February 16, 2017 UPDATE

President Klaus Iohannis promulgates state budget bill and social security bill for 2017.

Newsroom, 16.02.2017, 20:00

VISIT — Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Thursday met with the European Commission chief-negotiator for Brexit, Michel Barnier, who is on a visit to Bucharest. The meeting was scheduled ahead of Romania’s taking over the EU presidency in 2019, a year when Brexit negotiations are due to enter their final phase. President Iohannis said that Brexit negotiations should observe the rights of Romanians living in the UK. Iohannis also said that Romanians in the UK should enjoy the rights that had been granted to them even after the country’s leaving the EU. In his turn, Michel Barnier talked about the stage of the Brexit preparations and underlined the important role that Romania will play in this respect as country that will take over the EU presidency in 2019.

BRUSSELS — The European Commission is expecting that Romania’s progress in the fight against corruption should be irreversible, the first vice-president of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, said in a press conference held jointly with Romanian Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu on Thursday in Brussels. Timmermans also said that Romania would be getting support from the Commission to solve the issue of prison overcrowding. In his turn, PM Grindeanu said he considered nominating a person without political affiliation at the helm of the Justice Ministry.

BUDGET BILL – Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Thursday promulgated the budget bill and the social security bill for 2017. However, the President pointed out that the state budget was problematic because it included overestimated revenues and very high level of expenditure. On Tuesday, after a meeting with PM Sorin Grindeanu and Finance Minister Viorel Stefan, President Iohannis said that there was the risk of the budget deficit to exceed 3%, which would trigger the excessive deficit procedure by the European Commission. The state budget, proposed by Romania’s leftist government, is based, among other things, on a 5.2% economic growth rate, an inflation rate below 1.4% and an unemployment rate of 4.3%.

STRASBOURG – All EU citizens and third country nationals entering or leaving the EU will be systematically checked against databases, under a regulation voted by the European Parliament on Thursday in Strasbourg. The new regulation, which amends the Schengen Borders Code was presented by the European Commission in December 2015. It obliges member states to carry out systematic checks on all persons crossing EU external borders against databases of stolen and lost documents, the Schengen Information System (SIS) and other relevant EU databases. The rule change is a response to terrorist threats in Europe and the phenomenon of “foreign fighters”, i.e. EU citizens joining terrorist groups in conflict zones, such as Daesh in Syria and Iraq. The checks will be mandatory at all air, sea and land borders, on both entry and exit. Denmark, the United Kingdom and Ireland have all opted out of its scope.

ACTIVITY REPORT — The total value of assets seized or frozen last year by the Directorate for the Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism stood at 930 million euros. According to the institution’s activity report for 2016, total crime-related damages, as shown by cases solved last year, stood at 135 million euros, as compared to 173 million euros in 2015. Anti-mafia prosecutors solved over 13,000 cases last year, up by 12.5% as against 2015, with almost 4,000 people being prosecuted. Another 13,000 cases are still pending.

INFRINGEMENT — The European Commission has sent a letter of formal notice to Romania on retail trade of agricultural and food products. Large retailers from Romania are required to purchase at least 51% of food and agricultural products from local producers. The Commission raised concerns on the basis of the principle of free movement of goods. The joint Senate committees on European affairs and agriculture decided to set up a task force to harmonize Romanian legislation with EU regulations.

TRAVEL FAIR — Over 250 travel agents from 14 countries on Thursday and Friday are taking part in Romania’s Travel Fair. Agencies from Romania and Austria, Bulgaria, Egypt, Croatia, the Russian Federation, Greece, Israel, Moldova, Palestine, Poland, the Dominican Republic, Turkey and Hungary will be presenting visitors with customised offers, based on individual budgets and preferences, travel packages for Easter, the summer holidays as well as circuits. Travel agents have offers at 40-50% discounts, available only during the fair, transport offers for one euro only, air travel costs included and other benefits.

TENNIS — Romanian tennis player Horia Tecau and Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands on Thursday qualified to the semifinals of the men’s doubles of the Rotterdam Tournament with 1.7 million euros in prize money. They defeated Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez of Spain, the competition’s second seed, in two sets, 6-4, 6-4. The Romanian-Dutch team won this tournament in 2015.

(Translated by Elena Enache)