June 11, 2014 UPDATE
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Valentin Țigău, 11.06.2014, 20:15
The Romanian government has failed to lay the ground for a 5% cut in the contributions to the health insurance fund and has an approach mainly focusing on election targets, Klaus Iohannis, interim president of the National-Liberal Party said on Wednesday upon the meeting which brought together members of the National-Liberal Party and the Democrat-Liberal Party, the main right-wing opposition parties, as well as members of a joint delegation of the IMF, the World Bank and the European Commission. Iohannis has also accused the executive of having improperly implemented a tax cut on reinvested profit. According to him, the meeting between the opposition representatives and the IMF-WB-EC delegation was a first public sign on the merger of the two parties into a new center-to-right political force. Government representatives are to meet the international lenders delegation on Thursay for the last time in a meeting, which will have tax relaxation high on the agenda, as Prime Minister Victor Ponta has explained.
Spanish Mps on Wednesday approved the abdication of King Juan Carlos in favour of his son, heir apparent Felipe. The law will be submitted for Senate approval on June 17th. Before being passed by the two chambers, the law will be promulgated by king Juan Carlos, while the new king, Felipe the 6th is to be proclaimed by the Legislature as the new head of state on June 19th.
The EU 2015 budget is a combination of the past legacy with efforts to help Europe recover from the crisis and this with scarcer resources, the European commissioner for budget Janusz Lewandowski told a news conference on the draft budget passed on Wednesday by the European Commission. According to the document, the commitments stand at 145.6 billion euros, while payments amount to 142.1 billion. The commission proposes a 1% reduction in the personnel, the third in the past three years. It will be followed by a period of conciliation of 21 days in order for the Council and European Parliament to reach an agreement over the budget.
The Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, which is part of the ruling coalition, said it disagreed with the idea of the Social Democratic Party that the populist Dan Diaconescu Party of the People should join the government, pointing out that the Social Democratic Party had not asked for its consent in this respect. Union leader, Kelemen Hunor said that from the viewpoint of image, joining the government by the party founded by Dan Diaconescu, a former TV star specialized in tabloid shows, would be a disaster. Social-Democrat Prime Minister Victor Ponta said however that the talks between the Social Democratic Party and the Dan Diaconescu Party of the People aimed for the time being only at cooperation at local level and not at government level.
The Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, which is part of the ruling coalition, said it disagreed to the idea of the Social Democratic Party that the populist Dan Diaconescu Party of the People should join the government, pointing out that the Social Democratic Party had not asked for its consent in this respect. Union leader, Kelemen Hunor said that from the viewpoint of image, joining the government by the party founded by Dan Diaconescu, the former TV star specialized in tabloid shows, would be a disaster. Social-Democrat Prime Minister Victor Ponta said however that the talks between the Social Democratic Party and the Dan Diaconescu Party of the People aimed for the time being only at cooperation at local level and not at government level.
