December 26, 2024
A roundup of domestic and world news
Newsroom, 26.12.2024, 13:55
Christmas – For New Rite Orthodox Christians, Greek Catholics and Catholics all over the world, including Romania, which has a majority Orthodox population, December 26 is the second day of Christmas, the celebration of the Nativity, one of the biggest in Christianity. On December 26, the Orthodox Church celebrates the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God, one of the oldest feasts in honor of the Virgin Mary. The holiday was established 1,500 years ago. Christmas is a celebration of generosity and compassion, of the revival of hope for a better future, President Klaus Iohannis wrote on a social network. Christmas is a celebration of joy, and true faith is the one that works through love, says the Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, Daniel. At the Vatican, Pope Francis made a new call for peace in Ukraine and in the Middle East. Old Rite Orthodox believers, who form the majority in Russia, Ukraine, Serbia and Georgia, celebrate Christmas on January 7.
Government – One of the priorities of the new Romanian government is to draft next year’s budget, which seems to be, at the same time, the main difficulty it will face in the assumed effort to reduce expenses. The draft budget is based on a new emergency ordinance regarding fiscal-budgetary measures, which is to be approved in the following days. In includes a large part of the unpopular measures that the government must implement in order to reduce the deficit. Some of the measures are the freezing of salaries and pensions in 2025 or the taxation of large fortunes. The investiture of the new government in Bucharest, made up of the PSD-PNL-UDMR, sent a positive signal to Romanian businessmen and to foreign investors, claims the Prime Minister and social-democratic leader Marcel Ciolacu.
Schengen – As of January 1, 2025, when Romania enters the Schengen free travel area also with land borders, 33 border crossing points with Hungary and Bulgaria, as well as from the Black Sea and the maritime Danube, will be permanently closed, namely 17 road and rail crossing points located on Romania’s western border with Hungary and 14 road crossing points, including ferry crossings, rail and port crossing points on the border with Bulgaria and two port crossing points from Brăila and Cernavodă. The Interior Ministry has put up for debate a draft government decision in this regard. From the beginning of 2025, there will no longer be checks at the borders with Hungary and Bulgaria at the crossing points. Such checks will only be done randomly, based on risk analysis. Lifting controls at the land borders takes place after the so-called partial accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen area, made at the end of March, when they joined the area only with the air and sea borders.
Recovery and Resilience – At the beginning of this week, Romania received over 37 million Euros from the European Commission as part of the second payment request from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan following the COVID-19 pandemic. So far, Romania has received 9.4 billion Euros out of a total of over 28 and a half billion Euros allocated to it. In mid December, the Romanian Government sent the European Commission the payment request number three, which involves a financing of 2.7 billion Euros. The money is given in the form of grants, and a series of reforms must be carried out in return.
Moldova – The Russian Foreign Ministry accused NATO, on Wednesday, of trying to turn the Republic of Moldova into a logistics center for the supply of the Ukrainian army and of trying to bring its military infrastructure closer to Russia. Maria Zaharova, the spokeswoman for the ministry, said that the majority of the population of the Republic of Moldova (mostly Romanian speaking) does not want to join the military alliance. She referred to the extensive arms transfers to Moldova in recent months and to Maia Sandu’s pro-Western views. In Bucharest, President Klaus Iohannis congratulated Maia Sandu on taking over her second mandate. Romania and the Republic of Moldova will continue to work for well-being, stability, European values, resilience and democracy, said Klaus Iohannis. On December 24, Maia Sandu was officially inaugurated as president of the Republic of Moldova. In her speech, she emphasized that European integration and justice reform remain the main objectives in her second term. Despite the regional and global crises, caused by the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, external threats and the Kremlin’s energy blackmail, the Republic of Moldova managed to maintain peace and advance on the European path, she said. Maia Sandu is the first woman to hold this position and the first president elected by direct vote, who obtained two mandates. (LS)
