9 December, 2018

A round-up of todays news.

Newsroom, 09.12.2018, 13:46

Car registration. The Romanian
authorities are closely following Italy’s legislative changes regarding the
cars belonging to foreign residents and registered in another country, the
foreign ministry in Bucharest has said. The Romanian diplomatic mission in Rome
and its consular offices around Italy are ready to act to prevent possible
discriminations against Romanian citizens and provide consular assistance in
case of abusive measures from the local authorities in the implementation of
the new legal provisions, the ministry also says. On Saturday, Lodovic Orban,
the leader of the Liberals, the main opposition party in Romania, has called on
the government to take urgent action, saying that an amendment to the Italian
traffic code came into force on 4th December that forbids Romanian
citizens to drive cars registered in Romania if they have resided in Italy for
more than 60 days. If found to violate this provision, their cars are
confiscated, which is an act of discrimination by the Italian authorities, as Romanian
citizens should be able to enjoy the same rights across the European Union.

Schengen. MEPs
will debate on Monday and Tuesday a resolution calling on the Council of EU
ministers to take a swift and affirmative decision on the accession
of Bulgaria and Romania as fully-fledged members to the Schengen area. The
European Parliament gave its green light for Bulgaria and Romania to
join the Schengen area in in June 2011 and has reiterated its position several
times following the legislative resolution. The final decision has to be made
through a unanimous vote in the Council by EU ministers. Romania’s and
Bulgaria’s accession to the free-movement Schengen area has been postponed
repeatedly due to the opposition of several member states, who have invoked the
lack of legal reforms.

Regional project. The mayors of four cities in Romania, Timisoara,
Cluj-Napoca, Arad and Oradea, have signed a partnership called the Western
Alliance by which they hope to attract European funds for joint projects
straight from Brussels. They plan to create an inter-regional development
association aimed at improving mobility between the four cities by stepping up
the building of the Transylvania motorway, the construction of Via Carpatia and
the Timisoara-Belgrade motorway, building a high-speed railway connection
between the four cities, and supporting labour mobility and administrative
digitisation. The mayor of Cluj, the former prime minister Emil Boc, says the
initiative, which may benefit 1.5 million people, aims to bring prosperity to
communities and determine young people to stay in Romania. The Western Alliance
is open to other municipalities from around Romania.

Presidency. The
justice ministry in Bucharest has officially taken over the presidency of the Justice and Home Affairs
Council, justice minister Tudorel Toader has
announced. On the 6th and 7th December, he was in
Brussels to attend the latest meeting of this Council chaired by Austria, and
at the end of the meeting he officially took over the presidency, which Romania
will hold starting on 1st January. Toader was accompanied at the
meeting by Romania’s permanent representative to the European Union, ambassador
Luminita Dobrescu and staff from the justice ministry and Romania’s permanent
representation.

France protests. The increased
police presence has prevented an escalation of violence during Saturday’s
protests in France, according to the government in Paris. More than 130,000
people took to the streets demanding tax cuts, salary and pension increases,
the taxation of multinational companies and more purchasing power. This was the
fourth weekend of demonstrations from the so-called gilets jaunes,
or yellow vests despite the fact that the government has given up a few
days ago plans to introduce an ecological fuel tax next year. The
demonstrations ended in violence in the afternoon, when groups of hooligans and
criminals infiltrated the protesters and caused new destruction in Paris and
other cities. More than 1,000 people have been detained and 100 wounded in the
clashes with the security forces.

Handball. Romania face the
Netherlands this evening in Nancy at the European Women’s Handball Championship
in France. The two sides are the only ones not to have lost a single match in
the championship so far. Romania had an excellent run in the group stage and
are now third favourite to win the European title. Last Wednesday, they
defeated the defending champions Norway for the first time in the last 18
years. Romania will next face Spain on the 11th December and Hungary
on the 12th.