February 10, 2024

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 10.02.2024, 13:55

ELECTIONS – The ruling
coalition wants to organize the local election on June 9, simultaneously with
the European Parliament election. Social-Democrats also want the national parliamentary
election to be held concurrently with the first or second round of the
presidential election. Social-Democrat leader and Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu
wants a clear timetable backed by the coalition. The opposition has criticized
the idea, saying it would refer a potential decision to the Constitutional
Court. AUR president George Simion says such a decision would breach
international recommendations. In turn, USR announced it will notify the Venice
Commission regarding the decision to merge the election less than six months
before the date of the vote. European Parliament elections, local elections,
parliamentary elections and presidential elections will be held in Romania in
2024.

FARMERS – The European
Commission on Friday adopted a financial assistance package worth 241 mln EUR
addressing Romanian farmers in the context of Russia’s war in Ukraine. The aid
will be disbursed until June 30 as direct grants and will not exceed 280
thousand EUR for each beneficiary. The measure addresses Romanian farmers, in
particular those who grow winter grain and rapeseed and who risk going
insolvent due to the difficulties the grain market is experiencing as a result
of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The measure is necessary, adequate and
proportional to remedy a serious disruption of the Romanian economy, the
European Commission argues. Romania was also allotted 34 mln EUR from the EU
Solidarity Fund to compensate damages incurred after the 2022 drought. The
funds were wired in December 2023, and Romania must implement this aid over the
next year and a half.

MOLDOVA – Moldovan
authorities have started examining the degree of compliance of national
legislation with regard to EU law. The first field under scrutiny will be the
judiciary, the deputy Prime Minister for European Integration, Cristina
Gherasimov has said. The Moldovan official believes the next four months will
consist of an evaluation of the EU legislation concerning other chapters as
well. According to experts, the European Integration Office must be rendered
operational as soon as possible in order to effectively interact with
institutions in Brussels and speed up the accession process. We recall the
Republic of Moldova applied for EU accession in March 2022 and was given EU
candidate status in June 2022. In December 2023, EU leaders decided to
officially launch EU accession talks with the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine.

BUDGET
REFORM – The European Parliament and individual EU Member States have reached
an agreement on Friday regarding a reform of the EU budget, designed to
guarantee a recovery of public finance while at the same time preserving
investment, AFP reports. After over two years of debates, the initiative is
criticized for its complexity and is rejected by left-wing politicians, who argue
it is meant to introduce austerity in Europe. The agreement is expected to
enable Member States to apply the new rules this year when drafting the
national budgets for 2025. The new regulations will help restore balance and
viability in the sector of public finance while at the same time advancing
structural reforms, promoting investment, fostering economic growth and
creating new jobs, the Belgian presidency of the EU Council informs. The reform
also seeks to overhaul the Stability Pact elaborated at the end of the 1990s,
which caps government deficit at 3% of the GDP and public debt at 60% of the
GDP. Considered too harsh, the framework was never truly observed and was
labeled obsolete. Debt-ridden countries in southern Europe such as France
insisted on making the system more flexible, while frugal countries in
northern Europe rallied around Germany’s call for tighter budget regulations.

TENNIS – Romanian tennis
player Ana Bogdan (65 WTA) is taking on another Romanian, Jaqueline Cristian
(81 WTA), in the semi-finals of the Transylvania Open hosted by Cluj-Napoca,
offering over 267 thousand USD in total prizes. Previously, Ana Bogdan defeated
the top seed Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands (45 WTA) in a dramatic game, 2-6,
7-6, 7-6, whereas Jaqueline Cristian ousted Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia (656 WTA), 6-3, 7-5.
Ana Bogdan leads 2-0 head-to-head, having defeated Cristian in 2012 in Istanbul
and in 2023 in Parma. In the other semi-final match, Harriet Dart of Great
Britain (103 WTA) is playing Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic (78 WTA).
In the women’s doubles, the Romanian pair Jaqueline Cristian / Andreea Mitu
lost to the American pair Caty McNally / Asia Muhammad, 6-3, 6-2 in the
semi-finals. (VP)