January 31, 2018 UPDATE

President Iohannis held talks in Brussels, The new Romanian government convened for first meeting, Donald Trump made State of the Union Address

Newsroom, 31.01.2018, 19:13

Brussels — The Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Wednesday held talks in Brussels with the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker. In the joint press conference following their meeting, President Iohannis said that the independence of the Romanian judiciary was intangible and that he would get fully involved in this regard, within the limits of his prerogatives. He added that the justice laws and the criminal codes have major problems which should be solved in Romania. In turn, the President of the European Commission said that, if the justice laws were enforced in the form in which they were voted by Romania’s Parliament, the talks on Romania’s Schengen accession and on lifting the Mechanism for Cooperation and Verification, a safeguard measure which the EU has used to monitor the developments in the Romanian justice system ever since its EU accession in 2007, would be held in different terms. Also Mr. Juncker said that the rule of law in Romania reported remarkable progress and that the EC would not accept any step back in this respect. During his visit to Brussels, the Romanian President also talked with the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, focusing on the agenda of the informal meeting of the European Council scheduled for February 23, when the European heads of state and government will debate the political priorities of the Union budget for the long term.

EU GDP — The contributions of member states to the EU budget might increase from 1% of the GDP to 1.1%, to cover the loss of Great Britain’s contribution after Brexit. The declaration was made by European Commissioner for Regional Policy, Corina Cretu, in an interview to Radio Romania. Mrs. Cretu added that Romania’s access to European funds might be conditioned on the situation of the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary.

Government — The new Romanian Government headed by Social Democrat Viorica Dancila on Wednesday met for its first session and corrected a controversial fiscal measure. Upon the investiture vote in Parliament, Viorica Dancila said the objective of her term in office was to bring Romania in the first half of the classification of EU economies in 2020. To this end Mrs. Dancila intends to boost investments for modernizing the infrastructure, to continue increasing the population’s incomes, to reform the administration and to cut down on red tape. The new cabinet is made up of 28 ministers, and has 4 deputy prime ministers, one more than in the previous government.

State of the Union Address – In the State of the Union Address on Wednesday the US President Donald Trump said that the era of Americas “economic surrender” is over and the US is seeking to enter into new trade agreements with nations that commit to fair and reciprocal trade. The White House leader added that one of the pillars of reform in the field of immigration is to end the visa lottery — a program that randomly hands out green cards without any regard for skill, merit, or the safety of American people. The US President used his first State of the Union address to push for a merit – based immigration system that admits skilled people, who want to work, and who will contribute to society. Trump has called on Congress to support an investment plan of at least 15 hundred billion dollars in the US infrastructure, one of his campaign promises.

Trade unions — The Spiru Haret education trade union federation on Wednesday picketed the headquarters of the Education Ministry in Bucharest. The action was aimed at blocking abusive merging of classes, groups and education units, at making the authorities observe the legal provisions regarding the salary rights of the teaching staff and increase the budget allocation for education. Trade unionists also announced that they had withdrawn from all social dialogue structures of the ministry and would return only when the ministry officials understand that a genuine social dialogue means transparency, communication, discussions on an equal par and partnership.

Statistics — Last December Romania reported an unemployment rate of 4.6%, show data published on Wednesday by Eurostat. The average unemployment rate in the community states stood at 7.3%, with the highest percentages being recorded in Greece and Spain. In December the unemployment rate dropped in all the EU states, except for Finland, where this rate remained stable, Eurostat data also show. (news translated and updated by Lacramioara Simion)