September 2, 2019

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 02.09.2019, 13:34

PARLIAMENT – The
Chamber of Deputies and the Senate have today resumed their plenary sittings, their
first after the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats has withdrawn from the
ruling coalition. Alliance leader Calin Popescu-Tariceanu has resigned as
Senate Speaker. Social-Democrat leader and Prime Minister Viorica Dancila in
turn said her Government would move on. The opposition threatens to file a
no-confidence motion. President Klaus Iohannis has rejected the nominations made
by the Prime Minister for the positions left vacant by outgoing Alliance
members of the Government and will soon respond to the nominations of interim
ministers.

PENSIONS -
Pensions will be paid in their new increased format starting Monday, Labor
Minister Marius Budai said today. Yesterday, the new pension law came into
force, increasing pensions by some 15%. Five million pensioners in the public
system will be benefitting from this increase. The opposition warns that the
measure threatens to deepen the budget deficit, while the IMF has recommended
Romanian authorities review the law.

UNEMPLOYMENT -
The unemployment rate in Romania at the end of July stood at 3.01%, by 0.49%
lower compared to the same period of 2018, and by 0.06% higher than June this
year, the National Employment Agency (ANOFM) reports. The slightly upward trend
in the unemployment rate is influenced by the number of students who graduated
forms of education and registered as unemployed. The total number of the
unemployed stood at 262.044 people at the end of July, most of whom were
reported in the rural area. As regards unemployment broken down in types of
education, the number of unemployed people with primary or without any form of
education accounted for the largest share, 29.61%.

ENESCU FESTIVAL – The George Enescu
International Festival continues with the London Symphonic Orchestra concert in
the highlights. Over 2,000 members of choirs and instrumental orchestras will
hold concerts and recitals in parks, museums, shopping centers and corporate
buildings all across Bucharest. This year’s theme is The World in Harmony,
while the artistic director of the festival is Vladimir Jurowski. Until
September 22, Bucharest and other 10 cities in Romania and Germany, France, Italy,
Canada and the Republic of Moldova will host events as part of the Festival.
Over 2,500 of the world’s most valuable musicians will climb on stage in
Bucharest to perform in one of the 84 concerts and recitals offered as part of
the Festival.

DORIAN – The
northwest of the Bahamas Islands was battered by Dorian Hurricane, with wind
speed peaking at 300 km/h. Dorian has destroyed buildings, cars and uprooted
trees, also causing flash floods. The National Hurricane Centre in the United
States has confirmed Dorian to be a Category 5 storm, the most powerful to ever
strike this region. The United States has declared a state of emergency for
states on the eastern coast with Dorian drawing near, the BBC reports.

ELECTION IN GERMANY
-The German far right reported a significant increase in the number of vote
grabbed in the two regional ballots held in Germany, reporting over half of the
votes grabbed in the previous election of 2014, according to preliminary
estimates. The AfD Alternative for Germany, who has been criticizing German
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s pro-immigration policy, is set for second spot in
Eastern Saxony and neighboring Brandenburg, second to the CDU Conservative
Party and the SPD Social-Democratic Party, respectively. Eastern Germany
remains, therefore, a bastion of support for the AfD, which is less popular in
Western Germany.

TENNIS – Romanian
tennis player Raluca Olaru lost in both matches played on Sunday at the US
Open, in the women’s doubles and mixed doubles, respectively. Olaru was the
only representative of Romania left in the competition. We recall Simona Halep,
the number four seed in the women’s singles, was knocked out surprisingly in
the second round by Taylor Townsend of the United States, who in the third
round went on to eliminate another Romanian, Sorana Cirstea.

(Translated by V.
Palcu)