December 12, 2022 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 12.12.2022, 20:00

TALKS The vote in the JHA
Council is very problematic for all of us in Romania. I was disappointed and
upset following this vote, the president of Romania Klaus Iohannis said on
Monday, after receiving the president of the Swiss
Confederation Ignazio Cassis in Bucharest. The Romanian president added that he
would most certainly raise the issue of Romania’s denied Schengen bid at the
meeting of the European Council due on December 15. Romania should be a part of
Schengen, the Swiss president said in his turn. The 2
officials discussed bilateral relations and economic cooperation, with an emphasis
on boosting investments and identifying new areas of cooperation, and exchanged
views on the latest international developments, including the war in Ukraine
and its implications for the energy market and global security.

FUNDING Romania’s PM Nicolae Ciucă Monday requested all ministries
and coordinating institutions to give maximum priority to completing the 51 benchmarks
and targets in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan related to the second
payment request, amounting to EUR 2.8 bln, which Romania is scheduled to submit
to the European Commission this month. This amount adds to the EUR 3.7 bln pre-financing
amount and to a first EUR 2.6 bln instalment already cashed in by Romania. We
cannot afford to deviate from our commitments, because a lot of elements
related to reform processes, investments and even economic stability depend on
us accessing this money, the PM said at a meeting of the inter-ministry
Committee Coordinating the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. The Committee
also reviewed the progress with respect to the 55 targets and benchmarks due
for the 3rd and 4th quarters of this year, related to the
3rd payment request that Romania is scheduled to submit to the EC
this spring.

BUDGET In Bucharest, Parliament’s specialist committees Monday approved
the draft budgets of several ministries. The education, transport, development
and defence ministries will have higher budgets next year, while the energy,
justice and healthcare ministries will receive less money in 2023. The ruling
coalition said the budget bill is based on record high investments and accounts
for 7.2% of GDP. It takes into account an economic growth rate of 2.8% of GDP,
an annual inflation rate of 8%, a growing number of people in employment and a
lower unemployment rate of 2.7%. The opposition has criticised the budget bill.
Both the power and the opposition have submitted amendments. The final vote is
due on Thursday.

MOTION Save Romania Union in
opposition Monday tabled a simple motion against the interior minister Lucian
Bode, whom they see as responsible for Romania’s failure to join the Schengen free-movement
area. According to the party, Bode shares this responsibility with the
president Klaus Iohannis, with the parliamentary majority and the diplomacy in Bucharest.
USR also invited the foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu to give Parliament
explanations on this topic. Several EU member states voiced their
disappointment with the denial of Romania’s and Bulgaria’s Schengen accession bids.
Moreover, the EU commissioner for home affairs, Ylva Johansson, said this would
be a priority of her term in office.

EU European democracy is under attack, the head of the European
Parliament Roberta Metsola said on Monday, voicing her outrage and sadness following
allegations of corruption in the European Parliament in relation to Qatar. In
turn, the president of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, Monday
called for EU institutions to be governed by the highest standards of
independence and integrity. The EU high representative for foreign affairs Josep
Borrell described the EP corruption allegations as being of the utmost
concern. Eva Kaili, a vice-president of the European parliament from Greece, and
3 other individuals were detained and charged in Belgium in an international corruption
investigation related to Qatar. The 4 were charged with participation in a criminal
organisation, money laundering and corruption.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS The Romanian diplomacy chief Bogdan Aurescu took part on Monday in Brussels in an informal meeting concerning the future of the Eastern
Partnership, organised at the initiative of Minister Aurescu and his counterparts
from Czechia, Sweden and Poland, and in a meeting of the Eastern Partnership
foreign ministers. In
his addresses, Bogdan Aurescu pleaded for revitalising the Eastern Partnership
and for adapting it to the new regional context, and reiterated Romania’s firm
and continuing support for it. He argued that the Eastern Partnership can make
a significant contribution to strengthening the stability, security and
prosperity in the Eastern Neighbourhood, by consolidating regional cooperation,
the security and resilience of partners and through an adequate joint response to
the challenges facing the region. Mr. Aurescu also emphasised that in the new
context generated by Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, a more robust
and more efficient security dimension of the Eastern Partnership is necessary.

MEETING The Romanian justice minister, Cătălin
Predoiu, had a meeting on Monday in Luxembourg with the head of the European
Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), Laura Codruţa Kovesi. According to the
Romanian justice ministry, the 2 officials discussed the protection of the EU’s
financial interests, the EPPO human resources issue and the broadening of the
Office’s powers to include the prosecution of breaches of EU sanctions. I am
confidence that an in-depth dialogue with the EPPO may lead to ideas and
solutions to make the cooperation between national and EPPO prosecutors more
efficient. After all, they all fight crime, which affects both the interests of
the EU and the national interests of member states, Catalin Predoiu said. (AMP)