December 23, 2014 UPDATE

For a roundup of domestic and international events, click here.

România Internațional, 23.12.2014, 12:15

IOHANNIS – Europe would progress better if member state remained faithful to fundamental EU values, such as equality among partners, Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis told the French weekly L’Express. At the same time the president voiced disapproval of the two-gear Europe, claiming that each member state has the same rights and obligations. Iohannis believes differences between EU Member States are rather economic than conceptual. The Romanian official also said that European states are democracies, some faring better than other, newer ones, such as Romania.

DECISION — The Ukrainian Parliament has voted in favour in renouncing the country’s non-aligned status with a view to eventually joining NATO. The decision follows after Russia’s annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and the escalating of the conflict in Eastern Ukraine. The law is to be promulgated by president Petro Poroshenko. The president has put Ukraine’s NATO accession at the top of his foreign policy agenda. Russian Foreign Minister Serghei Lavrov has warned that Ukraine’s decision is counter-productive and does little to ease tensions between the two countries.

BUDGET – Romania’s Constitutional Court on December 29 will be looking into the challenge submitted by the parliamentary groups in opposition, made up of the National Liberal Party and the Liberal Democratic Party against the draft budget for 2015. MPs explained the decision to contest the document has been taken since the parties involved failed to meet the November 15 deadline when the draft budget bill was to be submitted, but also because the current Government failed to come up with an appropriate budget and fiscal strategy. Prime Minister Victor Ponta called for responsibility, underscoring the delay will take its toll on ordinary citizens themselves, all the more so since the challenge will stall the increase of pensions, the granting of subsidies or the VAT deduction in the tourism sector. This past Sunday Parliament passed the budget bill, which includes regulatory measures targeting economic growth, the creation of jobs, the increase of pensions and of the child rearing benefits, as well as the increase of allowances for people with disabilities. The draft budget structure is grounded on a deficit of 1.8% of the GDP, an inflation rate of 2.2% and an economic growth of 2.5%.

COMMEMORATION – Commemorating events dedicated to the December 1989 anti-communist revolution’s 25th anniversary continued in Bucharest on Tuesday. A military ceremony, a religious service and a wreath-laying ceremony were held at the Heroes Monument at the Henri Coanda International Airport. The event was organized by the Gendarmerie, to pay tribute to the 40 young military who lost their lives on the premises 25 years ago. On Monday, bells tolled in churches all across Romania and services were held in the memory of those who were killed in action. The anti-communist revolt broke out in Timisoara on December 16, 1989, and rapidly spread across Romania, to the capital and the country’s major cities. More than 1,000 people lost their lives and Romania is the former Eastern Bloc’s only country where the change of regime occurred violently, with the communist leaders being executed.

INFRASTRUCTURE – The Government in Bucharest on Tuesday examined the situation of Romania’s highway infrastructure. A Government spokesperson said the Ministry of Transportation will make public an information review on the General Transport Plan on its website, adding that a more detailed analysis will be made available in January. According to the Transport Ministry, at the end of 2014 the European Funds absorption rate stood at 59%, as part of the Operational Transport program. At present, Romania has 646 kilometres of highway, yet the government’s set target is to double the length of the highway infrastructure by 2018 and to subsequently expand the highway infrastructure. Romania is among Europe’s bottom-of-the-table countries in terms of number of highway kilometres. Spain and Germany are on top position with 16,000 and 12,000 kilometres of highways, respectively.

REPATRIATION – The ceremony marking the repatriation of the military from the “Carpathians Falcons “ infantry battalion, who have recently returned home, after a six-month mission they took in Afghanistan was held on Tuesday. The 124 military, jointly with the international coalition and the Afghan security forces provided ground defence for the Kandahar airport. For “exceptionally well executed service”, all Romanian military were awarded appreciation certificates by their American counterparts.

SUMMIT – The Eurasian Economic Union’s launching Summit kicked off in Moscow on Tuesday. The union is made up of Russia, Belarus, Armenia and Kazakhstan. Armenia will become a full member on January 2, while Kyrgyzstan signed the accession Treaty and hopes to become a full member in 2015. The Treaty provides for the free circulation of products, capital and workforce and for coordinating policies in the fields of industry, agriculture, energy and other sectors. Russian president Vladimir Putin said a single market would become available, comprising 170 million consumers, with a GDP of 4.5 trillion dollars. The Summit is held against the backdrop of a comeback of the Russian currency, in the wake of the sharp drop the Rouble saw last week and tensions between founding states.

WAR ON TERROR — The assassination of foreign journalists by members of the Islamic State group turned 2014 into one of the bloodiest years for that professional category at global level, according to the annual survey compiled by the Committee to Protect Journalists, France Presse reports. The Committee also revealed that in 2014 at least 60 journalists were killed, most of them coming from the West. Around a quarter of the journalists killed in 2014 were war correspondents, the aforementioned Committee also revealed. For the first time since 2001, Committee to Protect Journalists has found out that in Ukraine journalists were killed while on the job. The bloodiest death toll for journalists has revealed that for the third year in a row, Syria comes on top position, with 17 journalists killed. Nearly half of the journalist who lost their lives in 2014 were killed in the Middle East.