TALKS The vote in the JHA
\nCouncil is very problematic for all of us in Romania. I was disappointed and
\nupset following this vote, the president of Romania Klaus Iohannis said on
\nMonday, after receiving the president of the Swiss
\nConfederation Ignazio Cassis in Bucharest. The Romanian president added that he
\nwould most certainly raise the issue of Romania’s denied Schengen bid at the
\nmeeting of the European Council due on December 15. Romania should be a part of
\nSchengen, the Swiss president said in his turn. The 2
\nofficials discussed bilateral relations and economic cooperation, with an emphasis
\non boosting investments and identifying new areas of cooperation, and exchanged
\nviews on the latest international developments, including the war in Ukraine
\nand its implications for the energy market and global security. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
FUNDING Romania’s PM Nicolae Ciuc\u0103 Monday requested all ministries
\nand coordinating institutions to give maximum priority to completing the 51 benchmarks
\nand targets in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan related to the second
\npayment request, amounting to EUR 2.8 bln, which Romania is scheduled to submit
\nto the European Commission this month. This amount adds to the EUR 3.7 bln pre-financing
\namount and to a first EUR 2.6 bln instalment already cashed in by Romania. We
\ncannot afford to deviate from our commitments, because a lot of elements
\nrelated to reform processes, investments and even economic stability depend on
\nus accessing this money, the PM said at a meeting of the inter-ministry
\nCommittee Coordinating the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. The Committee
\nalso reviewed the progress with respect to the 55 targets and benchmarks due
\nfor the 3rd and 4th quarters of this year, related to the
\n3rd payment request that Romania is scheduled to submit to the EC
\nthis spring.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
BUDGET In Bucharest, Parliament’s specialist committees Monday approved
\nthe draft budgets of several ministries. The education, transport, development
\nand defence ministries will have higher budgets next year, while the energy,
\njustice and healthcare ministries will receive less money in 2023. The ruling
\ncoalition said the budget bill is based on record high investments and accounts
\nfor 7.2% of GDP. It takes into account an economic growth rate of 2.8% of GDP,
\nan annual inflation rate of 8%, a growing number of people in employment and a
\nlower unemployment rate of 2.7%. The opposition has criticised the budget bill.
\nBoth the power and the opposition have submitted amendments. The final vote is
\ndue on Thursday. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
MOTION Save Romania Union in
EU European democracy is under attack, the head of the European
<\/p>\n
FOREIGN AFFAIRS The Romanian diplomacy chief Bogdan Aurescu took part on Monday in Brussels in an informal meeting concerning the future of the Eastern
<\/p>\n
Click here for a roundup of local and world news<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":105194,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[37253,29547,28950,31801,29120,33051,35238,31085,35531,29244,32738,35731,35476,36044,30292,30448,34791,37252,29392],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-106350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-affairs","tag-budget","tag-corruption","tag-eppo","tag-eu","tag-fac","tag-foreign","tag-funding","tag-plan","tag-president","tag-public","tag-qatar","tag-recovery","tag-resilience","tag-scandal","tag-security","tag-social","tag-swiss","tag-talks"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nopposition Monday tabled a simple motion against the interior minister Lucian
\nBode, whom they see as responsible for Romania’s failure to join the Schengen free-movement
\narea. According to the party, Bode shares this responsibility with the
\npresident Klaus Iohannis, with the parliamentary majority and the diplomacy in Bucharest.
\nUSR also invited the foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu to give Parliament
\nexplanations on this topic. Several EU member states voiced their
\ndisappointment with the denial of Romania’s and Bulgaria’s Schengen accession bids.
\nMoreover, the EU commissioner for home affairs, Ylva Johansson, said this would
\nbe a priority of her term in office. <\/span><\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nParliament Roberta Metsola said on Monday, voicing her outrage and sadness following
\nallegations of corruption in the European Parliament in relation to Qatar. In
\nturn, the president of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, Monday
\ncalled for EU institutions to be governed by the highest standards of
\nindependence and integrity. The EU high representative for foreign affairs Josep
\nBorrell described the EP corruption allegations as being of the utmost
\nconcern. Eva Kaili, a vice-president of the European parliament from Greece, and
\n3 other individuals were detained and charged in Belgium in an international corruption
\ninvestigation related to Qatar. The 4 were charged with participation in a criminal
\norganisation, money laundering and corruption. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nPartnership, organised at the initiative of Minister Aurescu and his counterparts
\nfrom Czechia, Sweden and Poland, and in a meeting of the Eastern Partnership
\nforeign ministers<\/span>. In
\nhis addresses, Bogdan Aurescu pleaded for revitalising the Eastern Partnership
\nand for adapting it to the new regional context, and reiterated Romania’s firm
\nand continuing support for it. He argued that the Eastern Partnership can make
\na significant contribution to strengthening the stability, security and
\nprosperity in the Eastern Neighbourhood, by consolidating regional cooperation,
\nthe security and resilience of partners and through an adequate joint response to
\nthe challenges facing the region. Mr. Aurescu also emphasised that in the new
\ncontext generated by Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, a more robust
\nand more efficient security dimension of the Eastern Partnership is necessary.<\/p>\n
\n
\nMEETING The Romanian justice minister, C\u0103t\u0103lin
\nPredoiu, had a meeting on Monday in Luxembourg with the head of the European
\nPublic Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), Laura Codru\u0163a Kovesi. According to the
\nRomanian justice ministry, the 2 officials discussed the protection of the EU’s
\nfinancial interests, the EPPO human resources issue and the broadening of the
\nOffice’s powers to include the prosecution of breaches of EU sanctions. I am
\nconfidence that an in-depth dialogue with the EPPO may lead to ideas and
\nsolutions to make the cooperation between national and EPPO prosecutors more
\nefficient. After all, they all fight crime, which affects both the interests of
\nthe EU and the national interests of member states, Catalin Predoiu said. (AMP)<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"