Romania’s 2019 budget still under debate
Romania’s draft budget is still under debate as governing party leaders are expected to meet representatives of the country’s Association of Municipalities on Wednesday. They are also supported by the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR), main political partneer of the goerning coalition. A similar meeting had been under way on Tuesday when participants also included the country’s Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici. However, the event comes at a time when a Fitch Ratings report on Monday pointed out that „Romania’s 2019 budget failed to lift fiscal uncertainty”. “The budget is based on a GDP growth forecast of 5.5 percent, much higher than Fitch’s projection of 3.2 percent. It projects nominal revenue growth of 15.7 percent, far in excess of nominal GDP growth, and assumes revenue gains from fighting tax evasion of 0.7 percent of GDP,” Fitch analysts say.
Italian fake plastic surgeon arrested in Romania
Authorities in Romania are investigating an Italian citizen who allegedly posed as a plastic surgeon in clinics around Bucharest. The College of Medics said Tuesday that it hadn’t issued Matteo Politi (38), who used the alias Matthew Mode, with a license to practice. Romanian health authorities, who must also issue a separate permit to doctors, say he was given one in March 2018 after submitting a fake diploma claiming he’d qualified as a doctor in Kosovo. Health Minister Sorina Pintea blamed private clinics for allowing Politi to work without a permit. Health authorities are looking into how he obtained a permit. According to news released by Italian media in 2011, Politi received a suspended 18-month sentence for having posed as a doctor without a license. Romanian border police detained Matteo Politi on a train on the Romanian-Hungarian border early Wednesday after an alert went out. A statement said he was being investigated for fraud.
Roşia Montană at 1,188!
Romania’s Transylvanian community of Roşia Montană celebrates its 1,188th anniversary on Wednesday. Romanian Peasant’s Museum in the capital Bucharest is expected to host events on the matter in the following days. The district of Roșia Montană is located in the Apuseni Mountains, the western section of Romania’s Carpathians, in the so-called Auriferous Quadrilateral, a territory with rich deposits of precious metals, known and worked since very early in history. Among many historical mining sites identified in this wider area, Roșia Montană stands out for its rich and intersecting prehistoric, Roman, medieval, modern and contemporary mining settlements. Unfortunately, the 16-villlage community became recently known around the world for a long-running debate as politicians considered whether to give the green light to a large opencast gold mine in the region. Protests followed while Roşia Montană’s status remained uncertain.
Alexandru Danga, RADOR
