Romania

Romania’s Prime Minister Victor Ponta pledged to bury his political feud with President Traian Basescu after next month’s parliamentary elections, predicting he will return as premier and turn his full attention to the country’s economic and social challenges.

Romania’s anti-graft drive risks delays after the business of naming new heads for the country’s main anti-corruption institutions hit an obstacle.Romania’s Superior Council of Magistrates, CSM, on Thursday rejected ministerial nominations for the posts of Chief Prosecutor and head of the National Anti-Corruptin Directorate, the DNA. The CSM, tasked with …

Stepping back from earlier talk of vetoing EU budget cuts, Romania’s parliament is now taking a more conciliatory line, merely opposing the cuts in principle.Romania’s parliament on Tuesday adopted a resolution opposing cuts in the EU budget to funds for farming and development. New EU member states, Romania included, are …

Poor market conditions force Bucharest to change plans to sell a minority stake in the Transgaz gas companyRomania is to cancel plans to sell a 15-per-cent stake in the gas pipeline operator, Transgaz, as agreed with the International Monetary Fund, citing poor conditions on the stock market. “The stock market …

Romania’s leaders are at odds over whether the country has a right to threaten to veto EU budget changes at the upcoming European Council meeting.Romania is threatening to veto the EU budget if the European Commission’s planned cuts to the budget for the next seven years slash farming and development …

Three ministers being investigated for possible conflicts of interest have rejected the claims, accusing the country’s anti-corruption agency of playing politics.Three ministers from the centre-left government are denying accusations from the anti-graft body, the National Integrity Agency, ANI, regarding alleged conflicts of interest and corruption. “I am innocent. I’ve decided …

Fund says Bucharest must implement promised reforms to conclude a new agreement; mission to return after December elections.A joint delegation of the IMF and the European Commission concluded its visit to Bucharest on Wednesday, following talks with the authorities on macro-economic prospects and on progress towards achieving the fiscal targets …

All the main parties competing in the December election are issuing impressive-sounding promises about jobs and taxes – which experts say will be hard to deliver.New jobs, an increase in the minimum monthly wage and cutting corporate and personal income taxes are among the electoral promises that the main parties …

The foreign ministers of Greece, Romania and Bulgaria are meeting in Sofia to discuss European Union enlargement in the Western Balkans and border security.Dimitris Avramopoulos from Greece, Romania’s Titus Corlatean and Nikolay Mladenov from Bulgaria will focus on aligning their positions on the EU integration of the other Balkan countries.

After loggers ravaged many forests in Romania in recent years, the authorities are planning to revive areas stripped of their vegetation by planting millions of saplings.“Let’s reforest the country,” an initiative of the Environment Ministry, plans to plant around 26 million saplings in November alone, mainly in areas worst affected …