December 10, 2018 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 10.12.2018, 19:43

SCHENGEN – The European Parliament on
Tuesday is voting a new resolution calling for the admission of Romania and
Bulgaria into the Schengen area, following Monday’s talks. The European Union
Council is expected to take a final decision. At present both Romania and
Bulgaria are partially enforcing the Schengen acquis, with controls being
carried out on their external borders. The European Parliament has greenlit the
two countries’ Schengen accession in 2011 and has repeatedly confirmed its
decision. A decision has been postponed on multiple occasions due to opposition
concerning the lack of reforms in the field of the judiciary.

EUROPEAN COUNCIL – Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Thursday
and Friday is attending the European Council meeting in Brussels, and the
expanded format Euro Summit. According to the Presidency, the agenda of the
European Council includes budget negotiations post-2020, the internal market of
the union, migration management, fighting climate change, and combating racism
and xenophobia. Speaking on the future EU budget, the Romanian president will
plead for a speedy passing of the bill, specifying that Romania, as future
presidency holder in the first half of next year, will act to get significant
progress in negotiations. President Iohannis will also speak in support of
enhanced dialog regarding migration. At the Euro Summit, the head of state will
underline Romania’s support in the effort to consolidate the Economic and
Monetary Union.

VISIT – Romanian Custodian of the Crown, Princess Margaret, and her
husband Radu continue their public visit to the UK, which started Sunday. The
two attended on Monday a dinner in their honor, and on Tuesday they will meet
Queen Elisabeth II at Buckingham Palace. On Wednesday they are scheduled to
meet Prince Charles. On Sunday they were guests of honor at a remembrance in
the royal chapel in London, honoring Queen Marie and King Mihai I. This is the
first visit the princess makes to the UK since she took over as head of the
royal house of Romania. The visit comes in commemoration of the Romanian
Centennial and the commemoration of the end of WWI. The late King Mihai of
Romania, who died on December 5, 2017, at 96, was third cousin to Queen
Elisabeth.

BREXIT – British PM Theresa May on Monday postponed the House of Commons
vote on the Brexit agreement with the EU, admitting that the vote would fail at
this moment. In her Parliament address, Theresa May said the House of Commons
no longer has a majority to support the backstop mechanism for Northern Ireland
stipulated in the Brexit agreement. Previously, the EU Court of Justice decided
that the UK is free to unilaterally withdraw its notification of leaving the
EU. In early October, the Scottish Supreme Court announced it filed a motion
with the EU court to have issued a preliminary decision on the UK’s possibility
of revoking its decision to leave the community. Full Brexit is scheduled for
March 29, 2019.

GAC – Romania’s Minister Delegate for European Affairs, George Ciamba,
on Tuesday is attending the General Affairs Council meeting in Brussels. The
agenda for talks includes the multiannual financial framework, the presentation
of the joint agenda of the Romania-Finland-Croatia trio at the helm of the
European Council over January 1, 2019 – June 30, 2020, as well as preparations
for the European Council meeting of December 13-14, which will focus on the
multiannual financial framework for the 2021-2027 period, the single market,
foreign policy and economic and monetary union.

HANDBALL – The Romanian women’s handball team will play Spain on
Tuesday and Hungary on Wednesday in the 2018 European Championship group phase.
To secure qualification from one of the top two positions in the group tables,
Romania needs to win against Spain and Hungary. On Sunday, Romania lost to the
Netherlands, 29-24, in the first group phase fixture, its first defeat after
the wins against the Czech Republic, Germany and Norway.

(Translated by V. Palcu)