SCHENGEN – Romania’s president, Klaus Iohannis, is next week paying a
\nvisit to Bulgaria for Schengen talks with his counterpart Rumen Radev. On
\nnumerous occasions, Klaus Iohannis gave assurances Romania is neither a source
\nof migration nor a transit country. Meanwhile Bulgaria is struggling to secure
\nits Turkish border in cooperation with European authorities and Ankara.
\nBulgaria’s Interior Minister, Ivan Demergiev, explained that the European
\nCouncil refused the idea of building a protection wall, although it agreed to
\nprovide drones and radars and increase the presence of FRONTEX. We recall that
\nthe Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting of December 8, 2022 denied
\nSchengen accession to Romania due to opposition from Austria and the
\nNetherlands. Austria voted against whereas the Netherlands accepted Romania
\njoins without Bulgaria, despite the two countries having submitted a joint bid.
\nAt present both countries have complied with Schengen accession criteria. <\/p>\n
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INVESTMENT – Net investment in Romanian economy stood at over \u20ac30 billion in
\n2022, up by 8.5% compared to the previous year, Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuc\u0103
\nhas said. The Romanian official says this proves the positive impact of
\nmeasures taken by the government. Investments in development will preserve jobs
\nand generate new ones and will increase revenues in the long-term, Nicolae
\nCiuc\u0103 wrote on Facebook. According to recent data published by the National
\nStatistics Institute, the GDP went up by 4.8%, foreign direct investment stood
\nat \u20ac11.3 billion, our country had an EU fund absorption rate of 73% and exports
\ntotalled \u20ac85 billion. On the other hand, government debt dropped from 48.3% in
\nNovember 2022 and 48.9% in 2021 to 47.2% in December 2022, the Finance Ministry
\nreports. Public investment spending is set at 7.2% of the GDP in 2023.<\/p>\n
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\n
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MOLDOVA – The Biden administration will
\nprovide $300 million to the Republic of Moldova in energy assistance and share
\nintelligence with this country, which Russia is trying to destabilize, the
\nWhite House has announced. National security spokesman John Kirby told the
\nmedia that, although it has not noticed any immediate threat to the Republic of
\nMoldova, the USA believes Russia is trying to weaken this small country, to
\norchestrate an insurrection and install a pro-Moscow government. Washington
\ntrusts democratic and economic institutions in Chi\u0219in\u0103u and their capacity to
\nrespond to these threats, the US official went on to say. We will continue to
\nprovide assistance to this country, John Kirby added. Protests against the Moldovan
\ngovernment and president, organized by the pro-Russian Shor Party, have been
\nheld repeatedly in the Moldovan capital in the last months. <\/p>\n
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\n
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EU-USA RELATIONS – The United States and the European Commission have agreed to
\neliminate negative competitiveness from the process of greening economies.
\nAfter talks held in Washington, US president Joe Biden and European Commission
\npresident Ursula von der Leyen announced the start of negotiations with respect
\nto an overarching US plan to subsidize the national car industry, which has
\nproduced concerns in a number of the USA’s European partners. The $370 billion
\nplan for climate action spending will provide credits to American consumers to
\nbuy new or second-hand electric vehicles. The law restricts the awarding of credits
\nto vehicles built in North America only and provides strict rules with respect
\nto essential minerals used in the building of vehicle batteries. According to
\nRadio Romania’s correspondent, European officials were very vocal in their
\ncriticism, saying the law reportedly puts EU businesses at a disadvantage. The
\ntwo leaders also discussed plans to keep exerting economic pressure on Russia
\nin the context of its war in Ukraine. The Biden administration has warned its
\nallies that Beijing might soon deliver weapons to Moscow. The US intelligence
\nsays Beijing will seek to consolidate its ties with Moscow in order to provoke
\nthe United States, despite the international community having condemned the
\nRussian invasion of Ukraine. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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\n
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ICR – Bucharest has greenlit the
\ncreation of a Romanian Cultural Institute (ICR) branch in Tokyo. Government
\nspokesman Dan C\u0103rbunaru pointed out no additional vacancies have been approved
\nfor other Institutes abroad. The opening of the ICR branch in Tokyo capitalizes
\non the Strategic Partnership freshly singed between Romania and Japan and will
\nboost the visibility of Romania in this country and step up cultural and
\nscientific relations by promoting information pertaining to Romania’s cultural
\nand academic life, the Government writes. Right now, the only ICR branch in
\nSoutheastern Asia is in Beijing, China, opened in 2015. (VP)<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A roundup of domestic 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":[37440,37441,37438,28945,32253,30037,37439],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-106527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-eu-usa-relations","tag-icr-branch-in-tokyo","tag-investment-figures","tag-klaus-iohannis","tag-rumen-radev","tag-schengen-accession","tag-us-aid-for-moldova"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n