December 15, 2022 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 15.12.2022, 19:51

JHA – The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, expressed, on Thursday, her disappointment with last week’s vote in the Justice and Home Affairs Council of the EU, following which Romania and Bulgaria were not admitted to the Schengen Area. The European Union has proven, in time, that it can remove any barriers and bring people together – said Roberta Metsola in her speech at the beginning of the Brussels meeting of the European Council. She also stated that the Union could do this even now, if it had the courage to take political decisions to maintain the European construction. According to official sources, quoted by Radio Romania, President Klaus Iohannis thanked for the strong support of the European Parliament and the overwhelming majority of member states. On the sidelines of the Council, President Iohannis discussed with community leaders, to explain them the unfair situation in which Romania finds itself and the need to find a solution for admission to the Schengen Area.

OECD – Romania submitted, on Thursday, at the Paris-based headquarters of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the initial memorandum regarding its accession to this structure. The document was handed to the Secretary General of the OECD, Mathias Cormann, by Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă, who is on a working visit to the French capital. Currently, the OECD has 38 member states, representing established democracies and consolidated economies. Together, the OECD member states provide about 70% of the global production and trade and 90% of the worlds foreign direct investments. The OECD facilitates the exchange of experience and good practices between countries and makes available to them its own data, analyzes and expertise regarding the establishment of public policies.

Protests – The Federation of Free Trade Unions in Romanian Education continues its protest actions started last week. The employees are dissatisfied with the authorities failure to grant the pay increase for working conditions and overtime. At the same time, they are asking for the index-linking of salaries to cover the inflation rate. On Thursday, the education trade unionists protested in front of the prefects offices in several cities of the country, including Galati (southeast) and Vaslui (east). On the other hand, in Bucharest, policemen and penitentiary workers took to the streets in front of the Finance Ministry. They request the full payment of outstanding salary differences, the updating of food and equipment standards, as well as the indexation of military pensions and salaries.

Swimming – The Romanian swimmer David Popovici ranked fourth, on Thursday, with a time of 45 sec and 64/100, in the 100 m freestyle final of the World Short Course Swimming Championships in Melbourne. Popovici, the world champion in the Olympic pool event, was only seven hundredths of a second away from the bronze medal, but he set a new junior world record, breaking the one set on Wednesday, in the semi-finals (45 sec and 91/100). He will also participate, in Melbourne, in the 200m freestyle, after failing to pass the heats in the 400m freestyle. Also on Thursday and also in Melbourne, another Romanian, Andrei Anghel, qualified for the semifinals of the 50m backstroke event, after being recorded with the seventh time of the series, 23 sec and 12/100. Romania is represented by three swimmers at the World Championships in Australia.

Energy – The leadership of the National Energy Regulatory Authority met, on Thursday, with the representatives of the electricity suppliers in Romania, to explain them how the new price cap law is applied. The law will enter into force on January 1 next year. The suppliers claim that almost 9 million Romanians should submit applications to benefit from capped tariffs, while the Authority says that the number is much lower. The institution points out that each customer can automatically benefit, without any other formalities, from the capping of bills for one single household, if they do not exceed the consumption levels provided by law. (LS)