September 26, 2022 UPDATE

ITU - More than 3,000 leaders and delegations from 193 countries are gathering in Bucharest, as of Monday until October 14, to set the global direction of digital transformation and to choose the future leadership of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the UN agency for information technology and communications. During the three weeks, the delegations will include representatives of private companies, academic institutions and national, regional and international bodies involved in the organization's activities regarding radio communications and the standardization or promotion of digital transformation in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Romania is the first country in the EU to organize this large-scale event and where the general policies of the ITU will be established, as well as the strategic and financial plans for the period 2024-2027.

Tokyo – The Romanian Prime Minister, Nicolae Ciucă, and the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Marcel Ciolacu, are in Japan, where, on Tuesday, they will participate in the state funeral organized in honor of the former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who contributed decisively to the start of actions meant to raise the relations between the two countries at the level of a strategic partnership. Shinzo Abe was killed on July 8 by a former officer with a homemade gun during a campaign speech. During Monday’s talks with the Japanese Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, Nicolae Ciuca said that raising the relations between Romania and Japan to the level of the Strategic Partnership is an opportune political act in the current international context, which materializes the remarkable vision of the former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the foreign policy field. An important point of the meeting was the security and defense component, one of the four cooperation pillars of the future Strategic Partnership, the talks also focusing on economic cooperation, given that Japan is the largest Asian investor in Romania. The Japanese Prime Minister appreciated the presence of his Romanian counterpart in Tokyo and assured him of his full support for the conclusion of the Strategic Partnership and the consolidation of bilateral cooperation, including at external level, in the regional and international context that requires the protection of democracy and the rule of law.

IMF – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revised upwards Romania’s economic growth forecast for 2022 up to 4.8%, the Finance Ministry announced on Monday. In June, the chief of the IMF mission for Romania, Jan Kees Martjn, announced that the IMF had improved Romania’s economic growth forecast at almost 3.5%- 4.5% for 2022 and 2023. The reforms included in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan are on schedule and will significantly contribute to our mission, as well as the fiscal sustainability measures, the management of public investments and the budget consolidation, the Romanian finance minister Adrian Câciu said. An IMF team, led by Jan Kees Martijn, visited Bucharest, between May 30 and June 10, for the annual analysis of the Romanian economy, known as the Article IV Consultation.

Refugees - The Border Police General Inspectorate informs that, on Sunday, more than 90 thousand people, of whom almost 10 thousand Ukrainian citizens, entered Romania through border points throughout the country. The figure represents a decrease of 7.6% as compared to the previous day. As of February 10, 2022 (a pre-conflict period), more than 2.4 million Ukrainian citizens have crossed the border into Romania, the Border Police General Inspectorate also announced.

Flu - Health experts expect a significant impact of the flu in the 2022-2023 cold season. They draw attention that vaccination against the flu remains extremely important in reducing the risk of double infection - with the classic flu virus and with SARS-CoV-2, especially among vulnerable categories. In Romania, the first tranches of flu vaccines have already arrived. They can be administered in family doctors' offices. 

Rome - Italy's far-right leader, Giorgia Meloni, claimed victory in Sunday's election on behalf of the right-wing bloc that won most of the seats in Parliament, according to exit polls. Georgia Meloni, who leads the most voted party, Fratelli d'Italia, could become the first woman prime minister in the history of the country, if the president entrusts her with the mandate. The alliance of conservative parties, which also includes Matteo Salvini's League and Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party, obtained between 41.5% and 45.5%, enough to guarantee control of both Houses of Parliament. The center-left could win between 25 and 29 % of the vote, while the populist Five Star Movement, which ran alone, between 14 and 18 %. The new parliament in Rome will have a smaller number of deputies, 400 instead of 630, and 200 senators, instead of the current 315.

Parliament – On Monday, the debates on the articles related the status of  magistrates were resumed in the Romanian Parliament. It is the third bill from the package of new justice laws, drafted by the justice ministry and assumed by the government. The marathon debates in the special parliamentary committee for justice laws have led to the adoption, so far, of over 140 of the 294 articles of the law on the status of judges and prosecutors. Most articles passed in the form proposed by the Government. This week, Parliament also resumes the debates on the energy ordinance, a document currently debated by the Senate’s specialized committees. The Social Democrats (in the governing coalition) say that the bill must be improved and demand that the price cap be related to current consumption and not to last year's consumption, as requested by the opposition USR. The PNL (also in the governing coalition) wants the ceiling to be set according to the consumption of the last three years for each individual month. At the debates in the Senate, the representatives of the Romanian Energy Regulatory Authority said that the fairest way to establish the cap is to take as reference the consumption registered over a certain period of time, because a calculation of the energy price based on the current bill would be complicated for suppliers. (LS)