9 December 2018, UPDATE

A round-up of todays news.

Newsroom, 09.12.2018, 18:40

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.