Ukraine's leading English-language newspaper since 1995

Nov 4 - Romania's opposition rejected prime minister-designate Lucian Croitoru and his proposed cabinet on Wednesday, extending a political crisis that has put a 20 billion euro ($29.49 billion) IMF-led rescue package at risk. The International Monetary Fund has demanded fast approval of the 2010 budget as a requirement for it to extend a third, 1.5 billion euro loan tranche to the Black Sea state.

But it said it may show flexibility on other commitments, including reforms to the public pension system and the creation of a unified public sector wage scheme. Representatives from the Fund are on a mission to Bucharest that will end on Nov. 9. Below are some of the main pending tasks for Romania. PASSAGE OF 2010 BUDGET Romania needs to approve a 2010 budget with a deficit target of 5.9 percent of Gross Domestic Product by Dec. 10. Analysts say passing a budget could be difficult before the expected second round of the hotly-contested presidential poll on Dec. 6 as politicians await the outcome. However, the powerful leftist opposition said it would support a speedy approval of the bill and ask for a parliament decision to allow the interim government to propose a draft. 2009 BUDGET DEFICIT Romania has to meet a deficit target of 7.3 percent of GDP this year. It ran a budget deficit of 5.1 percent in the first nine months, below the IMF-agreed quarterly target. But Romania has a long history of spending jumps in the fourth quarter due to poor spending discipline. The government may be hoping for a small pickup in tax receipts in the fourth quarter as it expects recession to bottom out, but it is struggling to implement austerity measures, including an unpopular 10-day unpaid leave for state workers. FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY LAW The government must send a fiscal responsibility law to parliament for approval by Nov. 30. The law should set up multi-year budget goals, set limits for revisions throughout the year, lay out rules to control spending, public debt and deficit targets, as well as create a fiscal watchdog of independent experts. PENSION REFORM Romania's creaking pension system must be overhauled by the end of the year to ensure medium-term sustainability. The outgoing government had the reform package ready to send to parliament for speedy approval, but then collapsed. Trade unions and opposition parties criticised the bill as unfair to women because it matches the retirement age for women and men, and accused the government of attempting to slash pensions, already very low compared with the rest of the EU. The issue could affect pre-election support from trade unions representing groups such as the military or the police, whose high pensions are likely to be scrapped under the new system. SINGLE-WAGE BILL Parliament cleared a bill setting rules for state sector pay hikes in order to make the wage bill predictable and sustainable and to slash huge bonuses, an informal way to boost discretionary pay in the past. But the Liberal Party, the second-largest opposition grouping, has launched a challenge at the Constitutional Court against it. The court has postponed a ruling until Dec. 9. ARREARS The government must not accumulate new arrears in funds owed to the state budget by local authorities and state-controlled firms, a tough goal and one that was not met in the first half of the year. For this, the government needs to strengthen control over state-owned companies and local administrations.