February 3, 2023

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 03.02.2023, 13:55

Gas. Romanian president Klaus
Iohannis today made an address in Baku in the presence of his Azeri counterpart
Ilham Aliyev and the European
energy commissioner Kadri Simson in the official opening of the ministerial
meeting of the Advisory Council of the Southern Gas Corridor. In the two years
since becoming operational, the Corridor has demonstrated its strategic
importance for Europe’s energy security and is becoming even more important
now, when Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has drastically changed
the geopolitical context, especially in the field of energy, said the Romanian
president. He also spoke about Romania’s involvement in ensuring European
energy security, which can be achieved by expanding cooperation with regional
partners and diversifying the sources and routes of transport for the energy
resources. Romania is an important producer of hydrocarbons in Europe and
intends to develop this role with the help of the gas deposits discovered in
the Black Sea, Johannis also said. Also today, during the president’s two-day
visit to Azerbaijan, Romania’s and Azerbaijan’s state-owned natural gas
companies, Romgaz and SOCAR, are signing a new one-year contract from April.

Summit. EU accession candidate Ukraine is today
hosting a summit with European representatives, a powerful symbol, according
to the Commission, for the support the 27 in the face of unjustified
aggression of Russia. The president of the European Commission Ursula von
der Leyen arrived in Kyiv on Thursday together with the EU foreign policy chief
Josep Borrell and around 15 European commissioners. The president of the
European Council Charles Michel is also expected, for talks aiming mainly at the
steps towards the accession of Ukraine to the European Union, a difficult
process which Kyiv wants to speed up. Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky said
his country deserved to start accession talks this year, but some EU leaders
believe the accession process may take decades. Ukraine is in any case to receive
substantial support from the European Union. A first meeting between Ursula von
der Leyen and Volodymyr Zelensky already ended with optimistic statements. The good
news announced by the European Commission president refers to Ukraine’s
accession to a number of European programmes and a proposal to extend a waiver
on customs duties on all Ukrainian exports for another year. Moreover, Ukraine
will soon be able to apply for funding for various types of projects and a
15-point action plan was agreed for Ukraine’s access to the European single
market.

Tax. The National Liberal Party, in
the ruling coalition, issued a statement saying it firmly opposed the proposal
of the Social Democratic Party, also in government, to levy a 1% tax on the
turnover of big companies, saying this surcharge may lead to a rise in prices. We
will not support the increase or introduction of new taxes or duties that may place
a further burden on an economic environment that is already facing problems,
said the Liberals in the statement. According to the Social Democrats, a
solidarity tax would see big companies pay a profit tax of at least 1% of their
turnover, as do all small companies in Romania. They are also saying that the
tax should be applied because many Romanian companies declare their real
profits, while others find ways to pay less tax by declaring lower profits.

Culture.
Two well-known international actors, John Malkovich and Isabella Rossellini
will come this year to Timişoara, when this western Romanian city is holding
the title of European Capital of Culture. The two actors will perform at the
Mihai Eminscu National Theatre, Malkovich in June in the show Infernal Comedy,
while Rossellini at the end of November in Darwin’s Smile. (CM)