December 16, 2023 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 16.12.2023, 20:00

BUDGET The 2024 state budget and social security budget bills will be reviewed by Parliament’s specialist committees as of Monday. On Tuesday the draft laws will be discussed in a joint plenary
meeting, with a final vote expected on Wednesday. The budget is based on a 3.4%
economic growth rate, with investments amounting to 7% of GDP and the largest
appropriations in history for public education. PM Marcel Ciolacu dismissed
claims that the figures are over-optimistic, and voiced his confidence that budget
revenues would be raised from 27% to 30% of GDP. Under the bill, as of June 1
whole-economy minimum wages will be around EUR 745. Ciolacu also said he was
counting on better EU fund absorption, on improved tax collection and on
curbing tax evasion.

EU President Klaus Iohannis says the EU winter summit, which came to an
end in Brussels on Friday, will be remembered for the historic decision to
initiate accession negotiations with Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova. The
Romanian official encouraged the government of Moldova to step up the reforms
required for EU integration. As for Ukraine, the president of the European
Commission,Ursula von der Leyen, says
the decision was a promise kept and an investment in stability and security. EU
leaders also discussed the Israel-Hamas war, and condemned the continuing
hostilities with growing numbers of victims among Palestinian civilians in Gaza
and the West Bank. They argued that peace will only be achieved through a
two-state solution. A revision of the 2021-2027 Multi-Annual Financial
Framework, support for Ukraine, security and defence, migration and the future
EU Strategic Agenda were also discussed at the European Council meeting on
Thursday and Friday in Brussels.

COMMEMORATION In Timişoara (west) events were organised to mark 34 years
since the start of the 1989 Revolution which eventually led to the fall of
dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu’s communist regime. The rally in support of the
Reformed pastor László Tőkés, who was under political police (Securitate)
surveillance, turned into an uprising against the communist dictatorship. In
this context, the Revolution Memorial was opened to the public in Timişoara on
Saturday. The organisers prepared a complex programme, providing information on
the events of 1989. The commemoration also includes exhibitions, concerts, a
special meeting of the Local Council, and a commemorative march. In this
context, the Senate Speaker Nicolae Ciucă said in a message that the sacrifice
and courage of Timişoara’s heroes were the foundation of today’s free and
democratic Romania.

UNEMPLOYMENT Around 63% of the Romanians aged 15 to 64 had a job in
July-September, according to the National Statistics Institute. The
unemployment rate was 5%, but among youth aged 15 to 24 the rate reaches 22%. The
economic analyst Constantin Rudniţchi says the INS data is not very different
from previous reports and that the Romanian labour market is below its
potential. As for unemployment, he believes the overall trend is to look for
and to create jobs. Rudniţchi believes the most urgent issue to be the one
million Romanians who are outside the social and employment system, i.e. who
are neither in school nor employed.

AGREEMENT Romania, Turkey and Bulgaria intend to sign an agreement on
January 11, 2024, concerning a joint plan to remove mines floating in the Black
Sea as a result of the war in Ukraine, the Turkish defence minister Yasar Guler
said, according to Reuters. Officials from the 3 NATO member states met with
the authorities of Georgia, Poland and Ukraine in April 2022 to discuss the
issue, and also discussed the plan in a NATO meeting in Brussels in October and
in Ankara, last month. Yasar Guler explained that the initiative will only
include Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria for the time being, and the signing
ceremony will take place in Istanbul.

FAIR A special Christmas fair was opened at the Săvârşin Castle of
Romania’s late King Michael I. The organiser, Her Majesty Margareta, Custodian of
the Crown of Romania, said the event was intended to promote and preserve the
authenticity of Christmas traditions. It is something spiritual, and we often
forget that Christmas has grown a little too commercial. So we are glad to have
valuable people here, she said. On the estate in Arad County, western Romania,
a Royal Automobile Museum, a souvenir shop, the auto repair shop of King
Michael I and a Tea House are also opened to the public. During the event, carol
performances and handicraft exhibitions are also organised for the visitors. (AMP)