24 November, 2016 UPDATE

EU to support financially Ukraines anticorruption programme and public administration reform./Romanian MEP Siegfried Muresan is appointed European Parliament rapporteur for the European Unions 2018 budget.

Newsroom, 24.11.2016, 12:15

EU-Ukraine summit.
The European Union will provide Ukraine with 15 million euros to support its
anticorruption programme and more than 100 million euros for the reform of its
public administration. This is one of the decisions taken on Thursday at the
EU-Ukraine summit held in Brussels. Another subject discussed was Ukraine’s
association agreement which is yet to be ratified following its rejection by
the Dutch voters in a referendum in April. The president of the European
Council Donald Tusk said his main goal is to find a solution for the
ratification process to be finalised at the European Council meeting in
December. Also on Thursday, Ukraine called on the European Union to maintain
sanctions against Russia until the latter fully implements the Minsk agreement.

Appointment. The budget committee of the
European Parliament on Thursday appointed the MEP Siegfried Muresan a repporteur
for the European Union’s 2018 draft budget. Muresan is the first Romanian MEP
to occupy this position. It is a very important and difficult task to
negotiate a budget of 155-160 billion euros, but I will carry it out with great
responsibility, he said. Muresan explained that it is important to have
continuity and provide funding for the European Union’s economic growth
priorities, with emphasis on infrastructure, research, innovation, youth
employment and the consolidation of the European citizens’ security. The
European Parliament’s rapporteur for the Union’s annual budget lays down
Parliament’s political priorities for the European budget and negotiates the
final version of the annual budget, on Parliament’s behalf, with the presidency
of the European Council and the European Commission.

National Day
parade. More than 3,000 military and experts from the defence and interior
ministries and the Romanian Intelligence Service, as well as 300 pieces of
technical equipment, including 50 planes, will take part in a military parade
held in Bucharest to celebrate Romania’s National Day on the 1st of
December. The Romanian military will be joined by troops from a number of
allied and partner states: the UK, Italy, Germany, the Republic of Moldova,
Poland, Slovakia, Spain and the US. Celebrations will be held across the
country and abroad, including in theatres of operation.

Romania Defence Council meeting. The country’s
Supreme Defence Council will meet next Tuesday in Bucharest, the president’s
spokeswoman Madalina Dobrovolschi has announced. Talks will focus on the
measures taken by Romania to apply the sanctions adopted internationally for
the period October 2015 and September 2016. The Council will also discuss the
long and medium term strategy with respect to Romania’s relationship with the
Republic of Moldova, a country with a majority Romanian-speaking population.
Other issues to be tackled include the plan for the deployment of Romanian
troops to foreign missions and operations in 2017 and the implementation of the
country’s national defence strategy for the 2015-2019 period.

Turkey-EU. The European Parliament
on Thursday requested the freezing of Turkey’s membership talks over what it
described as disproportionate repressive measures after a failed military
coup in July. In a resolution voted by a large majority, MEPs urge for the
temporary halt to Turkey’s accession process, which began in 2005. According to
France Presse news agency, the vote, while non-binding, risks adding even more strain
on the Union’s relationship with the authorities in Ankara. Recently, Turkish
president Recep
Tayyip Erdogan said the vote has no value at all, no matter its result. (Trans. by: C. Mateescu)