August 30, 2023 UPDATE

MEASURES - The European Commission is yet to present its conclusions following this week's talks with Romanian government representatives. According to EU sources, the plans and measures presented by Romanian ministers failed to convince the Commission they are enough to gap Romania's budget deficit. The proposals for postponing or modifying budget deficit targets were also met with skepticism, all the more so as the situation in Romania is fragile in this sector and Romania is the only EU Member State facing infringement procedures in this respect. The opposition in Bucharest claims the European Commission allegedly said no to increasing the budget deficit because it distrusted the reform promises of the current government. In turn, representatives of the business sector have told European Commission representatives that a number of red lines must be drawn with regard to the current fiscal measures promoted by Romanian lawmakers. Companies want all fiscal modifications to be postponed to January 2024 at the earliest, while the government should announce fiscal measures at least 6 months before they take effect in order to ensure predictability in the business sector.  

CREVEDIA EXPLOSIONS - 19 of the almost 60 people injured in Saturday's explosions in Crevedia have been discharged from hospital, and the condition of a few others has improved - according to the latest information provided by the Health Ministry. However, 9 of the injured are still in critical condition. Six are being treated in hospitals abroad, and three in Romania. No other deaths were reported besides the two reported immediately after the LPG station blast. Meanwhile the authorities continue the damage assessment. Data so far shows that, following the explosions followed by a fire, 11 houses were affected, 8 of which were completely destroyed. Intervention teams are present at the scene of the disaster, and the firefighters continue to cool some LPG tanks left in the area. The security perimeter was also extended, because two of the tanks have gas leaks. Meanwhile, prosecutors are collecting documents for several open criminal cases.

NETWORK - Prosecutors with the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) in cooperation with the Romanian Police have shut down a segment of an global computer network that infected hundreds of thousands of computers in dozens of countries with a view to accessing the finances of their users. According to investigators, the victims were usually sent links which, once accessed, uploaded viruses to their computers, allowing hackers to copy financial records. The administrators of this network were allegedly paid 50 mln EUR in ransoms by the victims over 2021-2023.

KOREA-ROMANIA RELATIONS - 2023 marks 15 years since the establishment of the Strategic Partnership between South Korea and Romania. During this time, economic relations have seen an exponential increase, the South-Korean Ambassador in Romania, HE Rim Kap-soo said in an interview during his visit to the headquarters of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation in Bucharest. As a result of intensified economic exchanges, two-way trade stood at 1.3 bln EUR last year. Last week, Seoul donated to Romania 81 pieces of lab equipment worth approximately 3.67 mln EUR, which will be used by the National Institute for Public Health. HE Rim Kap-soo explained this was a gesture of goodwill in light of the excellent cooperation between the two countries during the COVID-19 pandemic, when Romania offered Seoul 1.5 million doses of anti-COVID-19 vaccine. (LS & VP)