July 2, 2024 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 02.07.2024, 19:59

Visit. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who on Tuesday made his first visit to Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion, urged Volodymyr Zelenskiy to consider a ceasefire as soon as possible, which would allow the acceleration of peace negotiations. For his part, the Ukrainian president insisted on a “just peace” and on the continuation of European military aid for his country, AFP and EFE agencies report. Hungary, which took over the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union on Monday, has vetoed several community aid decisions for Ukraine. Regarding the Russian-Ukrainian war, Viktor Orbán has repeatedly stated that his country will not participate in the conflict and stressed that NATO accepted this position. Regarding Ukraine’s accession to the Union, Budapest supports a policy of consistent and merit-based enlargement. There are, however, fears that Hungary could try to slow down Ukraine’s candidacy, given that Prime Minister Orbán has had a tense relationship with Kyiv in the past and maintains closer ties with Moscow.

Consultations. Consultations with the political parties, held for two days by the Romanian Prime Minister, Marcel Ciolacu, on the calendar of the presidential and parliamentary elections, have ended. Forta Dreptei supports the organization of the first round of the presidential elections simultaneously with the parliamentary elections, on December 1 or 8. Hold the elections on time – was the message conveyed on Tuesday by the representatives of the Reper party. Following Monday’s discussions, it emerged that, while some parties – USR or UDMR – want early elections, in November and December, others – AUR or the Social-Liberal Humanist Party – say they are ready for the presidential elections in September, as the co-ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD) would also like. Moreover, the discussions initiated by the Social-Democratic prime minister are taking place against the background of the misunderstandings that have arisen in the ruling PSD-PNL coalition. In a meeting held in parallel with the government talks, the liberal leadership decided, unanimously, that the presidential elections should take place on time, in November after, in the spring, they had agreed to their organization in September. All political forces want a quick resolution with regard to the electoral calendar – this is the conclusion announced by Prime Minister Ciolacu at the end of the consultations. We recall that both local and European parliamentary elections were held in Romania on June 9th.

OSCE. The annual session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly continues in Bucharest, attended by politicians from over 50 countries. On Monday, the resolutions of the general committees were debated on topics such as security, climate change and environmental protection or the prevention of the use of corruption as a tool in foreign policy, which will be included in the Bucharest Declaration, the final document of the meeting. On the sidelines of the plenary session, Romanian parliamentarians hosted events in which Romania’s priorities were brought to attention in areas such as infrastructure connectivity with Central Asian states, energy connectivity, international transport routes or digitization, research and innovation.

Revenues. 6 out of 10 companies in Romania estimate revenue increases this year, according to the results of the latest survey on the quality of the investment environment, presented by the representatives of the American Chamber of Commerce in Romania. On the other hand, though, they are dissatisfied with the 1% turnover tax. They say that there should be a clear timetable for waiving this tax, which does not necessarily bring the expected level of budget revenues and creates big problems for players in the economy. The representatives of the American Chamber of Commerce in Romania say that the public policies that should be prioritized include investments in infrastructure, accelerating the digitization of public administration, increasing the quality of the education system and making greater use of available European funds.

Statistics. The National Institute of Statistics reports that last year, Romanians’ interest in reading in libraries and in cultural activities raised. Thus, in 2023, libraries released over 19 million volumes to 2.4 million active users, 54,000 more than in 2022. The Institute also informs that the number of visitors to museums and public collections was over 3 million higher in 2023, compared to two years ago. The same happened with the number of spectators at shows and concerts, which increased by almost 2 million compared to 2022. (MI)