December 19, 2015

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 19.12.2015, 12:05

Romania’s state and social
security budget law has been promulgated by president Klaus Iohannis. The
fields that will get the highest amounts next year are education, research,
health and national security. The 5% pension growth was also provided for in
the budget. The budget is based on a deficit of 3% of the GDP and an economic
growth rate of 4%. Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos has admitted that the
government took into consideration the draft budget sketched by the previous
government and has given assurances that the money will be managed in a
transparent, effective and cautious manner.

According to World Bank
estimates, the number of migrants this year will be the highest ever recorded,
exceeding already 250 million. Fast developing countries have turned into
magnets for the inhabitants of other parts of the world. In Brussels, where he
attended the winter European Council meeting, Romanian PM Dacian Ciolos stated
that Romania is interested in the control of this migration flow and,
implicitly, in maintaining its Schengen accession prospects. He announced the
setting up of a new European coast guard and border security structure and
added that although Romania stands by the other member states in this matter, it does not as yet take
into account the potential set refugee quotas until the EU proves it can
control this migration flow effectively.

The Minister Delegate for
Relations with Romanians Abroad, Dan Stoenescu, attended on Friday events marking
25 years of activity of the Romanian Community in Serbia. On the occasion, the
Romanian official voiced gratitude for the activity carried out by the
Community towards protecting the Romanians’ rights in fields that are vital for
the national identity. The minister delegate has reaffirmed the Romanian
state’s determination to collaborate with the Serbian one for the preservation
and development of Romanian identity, as well as the importance of supporting
the projects developed and carried out by the Romanian community.

The UN Security Council has
unanimously adopted a resolution regarding peace negotiations between the power
and the opposition in Syria. The document calls on the UN Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon to bring together representatives of the Syrian government and
opposition to start official negotiations on an urgent political transition
process. The aim is to actually start negotiations in early January 2016. For
almost five years now, Syria has been devastated by a terrible conflict, which
has claimed over 250,000 lives and has forced millions of people to flee the
country.

Moscow believes that the
deployment of the anti-missile defense system in eastern Europe, along the
border between NATO and Russia is an offense and refuses to accept the
explanation provided by the US and Romania with regard to the strictly
defensive nature of the shield. Recently, the Kremlin has announced it has the
necessary means to pierce through this protection system, which couldn’t face a
large number of missile anyway. On Friday, the anti-missile shield in Deveselu,
eastern Romania, became functional and is to be rendered fully operational by
July 2016. The US Ambassador to
Bucharest stated on the occasion that the anti-missile system was designed to
deal with threats coming from outside Europe, and it by no means targeted
Russia.

The US President Barack Obama
has urged his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan to take measures and ease tension
with Iraq, especially by pulling out the Turkish troops from that country. On
Tuesday, Baghdad called for a complete pull out of the Turkish soldiers from
its territory. The US President has hailed, however, Turkey’s contribution to
the military coalition that is fighting against the Islamic State Jihadists.
The foreign ministers of the countries that make up the Arab League are to
convene on December 24th to analyse the deployment of Turkish troops
in Iraq.

The Romanian national women’s
handball team was defeated on Friday by the Norwegian squad, 35-33, in the
semifinals of the World Championship underway in Denmark. On Sunday, the
Romanian team will play against Poland, hoping to win the bronze. Romania is the only country that has participated in all World Championship
editions held since 1957. The national team won gold in 1962 and silver in 1973
and 2005 respectively.