Press Review - January 30, 2019

01.30.2019 By Oana Gavrila

Antitrust Body Looking Into Interbank Rates

Romania's antitrust body has been looking into interbank interest rates since the beginning of the year, institution chief Bogdan Chiritoiu confirmed Tuesday.

Chiritoiu said the antitrust body was looking into bank practices to see whether hikes are natural consequences of the government's surprise bank tax or there is also foul play involved.

He said nine banks have been under antitrust investigation since last year, but the inquiry did not target money market operations and interbank rates.

Tariceanu Considers Running for President

Calin Popescu Tariceanu, leader of junior coalition party ALDE, said he is willing to run in the presidential election due later this year but has not yet reached a firm decision.

ALDE and the ruling Social Democrat Party have not yet reached an agreement on whether to run together or separately in upcoming elections for the European Parliament.

Asked whether he's decided on running for president later this year, Tariceanu told reporters the party is currently focusing on preparing EP elections and although he is willing to run for president, now was not the time to discuss that.

Former PM Mihai Tudose Quits Ruling Party, Joins Pro Romania

Former Romanian prime minister Mihai Tudose said Tuesday he resigned from the country’s ruling Social Democrat Party (PSD) and will join the Pro Romania party, led by another former social democrat prime minister, Victor Ponta.

Tudose said the current PSD uses personal agendas to dictate the country’s agenda.

He added that attempts to bring democracy into political decisions taken by the party are destined to fail, due to the current party leadership.

Tudose was known lately as one of the party’s rebels, publicly supporting a failed September 2018 attempt to dismiss party leader Liviu Dragnea.

The former PSD Braila leader served as prime minister between June 2017 and January 2018, resigning following disagreements with the party leadership.

Ponta's Pro Romania party previously recruited former defense minister Adrian Tutuianu, who was ousted by the ruling party last year following the emergence of recording in which he criticized the party's leadership.

President Urges Government to Draft Realistic State Budget

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis called on the government Tuesday to come up with a realistic state budget plan for 2019.

Iohannis said responsible governing entails efficient and coherent solutions to economic problems, whereas the ruling Social Democrat Party is constantly seeking to place blame on multinationals and the central bank to cover its incompetence.

“It is unacceptable that it's the end of January and the government has presented no budget plan to give the economy an outlook for the current year. I urge the government to draft a realistic budget for 2019, built on credible data,” Iohannis said.

The government is expected to discuss a budget draft in a meeting Thursday and send it to Parliament for approval early February. Finance minister Eugen Teodorovici said Tuesday the 2019 state budget is based on a projected economic growth of 5.5% and targets a deficit of 2.55%.