December 13, 2019 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 13.12.2019, 20:03

UK ELECTION – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Friday stated that he wanted to build a government of the people and to heal the wounds caused by the divisions over Brexit. In his speech, Johnson promised he would see Brexit achieved on January 31, 2020 and that he wanted the relation with the EU to be based on friendship and equality. The Prime Minister, whose party grabbed 365 of the total of 650 seats in the House of Commons, has congratulated everyone who contributed to securing the biggest Conservative win since the 80s. US President Donald Trump has congratulated Boris Johnson for his win. The White House leader has stated that Great Britain and the United States will now be able to strike a “massive” new trade deal post-Brexit.

LONDON – The status of the Romanian citizen in the UK remains subject to the same rules that were established by the previous governments, said on Friday for Agerpress the Romanian Ambassador to London Dan Mihalache, after the early parliamentary elections held one day before. Some 400,000 Romanians have registered for the settled status or for the pre-settled status so far. Previously, Romanias president Klaus Iohannis had stated that the result of the elections was very good for the Romanians living there.

BREXIT – The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, has given assurances that the negotiations on the future relation between the EU and the UK will not be concluded at any cost at the end of 2020, despite a very ambitious deadline. In turn, the EC president Ursula von der Leyen has said she is ready to start working, right after Brexit, on building as close a possible a relationship between the two parties. The German Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned that the EU will have a competitor at its door after the leaving of Great Britain, due to take place on January 31st. Also, the result of the elections in the UK creates the grounds for an orderly withdrawal of the country from the EU, by ratifying the exit agreement, said the Romanian presidential administration at the end of the European Council meeting in Brussels. On Thursday and Friday, the Romanian president Klaus Iohannis participated in the winter European Council and the Euro Summit.

GOVERNMENT – The Government in Bucharest will pay the state-owed debt to the Micula brothers, in order to avoid a deadlock at the Romanian Air Traffic Services Administration (ROMATSA). The debt was incurred following a court case concluded several years ago. The two business people won the trial at the Court of International Commercial Arbitration, and were due 84 million euros from the Romanian state. The total amount has reached 400 million euros, with added interest rates and penalties.

VISA WAIVER – The United States and the European Union have pledged to support the lifting of US visas for citizens from Bulgaria, Cyprus, Croatia and Romania, by including these countries in the Visa Waiver programme, an EU Council release reads. Access to the programme allows citizens to travel to the US for tourism or business for a period of up to 90 days without requiring a visa. As regards Romania, our country continues its efforts to join the programme. The Romania-US joint declaration adopted by Presidents Klaus Iohannis and Donald Trump on August 20, 2019, reiterates US support for Romanias efforts to become eligible for Visa Waiver admission, in line with the US legislative requirements.

EP – On Monday, the European Parliament will mark 30 years since the anti-communist revolution of 1989 in Romania. On the first day of a new plenary session in Strasbourg, the European Commission will give a statement, which will be followed by speeches by political leaders and MEPs. According to the official agenda posted on the parliaments webpage, a resolution on this topic will be voted on Thursday.

DEAL – On Friday, China announced a new trade deal with the US, which includes a phased reduction of the US customs duties on Chinese imports, FP reports. Also on Friday, Donald Trump wrote on social media “the penalty tariffs set for December 15th will not be charged because of the fact that we made the deal. We will begin negotiations on the phase two deal immediately, rather than waiting until after the 2020 election”, the US president wrote. The US and China, the worlds largest economies, have been at trade war for two years now, by introducing additional customs duties on products worth hundreds of billions of dollars.