November 14, 2014
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România Internațional, 14.11.2014, 13:42
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS – Today is the last day of the campaign preceding the presidential runoff in Romania. More than 18 million people are expected to elect on Sunday the country’s president for the next 5 years. In the first round, on November the 2nd, the candidate of the ruling alliance, the Social Democratic PM Victor Ponta, won 40.44% of the votes, and the representative of the rightist opposition, the incumbent Mayor of Sibiu, Klaus Iohannis, 30.37%. The former built his campaign on the idea of rebuilding the solidarity of Romanians after Traian Basescu’s 10-year long presidency, which according to Ponta has divided the people. On the other hand, Klaus Iohannis pleads for action rather than words, and says he is the only one able to guarantee the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law. The Romanian citizens living abroad can vote in the 294 polling stations organised outside the country. To prevent the problems that marred the first round, the authorities have taken measures to smooth the voting process, but did not open new polling stations, as some Romanian communities abroad had requested. On November the 2nd, crowding and queuing were reported in some polling stations in Europe, and many people were unable to cast their votes.
TAXATION – The Romanian Ministry for Finances has issued a news release stating that the institution has never put together a scenario for eliminating the flat tax system, nor has it made estimates on a possible increase of property taxes. According to the Ministry, the taxes incurred for buildings, land and vehicles will remain at their current level, unless otherwise decided by the local councils. The institution thus responded to information in the mass media according to which the Government plans to eliminate the 16% flat tax rate and to introduce progressive taxation as of 2016, as well as to rumours on the increase of local taxes by 25% starting next year and another 25% in 2016.
ECONOMIC STATISTICS – Romania saw the highest economic growth rate in the EU in the third quarter of this year compared to 2013, according to preliminary data made public on Friday by the European Statistics Institute, the Eurostat. With a 1.9% economic growth rate, Romania is the first in the EU, followed by Poland (with 0.9%), the UK and Greece with 0.7% each. According to Eurostat, the economy of the Eurozone went up 0.2% after a 0.1% increase in the previous quarter, and the EU as a whole saw a 0.3% growth rate after 0.2% in the second quarter. Compared to last year, Romania’s GDP went up 3.3%, second-highest rate in the Union after Poland. On the other hand, the annual increase in the Eurozone stayed at 0.8%, whereas the GDP of the Union grew by 1.3%, the same rate as in the second quarter.
MOLDOVA – Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Moscow’s economic relations with the Republic of Moldova need to be adjusted after this ex-Soviet Republic signed the EU Association Agreement. On Thursday the Agreement was ratified by the European Parliament, whose president, Martin Schultz, emphasised that the provisions in the document are not targeted against Russia.
IS – Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has called for attacks against Saudi rulers and added that his self-proclaimed caliphate in Syria and Iraq was expanding to five other countries in the region, Yemen, Egypt, Libya, Algeria and the Saudi Kingdom. Saudi Arabia is part of the US-led international coalition against the Islamic State, and its aircraft has taken part in raids against the extremist organisation. In Washington, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said the option was considered of sending American troops to join the Iraqi forces that fight against the IS, although so far the US has only considered the training of Iraqi troops and the guarding of strategic sites far from the frontline. According to recent estimates, the IS has over 30 thousand militants, more than 2 thousand of whom have come from the West.
