan to prorogue Parliament prompted an angry backlash from MPs and opponents of a no-deal Brexit . If the prorogation happens as expected, British Parliament will be closed for 23 working days.

ENESCU FESTIVAL — Five events have been scheduled for today, the second day of the George Enescu International Festival. The first concert of the 2019 edition was held on Saturday evening at the Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest by the Berlin Philharmonics, with Kiril Petrenko at the helm. The central theme of this year’s edition of the festival is “World in Harmony”. Vladimir Jurowski is the director of the festival. Until September 22, alongside Bucharest, another 10 cities in Romania, Germany, France, Italy, Canada and Moldova will host concerts this year under the festival’s umbrella.

PENSIONS – Pensions have increased by 15% in Romania as of today, Labor Minister Marius Budai has announced. Around 5 million pensioners in the public system benefit the increase. The new pension law provides for a gradual increase in the pension point starting today, until 2022, and for the recalculation of millions of other pensions. Under the new law, women who have paid their contribution to the pension fund for 15 years and have given birth to three children, will have their retiring age reduced by 6 years. The standard retiring age is 65 for men and 63 for women. The minimum contribution period is 15 years, and the complete stage is 35 years.

IMF – The International Monetary Fund recommends the Romanian authorities to start a process of sustainable fiscal consolidation, to reassess the new pension law, which has come into effect today and to improve management in state-owned companies. According to an IMF report, the Romanian economic growth stays around 4% in 2019 and slows down to 3% on medium term. According to the IMF, against the backdrop of growing vulnerabilities, the Romanian authorities need to capitalize on the present economic progress to start a sustainable process of fiscal consolidation. According to estimates, Romanias budget deficit will account for 3.7% of the GDP in 2019 unless additional measures are taken. Furthermore the IMF experts believe the new pension law passed in June 2019 needs to be reassessed as it may jeopardize the fiscal sustainability.

VOLLEYBALL – The Romanian women’s volleyball team is today playing against world champion Serbia in Ankara, Turkey, in the eight-finals of the European Championship. Winning 2 of the 5 matches in Group C, against Estonia and Hungary, and defeated by the Netherlands, Croatia and Azerbaijan, the Romanians managed to seize the last ticket for the eighth-finals held today. Romania’s best performance in a European championship is a bronze medal in 1963. (Translated by Elena Enache)