BUDGET Romania’s Parliament Wednesday endorsed the 2024 state budget
\nand social security budget bills, backed by the parliamentary majority made up
\nof the Social Democratic Party and the National Liberal Party. Next year,
\nRomania’s budget will focus on investments of roughly 7% of GDP and a 3.4%
\neconomic growth rate, while the estimated budget deficit is 5% of GDP. According
\nto PM Marcel Ciolacu, the 2024 budget is aimed at development and equity, is based
\non investment and secures the required funding for the promised pension and
\nsalary increases. The opposition on the other hand argues that the budget is
\nbuilt on unrealistic estimates which will fail to ensure economic development.<\/p>\n
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EVASION The Romanian Chamber of Deputies passed new measures to curb
\ntax evasion. Failure to withhold taxes and charges, submitting accounting
\ndocuments for fictitious expenses, keeping double accounting records or the use
\nof cash registers that are not connected to the National Information Control
\nSystem will be considered offences. Punishments, which range from one to ten
\nyears in prison, are harsher for repeat offenders.<\/p>\n
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TIMI\u015eOARA The western Romanian city of Timi\u015foara Wednesday marked 34
\nyears since it declared itself the first city free of communism in Romania. To
\ncelebrate the victory against communism, several events took place, including
\nshort film and documentary screenings, and a marathon tour at the Br\u00e2ncu\u015fi
\nexhibition at the Art Museum. 34 years ago, after the repression of the
\nuprising that started on December 17, big factory workers went on strike and
\ngathered in the centre of the city. In front of the crowd, the army withdrew to
\nthe barracks, the people arrested were released and the Romanian Democratic
\nFront was established. From Timisoara, the people’s uprising against the regime
\nled by the dictator Nicolae Ceau\u015fescu spread to several other cities in the
\ncountry. Over 1,000 people lost their lives and around 3,000 were injured in
\nthe events.<\/p>\n
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AWARD The president
\nof the Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu, was awarded on Wednesday the Timi\u015foara
\nfor European values prize. The award and the EUR 30,000 prize will be handed
\nto her on January 12-13. According to Timi\u015foara’s Mayor Dominic Fritz, in
\nselecting Maia Sandu as the recipient of this prize, the jury appreciated her
\nclear stand on Moldova’s integrity, and her determination in pursuing the goal
\nof Moldova’s European integration.<\/p>\n
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MIGRATION MEPs and
\nthe representatives of EU member states have reached an agreement on a
\ncomprehensive approach to the Union’s migration and asylum policies, one of the
\nmost toxic political topics facing the bloc in recent years. The document is
\naimed at standardising and stepping up migrant verification procedures at the
\nEU’s external borders, a solidarity mechanism and the repatriation of the
\nmigrants ineligible for the refugee status. (AMP)<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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