THE WEEK IN REVIEW – OCTOBER 2-8

A look at the week's main events

Corina Cristea, 08.10.2022, 14:00

Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis in Prague

Romania’s
president Klaus Iohannis this week attended the informal meeting of the
European Council in Prague, which had high on its agenda, the war in Ukraine,
the energy crisis and other economy issues. A day before, Iohannis had attended
the first meeting of the European Political Community also in Prague. Held at a key moment for the European continent, in
the context of the illegal and unjustified war the Russian Federation is waging
on Ukraine, the European Political Community’s summit has offered the
opportunity of a political dialogue on several issues such as support for
Ukraine, a reaction to the latest Russian escalation in this war, energy security,
the situation in the field of energy, climate change and the latest economic
developments. This new dialogue platform has been intended to facilitate views exchanges
on issues of maximum concern against the latest geopolitical background so that
joint action ways can be defined, a communiqué of the presidential
administration in Bucharest says. With an overwhelming majority, leaders of the
44 attending countries have condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine and have
reiterated their unity and solidarity against Moscow’s aggression.

The European Parliament debated upon Romania’s
accession to Schengen

During a plenary session of the European Parliament in
Strasbourg on Wednesday, MEPs discussed Romania and Bulgaria’s accession to the
Schengen passport-free travel area. The Romanian MEPs pleaded for the 2
countries’ inclusion as soon as possible, given that they have met all
technical requirements since as far back as 2011. Only a few other MEPs, from
Italian far-right parties, opposed the Schengen area enlargement, for fear of
massive migration. Most of the speakers in the European Parliament agreed
however that Romania and Bulgaria must joint Schengen.

Justice laws
debated by senators

Justice laws have been debated upon by senators and a
final voting in the decision-making chamber is expected next week. The three
laws, on the functioning of the country’s Higher Council of Magistrates, on
legal organization and the statute of the magistrates must be quickly endorsed this
autumn, the country’s Justice Minister, Catalian Predoiu says. He explains that
Romania’s compliance with the provisions of the Mechanism of Cooperation and
Verification and implicitly Romania’s Schengen accession are hinging on the aforementioned
laws. The country’s former Justice Minister from the opposition USR Stelian Ion
has called on senators to postpone voting until the Venice Commission has made
its point. According to Senate president Alina Gorghiu, Romania needs to
endorse the aforementioned laws to score a good result in the Justice report
and if there are recommendations from the Venice Commission in December amendments
will be made without any hesitation.

A
new education minister

Romania’s Prime Minister, Nicolae Ciucă, says he will back Ligia
Deca, the country’s new Education Minister to implement a presidential project
entitled Educated Romania, so that the new education laws may be submitted to
Parliament approval by the end of the month. A former presidential adviser,
Ligia Deca was sworn in as the country’s new Education Minister on Monday. She was
proposed by the National Liberal Party and has replaced Sorin Cimpeanu, who
stepped down last week amid accusations of plagiarism.

BNR
has again raised the key interest rate

Romania’s
Central Bank (BNR) has again raised the key interest rate in an attempt to keep
prices at bay. This has been the seventh rise this year and the interest rate
is now around 6.25% being the highest in the past 12 years. According to the vice-president of the Association of Investment
Professionals in Romania, financial analyst Adrian Codirlaşu, in making this
move the BNR is actually anticipating the rising inflation rate. Pundits expect
the annual inflation rate to continue its upward trend towards the end of the
year but at a visibly lower pace, due to anticipated price hikes in natural gas,
electricity and food products against the background of the war in Ukraine and
the prolonged drought in Europe this summer. According to BNR the annual
inflation rate stood at 15.32% in August.

A case of espionage concerning Romania’s mineral
reserves

Prosecutors with the Direction of Investigating
Organised Crime and Terrorism, also known as DIICOT, have indicted four people,
Romanian and foreign nationals, in an espionage file against the Serbian company
NIS Petrol controlled by the Russian giant Gazprom. The investigators have
carried out searches in Bucharest and Timisoara, western Romania, as well as at
the houses of several employees, seizing documents and data storage devices.
The four have been charged with divulging secret and classified information and
with illegal information transfer concerning Romania’s mineral reserves, sources
with the DIICOT have announced. In 2009, Gazprom became the main shareholder of
the Serbian company NIS under an agreement signed by the governments of
Belgrade and Moscow.

(bill)