December 9, 2015 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 09.12.2015, 12:15

The British PM
David Cameron was received in Bucharest on Wednesday by the Romanian President
Klaus Iohannis. The two talked about strengthening the strategic partnership
between their countries, with the military and security dimension playing a
major role, as Iohannis said. In turn, PM Cameron stressed that Great Britain
and Romania are partners within the EU and NATO and are also good business
partners, with trade exchanges standing at 3.5 billion Euros last year. Also on
Wednesday, David Cameron met with his Romanian counterpart Dacian Ciolos, who
said that Bucharest would like Great Britain to remain part of the EU, as this
benefits both London and Brussels. David Cameron’s visit to Romania is part of
a tour that also included Bulgaria and Poland, against the background of
negotiations on reconfiguring Great Britain’s relation with the EU. Also,
London is currently preparing a referendum on whether Great Britain should stay
in the EU or not. London would like to see a reforming of the EU, so as to serve
Great Britain’s interests, especially with regard to the free movement of
people, in particular the movement of the workforce. Romania, just like Poland,
excludes any limitation of the freedom of movement, which is one of the EU’s
fundamental principles. Most Romanian citizens who are currently in Great
Britain are very well integrated and contribute to that country’s economy
through the taxes and fees they pay, president Klaus Iohannis said.

On Wednesday, the Romanian Government
approved the 2016 draft budget. Education, health, defense and internal affairs
will get the highest amounts next year, while the Ministries of Labour and
Transport will get less. The budget was built on the basis of a deficit of 3%
of the GDP, as established by the EU, and an estimated economic growth of 4%.
Calculations indicated that budget revenues will be by 800 million Euros
higher than this year, and expenses, by
some 2.9 billion Euro higher, will also cover the fiscal relaxation measures
already approved. After the approval of the draft budget, a public debate will
be held, attended as a first also by members of NGOs and civil society.

Romania’s
president Klaus Iohannis has called a meeting of the country’s Supreme Defense
Council on Thursday. The agenda of the meeting includes, among other topics,
Romania’s 2015-2019 Defense Strategy and the planning of this country’s
participation in military operations abroad. Also, the members of the Council
will analyze the measures adopted by Romania with a view to applying the set of
sanctions established at international level, as well as the Report on the
National System of Terrorism Prevention and Combating. The latest meeting of
the Council was held on September 17th.

Romania
will be able to join the Eurozone as soon as possible, on condition it is
ready, in the sense of reaching a high degree of real convergence that should
continue after the adoption of the Euro,
says the governor of the National Bank of Romania, Mugur Isarescu.
According to him, the whole process of changing the currency is not necessarily
a technical move; it is more of a political process and requires a firm
commitment to be made by all representative parties. Previously, the
presidential advisor Leonard Orban said that Romania should adopt the euro as
soon as possible because new measures will be implemented as of 2018, which
might hamper the access of the other countries to the Eurozone. Romania would
like to join the Eurozone in 2019.

The Romanian deputies on Wednesday approved the
request made by the National Anticorruption Directorate to place MP Ioan Oltean
in temporary police custody, but rejected the one for the arrest of Catalin
Teodorescu. The two Liberal MPs are accused of corruption in a case regarding
the illegal payment by the National Authority for Property Restitution of some
24 million Euros in damages to a business man.

The third kamikaze who participated in
the attack on the Bataclan Concert Hall in Paris, on November 13th, was part of
a group young people from the east of France who went to Syria in late 2013,
according to a judiciary source, quoted by France Presse. Another two members
of the commando that attacked Bataclan have been also identified. They are
French jihadists too, originating from a Parisian suburb. 130 people died in
the attacks in Paris, which targeted Bataclan, bars and terraces and the area around
Stade de France, on the northern outskirts of the French capital.