February 28, 2016 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 28.02.2016, 12:15

The European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, Věra Jourová, is paying a visit to Bucharest on Monday. She will meet with the Romanian PM Dacian Cioloş, the justice minister, Raluca Prună, the labour minister Claudia-Ana Costea as well as with members of the Romanian Parliament. Talks will focus on several topics such as the progress Romania has made in reforming the judiciary, the contribution of the judiciary to the European Commission priorities such as the Single Digital Market and the European Agenda on Security. The European Commissioner will also participate in a round table discussion with NGOs active in the field of policies foe the integration of Roma citizens, in order to discuss Romania’s experience regarding the implementation of the national strategy for the integration of the Roma population.

An IMF mission is expected in Bucharest between March 2nd and 15th, for the annual assessment of the Romanian economy. The mission, led by the new head of the IMF mission for Romania, Reza Baqir, will meet with Romanian high officials, with representatives of the political parties, of trade unions, business associations, academic environment and the banking system. The assessment of the economy, is, according to Article IV of the IMF Statute, a compulsory monitoring exercise for all member states. At present, Romania has no running agreement with the IMF.

The former deputy governor of the National Bank of Romania, Cristian Popa, was appointed Vice- President of the European Investment Bank. He will take office on March 1. At the national bank, Cristian Popa coordinated the departments of monetary policy, forecast, European affairs and financial stability. In his new capacity as Vice-President of the EIB he said he was eager to support the financial institution’s involvement in Romania, Europe and at world level.

The Swiss voters rejected on Sunday, through referendum, the controversial proposal by the right-wing People’s Party to automatically deport foreigners who commit minor crimes. According to exit polls, about 59% of the voters opposed the People’s Party initiative. In 2010 the Swiss backed proposals to deport foreigners convicted of murder or sexual violence. The right-wing People’s Party now wants to strengthen that policy, and according to the new plan, those who commit two minor offences such as speeding or arguing with a police officer, should be deported automatically within 10 years. The critics of the proposal said deportation for minor crimes ran counter to the agreement between Switzerland and the EU regarding the free movement of people. Relations between Switzerland and the EU have soured after the success of the 2014 referendum on limiting immigration.

The main sides involved in the Syrian conflict accused each other, on Sunday, of infringing the ceasefire agreement, admitting that, the agreement was largely observed starting with the day after it came into force. The agreement, initiated by the US and Russia and supported by the UN Security Council, refers to the theaters of operations between the forces of the al-Assad regime and the Syrian rebels while the Jihadists from the organizations the Islamic State and the Al-Nusra Front (the Syrian wing of the Al-Qaida), which controls more than half of the Syrian territory, are excluded from the agreement. The civil war in Syria started in March 2011 and has so far killed over 270 thousand people. More than half of Syria’s population has left the country, most of the refugees destabilizing the Middle East and Europe.

The European Commission has criticized Belgium for having reintroduced controls at the border with France, for fear of a new flow of immigrants, after Paris announced they would dismantle the refugee camps in Calais. The EC draws attention to Belgium that these border checks can be introduced for a couple of days alone, and not for one month, as the Belgian government announced. The European Commissioner for Migration, Dimitris Avramopoulos, sent a letter to the Belgian PM, Charles Michel, reminding him that he failed to comply with the procedure and that the motivations of his government are illegal. Avramopoulos warned that, if the situation was not solved, a humanitarian crisis was likely to occur and the Schengen Space would collapse. So far 7 EU countries have reintroduced border checks in order to limit the number of refugees that reach Europe. In 2015 more than one million immigrants reached Europe and more than 100 thousand have entered Greece and Italy since the beginning of 2016. (news translated by Lacramioara Simion)