November 12, 2019
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 12.11.2019, 13:54
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT – The European Parliament Committee on Legal Affairs is analysing in an extraordinary meeting the potential or real conflicts of interest of the commissioners designated by France, Romania and Hungary. After getting the endorsement of the Legal Affairs Committee, the three candidates, Thierry Breton, Adina Valean and Oliver Varhelyi, will be heard by the specialized committees on Thursday. Once the hearings completed, the EC President Elect Ursula von der Leyen will present the list of designated commissioners and the program of the Commission during a plenary session on November 27th. We recall that the Romanian MEP Adina Valean was accepted by the president of the EC for the transport portfolio. Thierry Breton will be in charge of the internal market, and Oliver Varhelyi will be responsible for neighbourhood and enlargement. Also today, Adina Valean has been heard by the joint European Affairs Committees of the Romanian Parliament, whose role is advisory. She has announced that, as a European Commissioner, she will keep supporting the mechanisms for interconnection, by means of which 1.24 billion Euro have been invested in the Romanian transport infrastructure, and another 500 million in the energy infrastructure.
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION – The leaders of the National Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party, whose candidates will run in the second round of the presidential elections in Romania, on November 24th, are now working on their campaign strategies. In the first round, the current president Klaus Iohannis, supported by the Liberals, got 37.5% of the votes, and the head of the Social Democratic Party, Viorica Dancila, got approximately 23%. 99% of the data have already been centralized. At national level, the turnout was 47.66%, the lowest ever for a presidential lection. 675 thousand Romanians living abroad cast their vote from Friday until Sunday.
MOLDOVA – The Moldovan Government headed by Maia Sandu has collapsed, following a no-confidence motion filed by the pro-Russia Socialist Party after Sandu’s cabinet changed the procedure for appointing the prosecutor-general. The Prime Minister suggested that the Venice Commission, the EU’s expert body on constitutional law, examine the bill. The proposal, however, was not accepted by the Socialists, with whom Sandu’s ACUM block had managed to strike a fragile alliance five months ago. Maia Sandu has reiterated the need for appointing a prosecutor general that has no integrity issues and cannot be influenced politically. Supporters of the ACUM block have protested in front of the Parliament building against the no-confidence vote received by the government.
RADET – Bucharest’s heating supplier RADET has officially gone bankrupt, following a final ruling by the Bucharest Court of Appeal, but the municipality and representatives of ELCEN, the company that produces heat and hot water for the centralized system, has assured the citizens of Bucharest that they will not be affected by this situation. The company that provides heating in the capital has been under insolvency for three years, and the causes that have led to the current situation are many. Among them, the huge debt, of more than 840 million Euro, to the producer ELCEN, the state not paying the due subsidies and also the old installations owned by RADET.
INFLATION – The annual rate of inflation in Romania dropped in October to 3.4%, from 3.5% in September, against the background of an increase in the prices of non-food products and services. The National Bank has decreased to 3.8% the inflation forecast for the end of this year and it estimates an inflation rate of 3.1% next year. The International Monetary Fund has revised upwards the forecasts regarding consumption prices in Romania this year, up to an average annual increase of 4.2%, as to the 3.3% estimated in spring.
(translated by M. Ignatescu)
