Ecofin Council: Romania Must Correct Significant Budgetary Deviation Until April 15, 2018
The Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) of the European Union found that Romania has failed to take effective action to correct a significant budgetary deviation and has set April 15, 2018 as deadline for Romania to report on action taken in response to its revised recommendation.
“On 5 December 2017, the Council adopted a decision establishing that Romania has failed to take effective action to correct a significant budgetary deviation. It issued a new recommendation, revising a recommendation already addressed to Romania under the EU’s ‘significant deviation procedure’. Romania is responsible for a significant deviation from the agreed adjustment path towards its medium-term budgetary objective”, the Council said in a statement on Wednesday.
Both the medium-term objective and the significant deviation procedure are part of the preventive arm of the Stability and Growth Pact, the EU’s fiscal rulebook.
The preventive arm focuses on structural balances, i.e. budgetary balances corrected for cyclical, one-off and budgetary factors. It thereby isolates the impact of discretionary government policy action and spending on interest repayments. (mediafax.ro) Nuclearelectrica Shuts Down Nuke For Planned Overhaul State-owned nuclear power producer Nuclearelectrica, which operates the country’s sole nuclear power plant in Cernavoda, on Wednesday started manoeuvres for a controlled shutdown of the second nuclear reactor.Unit 2 was automatically cut off from the national power grid.
“The shutdowns are part of the company’s maintenance program and are conducted once every two years for each of the two units.” (mediafax.ro)
Government Approves 2018 State Budget Bill And Declares Three Days Of National Mourning Romania’s government approved the 2018 draft budget bill and declared three days of national mourning, between 14 – 16 December, after former monarch King Michael died Tuesday.All public institutions and authorities, headquarters of political parties and trade unions, educational and cultural institutions, as well as border crossing points, airports, train and bus stations, ports and ships sailing under the Romanian flag will have to lower the flags to half-staff. Radio and television stations and cultural institutions will have to change their schedule.
The state budget bill sets revenues at RON125.95 billion and expenses at RON161.73 billion, while keeping within the 3% of GDP EU deficit limit.
Early November 2017, the country’s Forecast Commission published its estimates for 2017-2021 in view of the government drafting the 2018 state budget and sees a gross domestic product of RON907.9 billion next year and economic growth of 5.5%. The commission expects final consumption will grow 5.8% in 2018, and household consumption will grow 6.2%. Investments in the economy are set to grow 7.9%.
OECD: Average Retirement Age To Rise About Two Years The average retirement age will rise about two years over the next four decades among members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, thanks to efforts in past years to shore up state-funded pension schemes.The greatest projected jump will be in countries such as Denmark, Italy and the Netherlands where the retirement age is now linked to life expectancy. Only five members — including France — of the OECD’s 35 will have standard retirement ages below 65 by 2060.
The cost of public pensions will continue to grow in some of the OECD’s largest economies, such as the U.S., though the rate of growth will be slower than in the past two decades. Some countries will see drops, especially Greece, which slashed pension rights during the financial crises.
In its annual report on pensions, the OECD warns that members should take further steps to shore up pension systems to cope with demographic changes, greater inequality among senior citizens, and the changing nature of work in a digital economy. With many people switching to non-traditional jobs, a strict fixed retirement age may no longer be in the general interest, it says. (mediafax.ro)
Russia Ran Disinformation Campaign To Cause Division Among NATO Allies, Says US Ambassador United States Ambassador to Romania Hans Klemm on Wednesday said that the Russian Federation ran disinformation campaigns to create confusion and cause division among NATO allies and that Romania was one of the targeted countries.“Several allies, especially Romania, voiced concerns regarding Russia’s influence and its intentions in the Republic of Moldova, due to the military troops in Transnistria, but also because of Russia’s involvement in cyber and intelligence areas (…) Russia carried out ongoing propaganda and disinformation campaigns to promote Kremlin’s strategic agenda. This is clearly a favorite method of Russia to seed discord and divide NATO allies and others which are seen as opponents,” Klemm said at the „Preparing for the 21st century threats” debate in Cluj-Napoca.
The ambassador said that due to the fact that Romanians are more cautious towards Russia’s motives, Kremlin’s tactics are subtler and therefore it tries to break people’s confidence in the European Union, NATO and the strategic partnership between Romania and the US.
“Propaganda is usually spread through obscure websites that publish fake news, which then find their way on social media and quality press and leads to confusion among the public opinion regarding what is true, fulfilling the goals of those who created the propaganda,” the ambassador added.
Klemm also reminded about United States’ concerns regarding the overhaul of the justice system and stressed that an independent justice system will reassure the Romanian people and NATO allies of Romania’s strength and resilience. (mediafax.ro)