December 15, 2017
Thousands of Romanians line up to say farewell to their last king; Parliament prepares its final report on the 2018 draft budget
Corina Cristea, 15.12.2017, 13:58
ROYALTY — Romania is in its second day of three days of national mourning for its last sovereign, King Mihai I. He passed away on December 5 in Switzerland, at the age of 96. Thousands of Romanians stood in huge lines to attend the laying in state ceremony. King Mihai will be interred on Saturday in Curtea de Arges, the final resting place of his wife, Queen Anne, and the other three kings of Romania who preceded him. The funeral will be attended by European monarchy and numerous other officials.
BUDGET — In Parliament in Bucharest, the joint budget and finance committees plan to finalize on Friday their debates and draw up the final report for the 2018 draft budget. The day before, the Finance Minister warned that the proposal to supplement funds for the Ministry of Romanians Abroad is a no go for lack of funding. In addition, Minister Ionut Misa said that the budget for the ministry of diaspora went up 45% compared to 2017. The draft budget is supposed to be submitted for debate in plenary session this coming Monday, while the final vote on it and on the social insurance draft is scheduled for December 21. The budget assumes an economic growth of 5.5%, with supplementary income supposed to be shared between health, education and investment. The executive also expects to provide resources for raising the minimum wage and pensions. The budget is contested by the opposition, which claims expected income is over-evaluated.
BREXIT — European Union leaders are evaluating on Friday progress made in negotiations with the UK in three key areas: citizen rights, the Northern Ireland border, and the costs of separating from the Union. They are set to decide if they will be going to the second stage of negotiations, that on future relations between Brussels and London. At the summit, President Klaus Iohannis said that he was pleased with results so far, which he said grant him hope that a clear understanding will be reached by the end of next year. The first stage of the accord, according to Iohannis, settles issues facing Romanians working in the UK. British PM Theresa May called on the 27 member countries to go to the next stage of discussions as soon as possible, and said she wished the EU remain a special and reliable partner. Also on Friday, an extended Euro summit takes place, allowing discussions between European leaders on the process of consolidating the economic and monetary union. President Klaus Iohannis will reiterate on this occasion Romanias commitment to join the Eurozone when conditions are propitious.
SCHENGEN — Romanian and Bulgarian Euro MPs committed to work together towards their countries joining the European Union and the Schengen area, passing a common statement to this extent at an informal meeting in Strasbourg. They recalled the fact that European Union members in the free travel area admitted that legal conditions have been met by the two countries to join, which was initially scheduled for 2011. Euro MPs Victor Boştinaru and Andrey Kovatchev, leading the proceedings, said that Romanian and Bulgarian Euro MPs of all political leanings committed to work together to ensure that Bulgaria in 2018 and Romania in 2019 will hold successful presidencies of the European Council rotating presidencies.
DANUBE — Romania will be holding the presidency of the European Union Strategy for the Danube Region between November 2018 and November 2019, following the decision of the 14 member states of the organization. This allows Romania to promote at a European and regional level topics and initiatives of interest to Danube region states. This organization is a joint initiative by Romania and Austria, launched in 2011, meant to encourage economic and social development of the area and of the fourteen member states.
