December 9, 2022 UPDATE

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 09.12.2022, 19:46

Schengen.
Romania’s and Bulgaria’s accession to the Schengen free-movement area may be
included on the agenda of the European Council meeting next week, at the
request of the president of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, political sources in
Bucharest said. Ylva Johansson, the European Commissioner for Internal Affairs
said she was convinced she would secure the accession of Romania and Bulgaria
during her current mandate and that she would make this a priority. This comes after
Austria blocked Romania’s Schengen entry on Thursday at the EU Justice and Home
Affairs Council meeting.

Ambassador.
The Romanian foreign ministry announced that after Austria rejected Romania’s
Schengen accession, Romania’s ambassador to Vienna, Emil Hurezeanu, was
recalled for consultations by foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu. The embassy will
be headed by an interim charge d’affairs. According to diplomatic procedure,
the decision is an indication of Romania’s firm disagreement with Austria’s
position.

Budget. Romania’s
state and social security budget bills were approved by the government and have
been forwarded to Parliament for discussion. The ministries set to receive more
funding include defence, agriculture, transport, development and education.
Less money than this year will be earmarked for the ministries for energy, the judiciary
and public healthcare. The two bills also stipulate a 10% increase in public sector
salaries, a 12.5% increase in pensions and an increase of the national minimum
wage to approximately 610 euros per month. The Alliance for the Union of
Romanians, an ultranationalist party in opposition, already announced it would
table amendments because it disagreed with the budget bill.

Workers.
100,000 non-EU citizens will be given access to the Romanian labour market next
year. The figure decided by the government is similar to that approved for this
year, and it is intended to cover the labour deficit in sectors like
constructions, hospitality, protection and guard services, road transport and
trade.

Energy.
The European Union will invest over 600 million euros under the Connecting
Europe Facility in eight cross-border energy infrastructure projects in order
to meet the goal established in the RePowerEU plan and the European Green Deal,
according to a Commission statement. These will finance projects in areas such
as electricity, including one for smart electricity grids, CO2 networks,
underground gas storage and an offshore LNG terminal. Nine member states will
benefit, namely Romania, Belgium, Croatia, France, Ireland, Italy, Austria,
Poland and Slovenia, as well as Tunisia. The European Commissioner for Energy
Kadri Simson said the resilience of energy infrastructure is essential for the
security of EU’s supply and the bloc’s commitment to end imports of Russian gas
as soon as possible. (CM)