December 5, 2023 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 05.12.2023, 20:00
Conference. Romania is interested in developing, using and producing green technologies, Romanias president Klaus Iohannis said on Monday, at the UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai. At the Sustainable Innovation Forum 2023 Klaus Iohannis stressed that in order to effectively respond to climate change, governments must develop a strong partnership with businesses, financial institutions, research and innovation bodies and NGOs. He pointed out that the large university centers, such as those in Bucharest and Cluj (north-west), focus on innovations in the field of sustainable construction materials and energy efficiency applications. Also, Romanian companies support the progress of heat pump technology, essential for the decarbonization of the building heating and cooling sector, president Iohannis added.
Visit. The Romanian Prime Minister, Marcel Ciolacu, had a meeting, on Tuesday, with representatives of the leadership of the House Armed Forces Committee, co-presidents Mike Rogers and Adam Smith, during his working visit to the United States . He thanked for the excellent level of the bilateral political dialogue, as well as for the contribution of the US Congress to the strengthening of the strategic partnership between the two countries. The prime minister also emphasized the importance of developing and deepening this partnership in all its dimensions of cooperation, especially in the fields of defense, security, energy, trade and investments. Previously, Ciolacu met with the head of diplomacy in Washington, Antony Blinken, with the Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, and with the Secretary of Energy, Jennifer Granholm.
Taxation. The Romanian Senate adopted on Tuesday, as the first chamber notified, the bill initiated by the Government, which aims to tax the profits of large companies with a minimum rate of 15%. These are large multinational and national groups or enterprises whose consolidated annual turnover is at least 750 million euros. The document transposes a European directive into national legislation and, according to the statement of reasons, its implementation will have a positive impact on the state budget. The normative act will go to the Chamber of Deputies for the decisional vote
ICC. The Romanian MFA welcomes the election of Prof. Iulia Motoc as a judge of the International Criminal Court (ICC), on the occasion of the elections organized on Monday in New York. According to the ministry, this designation, a first for Romania, represents a success of Romanian diplomacy and reconfirms the countrys profile as a state deeply attached to the international law and the international rule of law, as well as to the values of humanism constantly supported by Romanian diplomacy. Currently, 123 states are parties to the Statute of the ICC, which is complementary to the national criminal jurisdictions, its competences covering the most serious crimes that concern the entire international community. Iulia Motoc is a former judge at the European Court of Human Rights and a former judge of the Constitutional Court. We recall that Bogdan Aurescu, a former foreign minister and presidential foreign policy advisor was elected, also in New York, a month ago, as a judge of the International Court of Justice, becoming the first Romanian to hold this position.
Constanta. Last year, the Romanian Black Sea port of Constanta had one of the most significant increases among European ports, by the amount of cargo handled – over 15%. It ranked third, after the ports of Gdansk in Poland and Cartagena in Spain, according to the data published by the European Statistics Office. The Netherlands remained the largest maritime freight carrier in the European Union in 2022. The Dutch ports of Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Zeeland handled 565 million tons – i.e. 16% of the total volume of goods handled in the Union last year.
Moldova. The Republic of Moldova marked on Tuesday ten years since the Constitutional Court decided that the official language was Romanian, as established in the Declaration of Independence. However, the implementation of the decision started only this year. The 2013 Decision of the Court reads that the Declaration of Independence of the Republic of Moldova, which stipulates that the state language is Romanian, prevails in relation to the Constitution, which referred to the so-called “Moldovan language”, a Soviet invention to justify the territorial abduction of Bessarabia and the denial of the Romanian identity of the population. It was a decision with a much greater impact than its linguistic dimension, because the Court actually established the membership of the Republic of Moldova in the European space – says the expert Alexandru Tănase. (MI)
