December 11, 2024 UPDATE
A roundup of local and international news.
Newsroom, 11.12.2024, 19:56
Parliament. Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis on Wednesday signed a decree to summon the new Parliament, the president’s office said. The new Parliament will meet for the first time on 20th December, following parliamentary elections on 1st December. The leaders of the pro-European coalition, made up of the Social Democratic Party, the National Liberal Party, the Save Romania Union, the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania and the group of national ethnic minorities again met on Wednesday for further talks on the make-up of the future government, political sources have said. The latter also said the future government may have 16 ministries and fewer under-secretaries of state and that its membership is to be finalised this week. The four parties and the national minorities, which together hold about two-thirds of the seats in Parliament, will work on a common governing programme based on development and reforms aimed at reducing public spending and bureaucracy in the public sector. They also agreed to increase the current pace of investments and reforms as part of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. With respect to the presidential elections, the pro-European parties have pledged to support a possible common candidate.
Schengen. The full accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen area from January 1 will be on the agenda of Thursday’s meeting of the EU Justice and Home Affairs Council. Austria has recently announced that it will give up its right of veto that blocked the Schengen accession of the two countries with land borders as well. The argument was that the Austrian authorities’ insistence on combating illegal immigration led to a decrease in the number of migrants intercepted near the border of Austria with Hungary, the most frequent entry route into the country. The only uncertain thing is the maintenance, after January 1, of controls at the land borders between Hungary and Romania and between Romania and Bulgaria for a period of at least six months. These controls would be necessary to mitigate a possible change in migratory routes and to prevent any serious threat to public order and internal security. We remind you that Romania and Bulgaria partially joined Schengen with air and sea borders at the end of March this year.
Inflation. The annual inflation rate went up in November to 5.11%, from 4.67% in October, as the price of food and non-food products rose by over 5%, and that of services by over 7%, according to data published by the National Institute of Statistics. The National Bank of Romania has revised upwards to 4.9%, from 4% previously, its inflation forecast for the end of 2024. The national bank also expects the inflation rate to reach 3.5% at the end of 2025.
NATO. Romania remains firmly committed to its Euro-Atlantic path, and the decision to make our own contribution to strengthening security in the region remains solid, said the country’s Defence Minister, Angel Tîlvăr. Together with the United States ambassador in Romania, Kathleen Kavalec, he visited the Mihail Kogălniceanu air base (in the south-east), where he met a delegation made up of defence attachés from NATO countries accredited in Bucharest and allied military stationed at this base.
Moldova. The pace partnership between the Republic of Moldova and NATO “contributed to creating a safer environment for citizens, strengthening the army’s defence capacities and the resilience of our society in general”, said the Moldovan president Maia Sandu on Tuesday during a visit to the NATO headquarters. She met NATO secretary general Mark Rutte to discuss regional security, hybrid threats and the need for joint action to protect democracies in the region. Speaking to the North Atlantic Council, NATO’s principal decision-making body, Maia Sandu emphasised her country’s efforts to maintain peace and stability while a war is being waged near its borders and to consolidate its resilience to hybrid threats, a statement from the Moldovan president’s office reads. Maia Sandu also met the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels, with the latter announcing support worth 60 million euros for the Republic of Moldova for the reform of its justice system and economic stability.
