Press Review - March 14, 2018

03.14.2018 By Oana Gavrila

Romania Inflation Rate Climbs to 4.7% in February

Romanian consumer prices accelerated further in February, to an annual rate of 4.7%, from an annual rate of 4.3% in January, data from the country's statistics board showed Tuesday.

This is the highest inflation rate Romania has seen in five years.

Compared with January, consumer prices grew 0.3% in February, the data showed.

Compared with February 2017, food prices grew 3.74%, non-food prices grew 6.27%, and service prices grew 2.92%.

Early February, Romania's central bank revised its inflation forecast upwards to 5% from 3.9% for the first two quarters of the year and to 3.5% for the end of the year, from a previous projection of 3.2%. The central bank maintains its inflation target of 1.5%-3.5% for 2018.

Iasi Deputy Mayor Sues Social Democratic Party Over His Recent Ousting

Iasi deputy mayor Gabriel Harabagiu, recently ousted from the ruling Social Democratic Party, has sued the party for wrongful exclusion and said he would file criminal charges against the signatories of the exclusion decision.

Harabagiu said he petitioned the local court to suspend the document excluding him from the party saying it was abusive. He said he was denied a right to defend himself.

Harabagiu was excluded from the party along with city mayor Mihai Chirica and another local official, Sorin Iacoban.

Chirica also sued the party recently for withdrawing all his political positions a year ago.

Justice Laws Commission Meets Wednesday

The parliamentary commission working to amend justice laws meets Wednesday for the first time this year to debate the presumption of innocence and changes to the criminal code.

Commission president Florin Iordache said earlier this year debates would be resumed once the Constitutional Court issues rulings on all challenges to the justice laws.

Fire Breaks Out at Turceni Power Plant

A major fire broke out Tuesday evening at the Turceni power plant from an electrical panel, local emergency services said.

No one was injured.

Firefighters managed to put out the fire in seven hours. Police opened an investigation to establish the cause of the fire.

The Turceni power plant is part of energy holding CE Oltenia and is the largest coal-fired power plant in Romania.