A weekly digest of news, business and sport from Bucharest and around Romania
Basescu defends record before parliament
Traian Basescu, Romania’s president, defended his record in office on Wednesday in front of a generally supine parliament. Representatives of the main opposition parties left well before the close of Basescu’s speech.
Basescu said his main achievement had been to oversee ‘unprecedented economic growth,’ and was quick to praise the current government of Emil Boc, a member of Basescu’s Democratic Liberal Party (PDL).
Basescu heavily criticised the government of Calin Popescu-Tariceanu, with which he uncomfortably cohabited for the first four years of his term.
Romania’s presidential election will be held on November 28. Basescu is expected to officially confirm that he will run for a second term of office within the next few days.
PSD agrees to stay in coalition
Romania’s Social Democratic Party (PSD) stated this week that it will not pull out of the government despite its opposition to a package of reform bills put forward by the centre-left coalition.
Some local political commentators had said in recent weeks that the PSD may leave the coalition because of disagreements with their centrist partners, the PDL.
” I believe a government that exists and functions right now is better than a political crisis,’ PSD leader Mircea Geoana said. ‘Had we opposed these reforms, the government would have collapsed.’
The reforms focus on three areas: education, civil service salaries and civil service jobs. If passed, the bills will lead to as many as 9,500 Romanian civil servants losing their jobs over the next few months.
The opposition PNL has asked for a vote of no confidence on the issue of the reform bills.
Romanian National Bank spends €4.5 billion on propping up the leu
Romania’s national bank, the BNR, has spent €4.5 billion this year on propping up the country’s currency, the leu. The claim was made in a report published by ING, a bank.
The leu, which had traded at or around 3.50 to the €uro for some time, fell sharply at the end of last year as investors fled Romania. The BNR stepped at the beginning of 2009 to prevent further falls. It has since steadied, trading at between 4.20-4.30 to the €uro
The ING report claims that the BNR has enough foreign currency reserves to protect the leu ‘for a good few years yet.’
The leu closed trading on Friday at 4.264 to the €uro.
Energy Minister claims progress in gas pipeline talks
Romania is in advanced talks with Asian states to secure supplies for a planned natural gas pipeline designed to reduce Europe’s energy dependence on Russia by transporting gas from the Caspian and Middle East from 2014.
“We are in talks with Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan … to import gas for the Nabucco pipeline,” Deputy Economy Minister Tudor Serban told an energy seminar.
Nabucco’s shareholders are Hungary’s MOL, Romania’s Transgaz, Bulgaria’s Bulgargaz, Turkey’s Botas, Germany’s RWE and Austria’s OMV. The pipeline is seen pumping as much as 31 billion cubic metres of natural gas annually, but its viability has already been questioned because of limited supplies and infrastructure.
Visa free travel hints at Romanian-Moldovan detente
As of today, Romanians can travel visa-free to the neighbouring Republic of Moldova. The move to offer Romanians visa-tree travel was one of the first acts of office taken by newly elected Moldovan president Mihai Ghimpu.
Ghimpu, though officially only interim president, is keen to move quickly improve relations with Romania, which became extremely strained under the regime of his pro-Russian predecessor, Vladimir Voronin.
Urziceni beaten in Seville
Romania’s only representative in this season’s UEFA Champions League, Unirea Urziceni, were beaten 2-0 by Seville, in Spain, in their first group match. Urziceni coach Dan Petrescu said after the game that the better side had won, but that he was disappointed with his team’s performance.
In Europe’s second-string competition, the Europa League, there were wins for Dinamo Bucharestand CFR Cluj, while Timisoara held Ajax 0-0 in Amsterdam.
Steaua Bucharest drew 0-0 at home with Serif Tiraspol. Coach Cristiano Bergodi was sacked immediately after the game, allegedly for not allowing the team’s owner, Gheorghe Becali, into the dressing room at half-time.
Misc
The new Romanian school year began on Monday, though a number of schools around the country were not passed fit for purpose, and welcomed pupils in dreadful conditions. Well-organised criminals made off with 240,000 lei in cash (around €56,000) in a daring raid on a security van in the remote Gutai Pass, in the far north of Romania. Prime Minister Emil Boc visited Italy. A 17-year old from Bistrita was voted Miss Romania:
