14th May 2012
Victor Ponta’s new government got off on the right foot last week by making clear that its economic policy will continue to be framed within the programme agreed between Romania and the EU, World Bank, and IMF. The IMF programme sets out what Romania needs to do, both in terms of fiscal consolidation and structural […]
14th May 2012
I very recently took part in the launch of a new book covering the most remarkable chapter in the history of relations between Britain and Romania. Professor Costel Coroban has researched and presented the extraordinary story of the Scottish women’s ambulance corps (known as the Grey Partridges because of the colour of their uniforms). This […]
23rd April 2012
I returned last week from Bucovina, in the far north of Romania, where I spent Orthodox Easter with my family, my godson and his brother and parents, who were visiting from the UK. There can be few better places in the world to spend Easter than among the fabled painted monasteries of Bucovina. Here five […]
4th April 2012
Mihai Razvan Ungureanu’s new Business Advisory Council looks very similar to the Business Advisory Group that meets every quarter with David Cameron in Downing Street – a small group of the country’s leading business men and women advising the Prime Minister on the big issues facing the country today. It’s the right format, because the […]
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28th March 2012
This week the Bucharest Stock Exchange established a partnership with the largest financial market in the world – the London Stock Exchange. When the UK’s Trade and Investment Minister Lord Green met the Foreign Investors Council in Bucharest earlier this month, one of the participants, Adrian Rosca of Chemco, made the far-sighted proposal that Romania […]
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21st March 2012
Britain is a trading nation. In most markets in the world – Asia, Africa, America, and the Middle East – the UK holds a disproportionately large share of inward investment and exports. But not, unfortunately, in central and eastern Europe. For whatever reason UK companies still lag behind their German, French and Austrian competitors in […]
8th March 2012
Today I opened the new service centre of Stanleybet, one of the most established British investors in Romania and one that is now expanding its operations here. Stanleybet has chosen Romania from the eight countries in which it operates as the location for its service centre, dealing with customers in Italy, Germany and Cyprus. Why? […]
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17th February 2012
The media are reporting today that the new Prime Minister Mihai Razvan Ungureanu has said the Government should make less use of Emergency Ordinances. This would be welcomed by British investors in Romania. One of the most common concerns I hear from British companies is the need for more predictability in the legislative environment. The […]
10th February 2012
Romania gets a good report on the battle against corruption in the latest assessment by the Commission. Deservedly so. The last few months have seen important steps forward. Verdicts have been reached in high-level corruption cases. The Civil Code is in force and working. New rules have been put in place for appointing judges to […]
9th February 2012
The Universities of Oxford and Cambridge have a long record in educating British Prime Ministers. William Gladstone, Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair all studied at Oxford. In fact, from the first – Robert Walpole – to the last – David Cameron – 41 of Britain’s 55 Prime Ministers went to Oxford or Cambridge. In recent years […]
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