A round-up of today’s news.
Car registration. The Romanian authorities are closely following Italy's legislative changes regarding the cars belonging to foreign residents and registered in another country, the foreign ministry in Bucharest has said. The Romanian diplomatic mission in Rome and its consular offices around Italy are ready to act to prevent possible discrimination against Romanian citizens and provide consular assistance in case of abusive measures from the local authorities in the implementation of the new legal provisions, the ministry also says. On Saturday, Lodovic Orban, the leader of the Liberals, the main opposition party in Romania, has called on the government to take urgent action, saying that an amendment to the Italian traffic code came into force on 4th December that forbids Romanian citizens to drive cars registered in Romania if they have resided in Italy for more than 60 days. If found to violate this provision, their cars are confiscated, which is an act of discrimination by the Italian authorities, as Romanian citizens should be able to enjoy the same rights across the European Union.
Schengen. MEPs will debate on Monday and Tuesday a resolution calling on the Council of EU ministers to take a swift and affirmative decision on the accession of Bulgaria and Romania as fully-fledged members to the Schengen area. The European Parliament gave its green light for Bulgaria and Romania to join the Schengen area in in June 2011 and has reiterated its position several times following the legislative resolution. The final decision has to be made through a unanimous vote in the Council by EU ministers. Romania's and Bulgaria's accession to the free-movement Schengen area has been postponed repeatedly due to the opposition of several member states, who have invoked the lack of legal reforms.
Visit. Princess Margareta, the Custodian of the Crown of Romania, and her husband, Prince Radu, on Sunday began a 4-day public visit to Great Britain. They attended a blessing officiated at by reverend Peter Galloway at the Savoy Chapel in London dedicated to Romania and Queen Marie and King Michael I. The Savoy Chapel is the home of the Order of the British Empire, of which King Michael was the oldest member, having received its Grand Cross and Collar in 1936 from King George VI. On Monday, Princess Margareta and Prince Radu will attend a dinner in their honour at the Travellers Club in London. On Tuesday, they will be received by Queen Elizabeth at the Buckingham Palace and on Wednesday will be received by Prince Charles. This is Margareta's first visit to the UK as head of the Royal House of Romania. Her trip is meant as a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the creation of the Romanian nation state and the end of WWI and ahead of Romania's taking over the presidency of the Council of the European Union. The former sovereign Michael I, who died a year ago at the age of 96, was a third cousin of Queen Elizabeth II.
Regional project. The mayors of four cities in Romania, Timisoara, Cluj-Napoca, Arad and Oradea, have signed a partnership called the Western Alliance by which they hope to attract European funds for joint projects straight from Brussels. They plan to create an inter-regional development association aimed at improving mobility between the four cities by stepping up the building of the Transylvania motorway, the construction of Via Carpatia and the Timisoara-Belgrade motorway, building a high-speed railway connection between the four cities, and supporting labour mobility and administrative digitisation. The mayor of Cluj, the former prime minister Emil Boc, says the initiative, which may benefit 1.5 million people, aims to bring prosperity to communities and determine young people to stay in Romania. The Western Alliance is open to other municipalities from around Romania.
EU. The Romanian foreign minister Teodor Melescanu will attend on Monday a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council. The Council's agenda features topical issues such as the western Balkans, Iran, Venezuela and the European Union's Cooperation with the African Union. Also, the EU foreign ministers will have an informal discussion during a working lunch with the Ukrainian foreign minister Pavlo Klimkin about the latest developments in his country.
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