October, 30 UPDATE
A roundup of news from Romania
România Internațional, 30.10.2013, 19:05
Budget rectification – The Romanian government approved on Wednesday the second budget rectification of 2013. The rectification ordinance provides for a reduction of estimated revenues to the general consolidated budget by 3.4 billion lei and of expenses by 2.2 billion lei, the budget deficit target being revised upward by 2.54% of the GDP. The rectification was agreed upon with the IMF representatives in the context in which budget revenues were smaller than estimated, and most of the ministries received smaller sums of money. The center-right opposition criticizes the re-allotment of funds, saying that the Romanians’ living standards could be affected.
Romania- EC — The European Commission has found out that Romanian cities and towns use 8 times more energy for heating than other European cities. The European Commissioner for Climate Action, Connie Hedegaard, pointed to this aspect on Wednesday when she met in Bucharest with the Romanian environment minister, Rovana Plumb. The European Commissioner said that the European Commission intended to adopt by 2030 several measures to improve the environment, in a move to report economic progress.
Romania – EU — Structural funds can offer Romania the opportunity to develop the digital field and manage unemployment, said Wednesday the vice-president of the European Commission and Commissioner for Digital Agenda, Neelie Kroes, at the Future Communities- Open Innovation Fair 2013 held in Bucharest. Attending the event, the European Commissioner for Agriculture, Romanian Dacian Ciolos, said that the agriculture of the future couldn’t oversee technological science. He added that in the rural areas it is not enough to produce, it’s also important to sell, and one of the methods is the Internet. According to Ciolos the Romanian government had to come up with ways to access the 100 million euros allotted for broadband in the rural areas, so that by 2015 the Romanian countryside should benefit from broadband.
Investments — The lack of predictability remains a big problem of the private sector in Romania, said Wednesday, the vice-president of the Foreign Investors Council, Steven van Groningen, after the meeting with the members of the IMF delegation who are on an evaluation mission in Bucharest. He explained that the frequent changes of the legislation impact the economic growth potential. The vice-president of the Foreign Investors Council said that consultations are needed with political decision makers so as to make the economic environment predictable. The IMF mission to Romania meant to assess the new precautionary agreement concluded with Romania in September takes place between October 22nd and November 5th.
Romania-EU Romanian Deputy Prime Minister Liviu Dragnea, Minister of Regional Development and Public Administration is attending the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. The Romanian Minister will address the Congress and will have meetings with Herwig van Staa, chairman of the Congress and Jean-Claude Mignon, president of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly. The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe is a consultative body made up of local and regional officials or clerks responsible to them, meeting once a year. The congress represents more than 200,000 authorities from 47 European countries.
