Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis in Prague <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Romania’s
\npresident Klaus Iohannis this week attended the informal meeting of the
\nEuropean Council in Prague, which had high on its agenda, the war in Ukraine,
\nthe energy crisis and other economy issues. A day before, Iohannis had attended
\nthe first meeting of the European Political Community also in Prague. Held at a key moment for the European continent, in
\nthe context of the illegal and unjustified war the Russian Federation is waging
\non Ukraine, the European Political Community’s summit has offered the
\nopportunity of a political dialogue on several issues such as support for
\nUkraine, a reaction to the latest Russian escalation in this war, energy security,
\nthe situation in the field of energy, climate change and the latest economic
\ndevelopments. This new dialogue platform has been intended to facilitate views exchanges
\non issues of maximum concern against the latest geopolitical background so that
\njoint action ways can be defined, a communiqu\u00e9 of the presidential
\nadministration in Bucharest says. With an overwhelming majority, leaders of the
\n44 attending countries have condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine and have
\nreiterated their unity and solidarity against Moscow’s aggression. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The European Parliament debated upon Romania’s
\naccession to Schengen<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
During a plenary session of the European Parliament in
\nStrasbourg on Wednesday, MEPs discussed Romania and Bulgaria’s accession to the
\nSchengen passport-free travel area. The Romanian MEPs pleaded for the 2
\ncountries’ inclusion as soon as possible, given that they have met all
\ntechnical requirements since as far back as 2011. Only a few other MEPs, from
\nItalian far-right parties, opposed the Schengen area enlargement, for fear of
\nmassive migration. Most of the speakers in the European Parliament agreed
\nhowever that Romania and Bulgaria must joint Schengen.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Justice laws
\ndebated by senators<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Justice laws have been debated upon by senators and a
\nfinal voting in the decision-making chamber is expected next week. The three
\nlaws, on the functioning of the country’s Higher Council of Magistrates, on
\nlegal organization and the statute of the magistrates must be quickly endorsed this
\nautumn, the country’s Justice Minister, Catalian Predoiu says. He explains that
\nRomania’s compliance with the provisions of the Mechanism of Cooperation and
\nVerification and implicitly Romania’s Schengen accession are hinging on the aforementioned
\nlaws. The country’s former Justice Minister from the opposition USR Stelian Ion
\nhas called on senators to postpone voting until the Venice Commission has made
\nits point. According to Senate president Alina Gorghiu, Romania needs to
\nendorse the aforementioned laws to score a good result in the Justice report
\nand if there are recommendations from the Venice Commission in December amendments
\nwill be made without any hesitation.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
A
\nnew education minister <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Romania’s Prime Minister, Nicolae Ciuc\u0103, says he will back Ligia
\nDeca, the country’s new Education Minister to implement a presidential project
\nentitled Educated Romania, so that the new education laws may be submitted to
\nParliament approval by the end of the month. A former presidential adviser,
\nLigia Deca was sworn in as the country’s new Education Minister on Monday. She was
\nproposed by the National Liberal Party and has replaced Sorin Cimpeanu, who
\nstepped down last week amid accusations of plagiarism.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
BNR
\nhas again raised the key interest rate <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Romania’s
\nCentral Bank (BNR) has again raised the key interest rate in an attempt to keep
\nprices at bay. This has been the seventh rise this year and the interest rate
\nis now around 6.25% being the highest in the past 12 years. According to the vice-president of the Association of Investment
\nProfessionals in Romania, financial analyst Adrian Codirla\u015fu, in making this
\nmove the BNR is actually anticipating the rising inflation rate. Pundits expect
\nthe annual inflation rate to continue its upward trend towards the end of the
\nyear but at a visibly lower pace, due to anticipated price hikes in natural gas,
\nelectricity and food products against the background of the war in Ukraine and
\nthe prolonged drought in Europe this summer. According to BNR the annual
\ninflation rate stood at 15.32% in August. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
A case of espionage concerning Romania’s mineral
\nreserves<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Prosecutors with the Direction of Investigating
\nOrganised Crime and Terrorism, also known as DIICOT, have indicted four people,
\nRomanian and foreign nationals, in an espionage file against the Serbian company
\nNIS Petrol controlled by the Russian giant Gazprom. The investigators have
\ncarried out searches in Bucharest and Timisoara, western Romania, as well as at
\nthe houses of several employees, seizing documents and data storage devices.
\nThe four have been charged with divulging secret and classified information and
\nwith illegal information transfer concerning Romania’s mineral reserves, sources
\nwith the DIICOT have announced. In 2009, Gazprom became the main shareholder of
\nthe Serbian company NIS under an agreement signed by the governments of
\nBelgrade and Moscow. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
(bill)<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A look at the week’s main events<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":108,"featured_media":124920,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40944],"tags":[35471,34529,30742,40350,42496,28976,32141],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-124952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-week-in-review","tag-ciuca","tag-crime","tag-diicot","tag-ion","tag-organized","tag-schengen","tag-usr"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n