December 10, 2023 UPDATE

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 10.12.2023, 18:20

BUDGET – In Romania, the leaders of PSD and PNL will convene on Monday, in separate meetings, to give a final political vote on the draft budget for 2024. The leaders of the ruling coalition in Bucharest analyzed on Sunday in a meeting, the draft budget for next year. The meeting had been preceded by talks between the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister on the topic of a government order regarding some fiscal-budgetary provisions for next year. According to official sources, the prime minister wants the draft budget to be made public on Monday, and to be submitted to Parliament for debate on Thursday. The deadline for its adoption is December 22nd.

SCHENGEN – Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu has announced that Austria has a more flexible position as regards the Schengen area and it agrees with air borders being lifted for Romania. He added that Interior Minister Cătălin Predoiu has been tasked with continuing negotiations with his Austrian counterpart. The Senate Speaker Nicolae Ciucă said in turn that Romanias prospective Schengen accession is the result of the cooperation of all political forces in the country. He hailed the Austrian authorities’ recent flexibility on this matter and said that a decision is expected at the Justice and Home Affairs Council at the end of this month.

DIPLOMACY – The Romanian Foreign Minister, Luminiţa Odobescu, is participating on Monday, in Brussels, in the EU foreign ministers meeting, focusing on Russias aggression against Ukraine and the situation in Israel and Gaza. Also on Monday, Odobescu is taking part in the ministerial meeting of the Eastern Partnership, alongside the foreign ministers of the EU member states and counterparts from the partner states, namely, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. According to the Romanian Foreign Ministry, the meeting will provide the opportunity for an exchange of views on adjusting the Eastern Partnership, so as to fully capitalize on the potential of this format, which is relevant for strengthening the resilience of the states in the EU’s eastern neighborhood”. Also, the debates take place in the context of the European Commissions recommendation to open EU accession negotiations with the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine and to grant candidate status to Georgia.

GAZA — The Israeli army announced that its offensive in the Gaza Strip is close to its announced objective, that of destroying Hamas, after more than two months of fighting in which thousands of civilians have been killed. According to the Israeli Minister of Defense, Yoav Galant, it would take a month or two before Hamas is defeated. On the other hand, the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Phillippe Lazzarini has accused Israel of trying to force the people of Gaza into Egypt. According to the BBC, Philippe Lazzarini told an American newspaper that Israels policy of depriving the people of Gaza of humanitarian aid appears to be part of an expulsion plan. Earlier, the Israeli authorities rejected a similar accusation from the Jordanian government. The WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the war in Gaza is having a catastrophic impact on the healthcare system there and warned that workers in the system must carry out their activities in unimaginable conditions in a desperate effort to help civilians.

REFUGEES – At the end of October, over 4,200,000 Ukrainian refugees were on the European Union territory, benefiting temporary protection. Most of them, over 1,200,000, live in Germany, and there are over 960,000 in Poland. More than 142,000 Ukrainian refugees have found shelter in Romania, according to data from the Eurostat. The temporary protection offers the right of residence, access to the labor market and housing, medical and social assistance and guarantees access to education for children.

COUNCIL – The Romanian Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Florin Barbu, is participating in Brussels, in the Agriculture and Fisheries Council. According to a press release, the agenda of the meeting includes important topics for Romania, among which fishing possibilities in 2024, the market situation, new genomic techniques and the sustainable use of pesticides. (EE)