September 28, 2023

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 28.09.2023, 13:55

GOVERNMENT – The Government has today
passed a decree increasing the national minimum wage to 660 EUR starting
October 1. Some 1.8 million public sector employees will benefit from this
measure. The government thus seeks to stimulate employment, boost purchasing
power and curb undeclared work. Other social categories whose income is
calculated on the value of the minimum wage, such as people with disabilities,
or self-employed people, will also benefit from this measure. On the other
hand, the Government did not approve the decree increasing wages in the fields
of construction, agriculture and the food industry to 900 EUR, after
discovering these wages might go down as these employees have to contribute to
the national health insurance scheme.

MIGRATION – EU Interior Ministers are
today meeting in Brussels to discuss migration and asylum. The meeting is held
at a time when Europe faces high flows of migrants crossing the Central
Mediterranean to reach southern Italy. Participants will be briefed regarding progress
on legislative debates addressing the reform of European legislation in the
field of asylum procedures. Additionally, ministers will exchange views
regarding the external dimension of migration, including cooperation with
non-EU partners with a view to managing migration-related pressure. One
provision included in the migration and asylum pact, presented by the European
Commission in September 2020, refers to the mandatory solidarity system at EU
level in case of a massive flow of migrants on the borders of a member state.
The document is currently blocked due to disagreement voiced by Hungary,
Poland, Austria and the Czech Republic. Germany, Slovakia and the Netherlands
have abstained from voting the law, which prevents reaching the necessary majority
for adopting it. European Parliament president Roberta Metsola has recently
called on member states to reach a compromise solution in this matter.

FORUM – The Euro-Atlantic Resilience
Center (E-ARC) in Bucharest is hosting the second edition of the Euro-Atlantic
Resilience Forum on Thursday and Friday, attended by Romanian and foreign
experts as well as EU and NATO officials. According to organizers, this year’s
theme is Resilience at Sea and its Impact on Land, seeking to answer security
challenges impacting the maritime sector with significant consequences, which
in most cases require concerted and global action. Each panel will be held
simultaneously in Bucharest, New York, Brussels, Washington, Kyiv, Ljubljana
and Lublin. E-ARC is a center of excellence in the field of resilience, a
partner of NATO and the EU, which acts to the benefit of these organizations
and member or partner states.

CONFERENCE – Senate Speaker Nicolae
Ciucă is attending the European Conference of Presidents of Parliament, representing
the 46 members of the Council of Europe, an event hosted by Dublin, Ireland.
Nicolae Ciucă said the meeting will address such topics as the fallout from
Russia’s war in Ukraine, the role of national Parliaments in the reconstruction
of Ukraine, challenges to democracy in times of instability and equality and
diversity in public representation. According to the Romanian official,
Russia’s unprovoked and unwarranted aggression against Ukraine has led to
profound changes in European geopolitics, particularly in the fields of
economy, energy and trade. The Black Sea has become an area of increased
interest to the world’s superpowers, and Romania finds itself in a strategic
position of being the only member of both the EU and NATO that has land and maritime
borders with Ukraine, Nicolae Ciucă also pointed out.

DEFENSE – Romania’s Defense Staff
hosted a videoconference attended by representatives of public authorities from
southeastern Romania, in the context of Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian ports on
the Danube River. According to a Defense Ministry Release, the event sought to
streamline cross-institutional cooperation. The agenda included an overview of
security issues, the army’s public communication processes, initiatives to
prepare the local population, the economy and territory in case of attacks, as
well as the legal responsibilities of various national defense institutions.

(VP)