2 March 2017

The Romanian government says its main priority is to attract 5.2 billion euros of European funds by the end of the year. /The unemployment rate in Romania stood at 5.4% in January, the lowest since 2008.

Newsroom, 02.03.2017, 13:40

European funds. The main priority of the Romanian government
is to attract European funds worth 5.2 billion euros by the end of the year,
said the minister for regional development and deputy prime minister Sevil
Shhaideh. Romania lost 3.5 billion euros of the entire amount of European funds
it was entitled to between 2007 and 2013 and has so far managed to attract
about 1% of the 30 billion euros available to it in the 2014-2020 period. The
average absorption rate at European level for this financing period stands at
3%.

EU. Romania has the extraordinary opportunity to take
part, for the first time since it joined the European Union, in the reform of
the 27 member bloc which must now lay out its vision depending on its citizens’
expectations and the political decisions of the member states, said the European
commissioner for regional policy Corina Cretu. The president of the European
Commission Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday launched for public debate a White
Paper on the future of the Union after UK’s exit. The document lays down the
main challenges and opportunities for Europe in the next decade, providing five
possible scenarios for the future of a 27-member European Union.

Unemployment.
The unemployment rate in January in Romania stood at 5.4%, which is 0.1% lower
than in the previous month, thus reaching the lowest level since 2008,
according to the latest data published by the National Institute for
Statistics. According to Eurostat, the amount of government funds allocated by
Romania to support public policies to boost employment stands at 0.2% of the
GDP, which is the lowest level in the European Union.

Brexit. The House of Lords in the British Parliament has
voted to guarantee the rights of the 3 million EU citizens living in the UK and
allow them to stay in the country after Brexit. The vote in the House of Lords
is the first defeat suffered by the Brexit bill proposed by the government.
However, this amendment can still be overturned by MPs when the bill returns to
the House of Commons. The bill gives prime minister Theresa May the authority to
trigger Brexit under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty and to start official
negotiations. The amendment passed by the Lords call on the government to set
out proposals on how to guarantee the rights of EU nationals within three
months of triggering Article 50. Theresa May says she will start the exit
process before the end of March.

France elections. The European
Parliament today voted to lift the parliamentary immunity of the French
far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen for tweeting pictures of
atrocities committed by the Islamic State. In a separate case, she is
investigated for allegations that she misused EU funds to pay aides. According
to the latest poll, Le Pen would win the first round of the presidential
elections in France on the 23rd of April. The centrist candidate
Emmanuel Macron, a former economy minister under the Socialist president
Francois Hollande, is in second place in the polls, followed by the candidate
of the French right Francois Fillon, who is facing a formal investigation over
a fake job scandal involving his wife and who has to appear before magistrates
on the 15th of March.

Football. Dinamo
Bucharest face ACS Poli Timisoara in the final of the Romanian football League
Cup on the 20th of May. On Wednesday in the second leg of the
semifinals, Dinamo defeated Steaua Bucharest 3-1, after a 4-1 win in the first
leg. On Tuesday, Poli Timisoara defeated ASA Targu Mures 3-1 in the second leg,
after a 4-2 win in the first leg. Re-established in 2014, the League Cup is a
competition for the teams in the top division, while the Romanian Cup is open
to all football clubs irrespective of what division they are playing in.