BUDGET The 2024 state budget and social security budget bills will be reviewed by Parliament’s specialist committees as of Monday. On Tuesday the draft laws will be discussed in a joint plenary
\nmeeting, with a final vote expected on Wednesday. The budget is based on a 3.4%
\neconomic growth rate, with investments amounting to 7% of GDP and the largest
\nappropriations in history for public education. PM Marcel Ciolacu dismissed
\nclaims that the figures are over-optimistic, and voiced his confidence that budget
\nrevenues would be raised from 27% to 30% of GDP. Under the bill, as of June 1
\nwhole-economy minimum wages will be around EUR 745. Ciolacu also said he was
\ncounting on better EU fund absorption, on improved tax collection and on
\ncurbing tax evasion. <\/p>\n
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\n
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EU President Klaus Iohannis says the EU winter summit, which came to an
\nend in Brussels on Friday, will be remembered for the historic decision to
\ninitiate accession negotiations with Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova. The
\nRomanian official encouraged the government of Moldova to step up the reforms
\nrequired for EU integration. As for Ukraine, the president of the European
\nCommission,Ursula von der Leyen, says
\nthe decision was a promise kept and an investment in stability and security. EU
\nleaders also discussed the Israel-Hamas war, and condemned the continuing
\nhostilities with growing numbers of victims among Palestinian civilians in Gaza
\nand the West Bank. They argued that peace will only be achieved through a
\ntwo-state solution. A revision of the 2021-2027 Multi-Annual Financial
\nFramework, support for Ukraine, security and defence, migration and the future
\nEU Strategic Agenda were also discussed at the European Council meeting on
\nThursday and Friday in Brussels.<\/p>\n
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\n
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COMMEMORATION In Timi\u015foara (west) events were organised to mark 34 years
\nsince the start of the 1989 Revolution which eventually led to the fall of
\ndictator Nicolae Ceau\u015fescu’s communist regime. The rally in support of the
\nReformed pastor L\u00e1szl\u00f3 T\u0151k\u00e9s, who was under political police (Securitate)
\nsurveillance, turned into an uprising against the communist dictatorship. In
\nthis context, the Revolution Memorial was opened to the public in Timi\u015foara on
\nSaturday. The organisers prepared a complex programme, providing information on
\nthe events of 1989. The commemoration also includes exhibitions, concerts, a
\nspecial meeting of the Local Council, and a commemorative march. In this
\ncontext, the Senate Speaker Nicolae Ciuc\u0103 said in a message that the sacrifice
\nand courage of Timi\u015foara’s heroes were the foundation of today’s free and
\ndemocratic Romania.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
UNEMPLOYMENT Around 63% of the Romanians aged 15 to 64 had a job in
\nJuly-September, according to the National Statistics Institute. The
\nunemployment rate was 5%, but among youth aged 15 to 24 the rate reaches 22%. The
\neconomic analyst Constantin Rudni\u0163chi says the INS data is not very different
\nfrom previous reports and that the Romanian labour market is below its
\npotential. As for unemployment, he believes the overall trend is to look for
\nand to create jobs. Rudni\u0163chi believes the most urgent issue to be the one
\nmillion Romanians who are outside the social and employment system, i.e. who
\nare neither in school nor employed. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
AGREEMENT Romania, Turkey and Bulgaria intend to sign an agreement on
\nJanuary 11, 2024, concerning a joint plan to remove mines floating in the Black
\nSea as a result of the war in Ukraine, the Turkish defence minister Yasar Guler
\nsaid, according to Reuters. Officials from the 3 NATO member states met with
\nthe authorities of Georgia, Poland and Ukraine in April 2022 to discuss the
\nissue, and also discussed the plan in a NATO meeting in Brussels in October and
\nin Ankara, last month. Yasar Guler explained that the initiative will only
\ninclude Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria for the time being, and the signing
\nceremony will take place in Istanbul. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
FAIR A special Christmas fair was opened at the S\u0103v\u00e2r\u015fin Castle of
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":[29646,32986,31334,29547,29671,29120,33181,29130,35403,35683,34490,29398,29645,28905,30268],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-612037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-1989-revolution","tag-accession","tag-bill","tag-budget","tag-christmas","tag-eu","tag-fair","tag-moldova","tag-rate","tag-savarsin","tag-state","tag-summit","tag-timisoara","tag-ukraine","tag-unemployment"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nRomania’s late King Michael I. The organiser, Her Majesty Margareta, Custodian of
\nthe Crown of Romania, said the event was intended to promote and preserve the
\nauthenticity of Christmas traditions. It is something spiritual, and we often
\nforget that Christmas has grown a little too commercial. So we are glad to have
\nvaluable people here, she said. On the estate in Arad County, western Romania,
\na Royal Automobile Museum, a souvenir shop, the auto repair shop of King
\nMichael I and a Tea House are also opened to the public. During the event, carol
\nperformances and handicraft exhibitions are also organised for the visitors. (AMP)<\/span><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"