March 7, 2014
A look at the main stories in Romania today.
România Internațional, 07.03.2014, 12:02
The Romanian and Bulgarian governments are today holding a joint meeting in the Bulgarian city of Ruse to discuss ways to boost bilateral cooperation, in particular in the economic field. Ahead of the meeting, the Romanian and Bulgarian prime ministers, Victor Ponta and Plamen Oresharski will have talks with their Serbian counterpart Ivica Dacic. The Romanian and Bulgarian officials will tackle a number of European and international issues with a view to harmonising the positions of their two countries. Special emphasis will be placed on the developments in the Eastern Partnership, in particular the European future of the Republic of Moldova, as well as the situation in Ukraine.
Romania’s president Traian Basescu is today attending in Dublin a meeting of the European People’s Party to choose a candidate for the chairmanship of the European Commission. On Thursday, Mr Basescu attended an emergency EU summit dedicated to the Ukrainian crisis. He described the presence of the Russian troops in Crimea as an act of aggression and said Romania was ready to act as a mediator in the conflict between Moscow and Kiev.
Fitch Ratings has today reasserted Romania’s BBB minus rating for long-term currency loans and the BBB rating for local currency loans with a stable outlook. This upgrade reflects a lower deficit level and a higher than expected economic growth rate last year. Fitch also confirmed Romania’s country ceiling at BBB plus and the F3 rating for short-term currency loans. These ratings are the result of an accelerated growth rate and higher confidence in Romania’s ability to reduce its income gap from other EU states, despite certain fiscal relaxation and a slower pace of implementing key structural reforms.
The government in Bucharest has today published the new governing programme for which it will seek a vote of confidence in Parliament. The programme provides for lower taxes, expanding the tax base, simplifying the tax system, better budget revenue collection and combating tax evasion. Also, the VAT is to go back to the 19% level, while the minimum wage is to increase gradually by the end of 2016 to reach 1,100 lei.
Three Romanian players have qualified to the second round of the Indian Wells tennis tournament worth almost 6 million dollars. Romania’s highest-ranked player and world no. 7 Simona Halep has gone straight into the second round, where she meets Kurumi Nara of Japan, no. 47 in the world. Monica Niculescu, world no. 63, will meet Ekaterina Makarova of Russia, no. 24 in the WTA ranking. Romania’s third player in Indian Wells is Sorana Cirstea, no. 27 in the world, who will play against qualifier Camila Giorgi of Italy, no. 79 in the world.
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