GOVERNMENT – All designated
\nmembers of the Ciolacu Cabinet have been greenlit by Parliament’s special
\ncommittees. The PSD-PNL coalition, in addition to representatives of national
\nminorities other than Hungarian, said they have the numbers to vote in the new
\ngovernment, after UDMR withdrew from the ruling coalition. Finance Minister
\ndesignate Marcel Bolo\u0219 said the introduction of new taxes is out of the
\nquestion, while the Interior Minister designate C\u0103t\u0103lin Predoiu, pointed out
\nhis number one priority is Romania’s Schengen Accession. In committee hearings,
\nLabor Minister designate Marius Bud\u0103i gave assurances that the retirement age
\nwill be increased to 65 years for all categories of workers with the exception
\nof magistrates, who will retire at 60. In turn, Defense Minister designate
\nAngel T\u00eelv\u0103r referred to the priorities of the Defense Ministry, arguing that
\nthe Black Sea is an area of increased importance where Romania should become a pillar
\nof regional security. Marcel Ciolacu and his cabinet will appear before
\nParliament’s plenary session on Thursday to seek the vote of investiture. From
\nthe opposition, USR and AUR said they would vote against, in addition to a
\nnumber of PNL and PSD MPs who expressed their disapproval of the new Cabinet.
\nUDMR MPs said they would attend the session but would not cast their votes. <\/p>\n
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COMPANIES – The number of
\ncompanies with foreign capital newly established in Romania increased in the
\nfirst four months of the year by 4.6%, compared to the similar period in 2022,
\naccording to data centralized by the National Trade Registry Office (ONRC). The
\nfigure represents some 2,300 new companies that had a total subscribed capital
\nof about 8.5 million dollars. According to the National Trade Registry, at the
\nend of April 2023, in Romania there were over 246 thousand companies with
\nforeign participation in the share capital, with a subscribed capital value of
\nabout 68 billion dollars. The largest number of companies with foreign
\nparticipation is with investors from Italy, but the highest value of the social
\ncapital belongs to Dutch companies.<\/p>\n
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POVERTY -
\nNearly 35% of Romanians were last year exposed to poverty and social exclusion,
\naccounting for the largest share among EU member states, the Eurostat reports.
\nAccording to the report, the average at EU level stood at 22% in 2022, the same
\nas in 2021. Romania is followed by Bulgaria, Greece and Spain. Countries with
\nthe lowest poverty risk levels are the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Poland. At
\nthe same time, data shows that the risk of poverty and social exclusion is
\nhigher for women compared to men in the EU. <\/p>\n
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AI – MEPs on
\nWednesday adopted Parliament’s negotiation position on the AI Act and have
\ngiven the go ahead for talks for ensuring safe and transparent artificial
\nintelligence. According to the European Parliament, the regulations are
\ndesigned to make sure that AI systems used in the EU are safe, transparent,
\ntraceable, non-discriminatory and environmentally friendly. The new rules establish obligations for providers and
\nusers depending on the level of risk from artificial intelligence. Therefore,
\nsystems with an unacceptable risk considered a threat to people, such as those
\nclassifying people based on behavior, socio-economic status or personal
\ncharacteristics, gender, race, ethnicity, citizenship, religion or political
\norientation, are expected to be banned. MEPs will ban systems that recognize
\nemotions in workplaces or education institutions, in law enforcement or in the
\nfield of border security. Last but not least, MEPs want to consolidate
\ncitizens’ right to file complaints regarding AI systems with a high degree of
\nrisk and have updated the role of the AI Office of the EU, which will be tasked
\nwith monitoring the application of the regulation framework. <\/p>\n
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EUROPOL – The threat of terrorist
\nattacks and disinformation campaigns remains high in Europe, the Europol claims
\nin its annual report published on Wednesday in the Hague. Europol also states
\nthat the biggest threat is represented by jihadist terrorist cells, although
\nleft-wing or right-wing extremists are also likely to increase their terrorist
\nactivity. 28 terrorist attacks took place in 2022 in the EU, killing four
\npeople. The head of Europol, Catherine De Bolle, said that fighting terrorism
\nremains a priority, arguing that right now lone wolf attackers remain the
\nbiggest threat. The war in Ukraine also affects public security, first and
\nforemost due to disinformation campaigns run by pro-Russian groups, which could
\npolarize society and fuel terrorist and extremist violence, the Europol also
\nstates. (MI & VP)<\/p>\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":[37677,37675,37678,31399,37676],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-106718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-ai-act","tag-companies-with-foreign-capital","tag-europol-report","tag-new-cabinet","tag-risks-of-poverty-and-social-exclusion"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n