ELECTIONS – The ruling
\ncoalition wants to organize the local election on June 9, simultaneously with
\nthe European Parliament election. Social-Democrats also want the national parliamentary
\nelection to be held concurrently with the first or second round of the
\npresidential election. Social-Democrat leader and Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu
\nwants a clear timetable backed by the coalition. The opposition has criticized
\nthe idea, saying it would refer a potential decision to the Constitutional
\nCourt. AUR president George Simion says such a decision would breach
\ninternational recommendations. In turn, USR announced it will notify the Venice
\nCommission regarding the decision to merge the election less than six months
\nbefore the date of the vote. European Parliament elections, local elections,
\nparliamentary elections and presidential elections will be held in Romania in
\n2024. <\/p>\n
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FARMERS – The European
\nCommission on Friday adopted a financial assistance package worth 241 mln EUR
\naddressing Romanian farmers in the context of Russia’s war in Ukraine. The aid
\nwill be disbursed until June 30 as direct grants and will not exceed 280
\nthousand EUR for each beneficiary. The measure addresses Romanian farmers, in
\nparticular those who grow winter grain and rapeseed and who risk going
\ninsolvent due to the difficulties the grain market is experiencing as a result
\nof Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The measure is necessary, adequate and
\nproportional to remedy a serious disruption of the Romanian economy, the
\nEuropean Commission argues. Romania was also allotted 34 mln EUR from the EU
\nSolidarity Fund to compensate damages incurred after the 2022 drought. The
\nfunds were wired in December 2023, and Romania must implement this aid over the
\nnext year and a half. <\/p>\n
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MOLDOVA – Moldovan
\nauthorities have started examining the degree of compliance of national
\nlegislation with regard to EU law. The first field under scrutiny will be the
\njudiciary, the deputy Prime Minister for European Integration, Cristina
\nGherasimov has said. The Moldovan official believes the next four months will
\nconsist of an evaluation of the EU legislation concerning other chapters as
\nwell. According to experts, the European Integration Office must be rendered
\noperational as soon as possible in order to effectively interact with
\ninstitutions in Brussels and speed up the accession process. We recall the
\nRepublic of Moldova applied for EU accession in March 2022 and was given EU
\ncandidate status in June 2022. In December 2023, EU leaders decided to
\nofficially launch EU accession talks with the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. <\/p>\n
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BUDGET
\nREFORM – The European Parliament and individual EU Member States have reached
\nan agreement on Friday regarding a reform of the EU budget, designed to
\nguarantee a recovery of public finance while at the same time preserving
\ninvestment, AFP reports. After over two years of debates, the initiative is
\ncriticized for its complexity and is rejected by left-wing politicians, who argue
\nit is meant to introduce austerity in Europe. The agreement is expected to
\nenable Member States to apply the new rules this year when drafting the
\nnational budgets for 2025. The new regulations will help restore balance and
\nviability in the sector of public finance while at the same time advancing
\nstructural reforms, promoting investment, fostering economic growth and
\ncreating new jobs, the Belgian presidency of the EU Council informs. The reform
\nalso seeks to overhaul the Stability Pact elaborated at the end of the 1990s,
\nwhich caps government deficit at 3% of the GDP and public debt at 60% of the
\nGDP. Considered too harsh, the framework was never truly observed and was
\nlabeled obsolete. Debt-ridden countries in southern Europe such as France
\ninsisted on making the system more flexible, while frugal countries in
\nnorthern Europe rallied around Germany’s call for tighter budget regulations. <\/p>\n
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TENNIS – Romanian tennis
\nplayer Ana Bogdan (65 WTA) is taking on another Romanian, Jaqueline Cristian
\n(81 WTA), in the semi-finals of the Transylvania Open hosted by Cluj-Napoca,
\noffering over 267 thousand USD in total prizes. Previously, Ana Bogdan defeated
\nthe top seed Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands (45 WTA) in a dramatic game, 2-6,
\n7-6, 7-6, whereas Jaqueline Cristian ousted Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia (656 WTA), 6-3, 7-5.
\nAna Bogdan leads 2-0 head-to-head, having defeated Cristian in 2012 in Istanbul
\nand in 2023 in Parma. In the other semi-final match, Harriet Dart of Great
\nBritain (103 WTA) is playing Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic (78 WTA).
\nIn the women’s doubles, the Romanian pair Jaqueline Cristian \/ Andreea Mitu
\nlost to the American pair Caty McNally \/ Asia Muhammad, 6-3, 6-2 in the
\nsemi-finals. (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":[116417,116418,31287,29053,37532,162765],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-612148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-aid-for-romanian-farmers","tag-budget-reform","tag-elections-in-romania","tag-european-commission","tag-moldovas-eu-accession","tag-transylvania-open-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n