April 12, 2023

Budget. The public spending reform bill  should be ready next week, the Romanian Minister of Finance, Adrian Câciu has announced.  Until then, members of the Government are presenting in today's meeting solutions to reduce expenses in their areas of responsibility. Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă asked them not to plan salary or investment cuts. He also said that he wants to improve the collection of taxes, not to increase them.  In total, the saving should amount to 20 billion lei by the end of the year. On the agenda of today's Government meeting are also two emergency ordinances, one on humanitarian assistance that the Romanian state grants to refugees from Ukraine and another that simplifies and digitizes the management of European funds.

Visit. The European Commissioner for Internal Market, Thierry Breton, is visiting Romania today. After meeting with Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă, the Brussels official stated  that Romania will be able to play an even more important role in the defense industry, in the context of the war in neighboring Ukraine. Thierry Breton highlighted the fact that Bucharest increased the budget allocated to Defense from 2 to 2.5% of the GDP, stressing it is an example to be followed.  The discussions with Nicolae Ciucă also focused on cyber security, the European Commissioner appreciating that there must be competitiveness in this field. In fact, today he is visiting the future headquarters, in Bucharest, of the European Cybersecurity Competence Centre, together with the Romanian Minister of Research, Innovation and Digitization, Sebastian Burduja, as well as two important defense equipment factories, together with the Minister of Economy, Florin Spătaru.

NATO. To Romania, NATO remains the basic pillar of the national security policy, said the Chief of Staff Daniel Petrescu, during a joint press conference with the President of the NATO Military Committee, Admiral Robert Bauer, who is on a visit to Romania until April 14^th.  Daniel Petrescu stated that the defensive capacity of the NATO shield in Romania has been increased and that, currently, there are over 30 defense endowment programs, one of the priorities being the endowment of the naval forces. For his part, Robert Bauer said that Romania has proven that it understands the true value of collective defense since the first day it joined the Alliance. He pointed out that Ukraine must be supported as much as necessary, adding that if Russia defeats Ukraine, it will not stop there.

Aid. The Romanian government will grant a first installment of the financial aid intended to compensate the losses caused by the conflict in Ukraine to cow breeders and the dairy market. More than 21 million euros will be granted starting on May 15, with a second tranche, worth 22 million euros, to be allocated to the sector in the second semester. Following the consultations on Tuesday evening, between the government team led by Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă and the representatives of processors and large store chains, a reduction of the price of milk  in the next six months was agreed upon. Also to support the consumption of milk produced in Romania, the Government wants to expand the “Warm Meal in Schools” Program starting next year. Thus, the children will receive milk every day when they are at school, not just three times a week, as it is now.

Salary. In Romania, the average net salary in February reached approx. 865 euros, by 3 euro more compared to the previous month, according to the data published today by the National Institute of Statistics. The highest values ​​were recorded, as before, in the IT area, approx. 2,000 euros, and the lowest in hotels and restaurants, approx. 475 euros. The increases in average net salary earnings compared to the previous month were determined by the granting of occasional bonuses (annual bonuses or special performance bonuses) in February, rights in kind and cash benefits, amounts from net profit and other funds.

Gymnastics. The Romanian men's team ranked 11th on Tuesday at the European Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Antalya (Turkey), thus qualifying for the World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium. The tricolors needed a ranking in the first 13 teams to succeed in qualifying for the World Cup, a competition that will decide the teams that will participate in the 2024 Olympics. Italy won the gold medals, the silver went to Turkey, and Great Britain got the bronze. (MI)