\n
<\/p>\n
Schengen.<\/strong>
<\/p>\n
Ambassador.
<\/p>\n
Budget. <\/strong>Romania’s
<\/p>\n
Workers.
<\/p>\n
Energy.
A roundup of local and international news.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":105208,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-106344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nRomania’s and Bulgaria’s accession to the Schengen free-movement area may be
\nincluded on the agenda of the European Council meeting next week, at the
\nrequest of the president of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, political sources in
\nBucharest said. Ylva Johansson, the European Commissioner for Internal Affairs
\nsaid she was convinced she would secure the accession of Romania and Bulgaria
\nduring her current mandate and that she would make this a priority. This comes after
\nAustria blocked Romania’s Schengen entry on Thursday at the EU Justice and Home
\nAffairs Council meeting. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>The Romanian foreign ministry announced that after Austria rejected Romania’s
\nSchengen accession, Romania’s ambassador to Vienna, Emil Hurezeanu, was
\nrecalled for consultations by foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu. The embassy will
\nbe headed by an interim charge d’affairs. According to diplomatic procedure,
\nthe decision is an indication of Romania’s firm disagreement with Austria’s
\nposition.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nstate and social security budget bills were approved by the government and have
\nbeen forwarded to Parliament for discussion. The ministries set to receive more
\nfunding include defence, agriculture, transport, development and education.
\nLess money than this year will be earmarked for the ministries for energy, the judiciary
\nand public healthcare. The two bills also stipulate a 10% increase in public sector
\nsalaries, a 12.5% increase in pensions and an increase of the national minimum
\nwage to approximately 610 euros per month. The Alliance for the Union of
\nRomanians, an ultranationalist party in opposition, already announced it would
\ntable amendments because it disagreed with the budget bill.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>100,000 non-EU citizens will be given access to the Romanian labour market next
\nyear. The figure decided by the government is similar to that approved for this
\nyear, and it is intended to cover the labour deficit in sectors like
\nconstructions, hospitality, protection and guard services, road transport and
\ntrade.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>The European Union will invest over 600 million euros under the Connecting
\nEurope Facility in eight cross-border energy infrastructure projects in order
\nto meet the goal established in the RePowerEU plan and the European Green Deal,
\naccording to a Commission statement. These will finance projects in areas such
\nas electricity, including one for smart electricity grids, CO2 networks,
\nunderground gas storage and an offshore LNG terminal. Nine member states will
\nbenefit, namely Romania, Belgium, Croatia, France, Ireland, Italy, Austria,
\nPoland and Slovenia, as well as Tunisia. The European Commissioner for Energy
\nKadri Simson said the resilience of energy infrastructure is essential for the
\nsecurity of EU’s supply and the bloc’s commitment to end imports of Russian gas
\nas soon as possible. (CM)<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"