April 3, 2023

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 03.04.2023, 13:55

Visit. During talks in Bucharest with Romanian president
Klaus Iohannis, German chancellor Olaf Scholz reiterated his country’s support for
Romania’s accession to the Schengen area this year. Talks focused on the
security situation generated by Russia’s war in Ukraine, as well as ways to
enhance Romania’s and Germany’s support for the eastern partners, especially
the Republic of Moldova. Later today, Klaus Iohannis is hosting a three-party
meeting together with his Moldovan counterpart Maia Sandu and German chancellor
Olaf Scholz. The meeting is aimed at consolidating the support in all areas to
ensure the stability and security of the Republic of Moldova and support its
European future.

EU. EU
commissioner for jobs and social rights Nicolas
Schmit and EU commissioner for cohesion and reforms Elisa
Ferreira are in Romania to launch national programmes funded through
the EU’s cohesion policy and verify the results of EU-funded projects. The two
EU officials are also meeting Romanian prime minister Nicolae Ciucă,
the minister for European projects Marcel Boloş and labour minister Marius
Budăi before travelling to Iaşi for talks with the local authorities on
development projects in the region. Tomorrow, the two EU commissioners will
have talks with the authorities in Vaslui on a number of projects funded under
the cohesion policy, such as the Emergency County Hospital, local
infrastructure for pre-school education and a meat processing plant employing
vulnerable persons. The EU officials will also visit a centre for Ukrainian
refugees.

Legislation.
The bill on the abuse of office and special pensions today reached the Chamber
of Deputies, having previously been adopted by the Senate. The bill on the
abuse of office will be adopted by the deputies on Wednesday, with the
inclusion of a threshold of 9,000 lei (the equivalent of around 1,800 euros) for
a deed to be considered abuse of office and be punished with time in prison in
the case of public sector employees, promised the Social Democratic Party, in
the ruling coalition. The senators had established this threshold at 250,000
lei, a move strongly criticised by the
opposition. The bill on special pensions stipulates that no such pension is to
exceed incomes earned before retirement, bans the granting of more than one special
pension and introduces a maximum 15% tax on the part of the pension that is not
contribution-based.

Culture. The celebrated Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk,
who in 2006 won the Nobel prize for literature, is attending two cultural
meetings organised by the West University in Timişoara. Today, he is attending
a public debate on culture and literature and tomorrow he will be awarded the
Doctor Honoris Causa title from the academic community of West University in Timişoara.
Both events form part of the European Capital of Culture programme, with Timişoara
holding this title this year. Orhan Pamuk was born in 1952 in Istanbul, has
been writing for 30 years and his books have been translated into over 50
languages. (CM)