A review of the headline-grabbing events of the past week in Romania
Romania participates in the first European summit without Great Britain
Convening in Brussels for the first time in more than 40 years without the representative of Great Britain, the EU leaders have announced that they will not start any talks unless London triggers article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which sanctions its leaving the EU. Once the article is triggered, the divorce between the UK and the EU decided following the June 23 referendum is likely to be painful. The conditions regarding Britain’s access to the single market are going to be drastic. At present, a great number of Europeans, Romanians included, are living and working in Great Britain. London has received a firm message that unless it observes the free movement of labor force, it should say goodbye to the single market.
Attending the summit in Brussels, the Romanian President Klaus Iohannis pointed out that, in its negotiations with Great Britain, Bucharest will act in the interest of its citizens: “The UK will comply over this period with the principle of the free movement of citizens and the rights of European workers. I have received confirmation of that personally from PM Cameron. Therefore, I can assure the Romanian community living and working in Great Britain that Romania will attach utmost importance to defending their interests in the negotiations with Great Britain.”
President Iohannis invited the PM Dacian Cioloş, the governor of the national bank, Mugur Isărescu, and the leaders of the parliamentary parties on Monday for a second round of consultations on the situation created by the Brexit. During the talks, the Romanian President will propose the setting up of a working group that should assess the impact of the Brexit on Romania, identify the measures required in this context as well as the opportunities that might appear for Romania. The first round of consultations was held on June 24.
The Brexit impact on Romania’s monetary market
After Britain’s pro-Brexit vote, Romania’s monetary market was faced with an almost imperceptible shock, which was more emotional in nature, said the national bank governor Mugur Isărescu: “Moves on the monetary and currency market in Romania were of lesser scale than in other cases. I’d say they were insignificant”.
Governor Isărescu pointed out, though, that according to both the economic theory and practice, deep uncertainty sometimes paralyzes the actions of the market players. That is why one cannot say that, in the long run, the impact could not be bigger. Under these circumstances, the central bank will change its approach.
Here is governor Isărescu back at the microphone: “Uncertainty is high and not only in Romania, but also across Europe and the world, and it was increased by Britain’s vote. As a consequence, our approach will become more practical. We will see how things will develop and we will act according to the means at our disposal.”
NATO command opens in Bucharest
On Friday Bucharest saw the opening of NATO’s Multinational Division Southeast headquarters. On the occasion, President Klaus Iohannis said Romania would remain a credible ally and a security pole in the region. Besides this multinational command, we recall that Bucharest also hosts a NATO Force Integration Unit, which adds up to another 5 such units on the eastern flank in Bulgaria, Poland and the 3 Baltic states. The NATO command structures in Romania have a major role within the effort of improving the Alliance’s capability to successfully respond to present and future challenges. According to President Iohannis, these structures facilitate the deployment of the allied forces in the region for collective defense purposes, by ensuring vital connection between the NATO and national forces.
Romania condemns the attack in Istanbul
The Romanian President and Government have firmly condemned the terrorist attack perpetrated early this week on the Ataturk airport in Istanbul, which killed more than 40 and wounded over 200.
The government spokesman, Liviu Iolu, said: “The PM Dacian Cioloş has conveyed a message of condolence to the Turkish prime minister in which he condemns the attack and underlines the need to remain firm in the joint effort of fighting such acts of terror”.
At the same time, the rapid reaction unit within the crisis cell of the Romanian Foreign Ministry has been activated, and the Romanian Embassy in Ankara and Romania’s General Consulate in Istanbul have been in permanent contact with the Turkish authorities, being ready to provide expert consular assistance to the Romanians who might be in difficulty.
Measures to cut through red tape in Romania
A reason for concern in Romanian society, red tape has come under the focus of the Romanian technocratic Government’s attention. An emergency ordinance passed on Tuesday introduces, for the first time in Romania, the possibility to pay certain duties and fees by means of bank card. This is a popular measure that could do away with queuing. The government also abrogated the stamp duty required for issuing documents such as an ID card. Another measure allows for the sending of copies of ID cards by e-mail. Citizens will no longer need to notarize their ID copies and only the ‘true copy‘ procedure will be used. At the same time, institutions will request and submit among themselves criminal record certificates. Therefore, citizens will no longer have to queue at various desks to obtain such certificates as it has happened so far.
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