Romania will negotiate with the new European Commission a seven-year agreement to re-enter the 3% deficit target, prime minister Marcel Ciolacu said on Tuesday, claiming that our country is in a period of "accelerated" development and it is very important that investments continue."What I can tell you is, for example, that the World Bank gave us a loan to cover the deficit. I suppose that the World Bank saw the pace of Romania's development and did not consider it a risk for an investment in Romania," Ciolacu said, when asked what measures to reduce spending were discussed by the coalition on Monday in order to reduce the budget deficit.According to him, the government should be allowed to negotiate with the European Commission regarding the budget deficit."We have to decide, do you want to enter the logic in which, in two months, if you want, I stop any investment and we have a 3% deficit? I don't have a problem. With all the expenses that have increased in salaries and you know well that the expenses in salaries have increased last year in education and health, after a social crisis and after the biggest strike in the education system. (...) I repeat, I prefer you to ask me daily about the deficit and to continue the investments. I don't stop investments in Romania. (...) Let us negotiate with the Commission. These things are not publicly negotiated," Marcel Ciolacu pointed out, adding that other European states also have to manage the problem of excessive budget deficit.He also pointed out that in the discussions that took place in the coalition meeting on Monday it was agreed that the VAT will not be increased.The prime minister participated on Tuesday in the Business Forum organized at the Palace of Parliament, on the occasion of the meeting of the Partnership for Transatlantic Energy and Climate Cooperation.
Romania was formally designated the 43rd country to join the US Visa Waiver Program (VWP) on Friday, January 10. According to the Romanian ambassador to Washington, Andrei Muraru, Romanian citizens will be able to travel to the US without the need for a visa starting March 31, 2025. "Romania becomes the first country in the […]
Cluj-Napoca, the city in Romania with some of the highest rents and a fast-growing IT industry, is closer to banning smoking in playgrounds and parks after mayor Emil Boc expressed his support for the measure. The mayor cited the prioritization of public health as the reason behind such a ban. He mentioned that he has […]
Romania's Sibiu County Emergency Clinical Hospital will receive a robotic system to prepare cytostatic drugs needed by cancer patients, along with other equipment, after the County Council obtained funds from the European Regional Development Fund. With an estimated value of EUR 1 million, the "Robotic Composition System for Sterile Preparations of Cytostatic Drugs" is among […]
Romania’s government adopted in its January 10 meeting a decision granting an extra day off to public sector employees at the beginning of May. Thus, Friday, May 2, will be an official day off for public sector workers, linking the legal holiday of May 1 (Labor Day) with the weekend (May 3-4). This...
The Ministry of Environment announced that 2024 was the hottest year in the history of Romania's meteorological records. Red alerts for heat waves began in June of 2024, with the longest consecutive periods of persistent and intense heat waves, six consecutive days, between July 13-18 and August 15-20. "The year 2024 is the hottest year...
Supporters of former presidential candidate Călin Georgescu gathered outside the Parliament Palace in Bucharest, which houses the Constitutional Court, on January 10, demanding a rerun of the second round of the presidential elections. The protest, dubbed "The Great Judicial Union," was initiated by Georgescu, who called on his supporters to challenge the election annulment, as […]
