January 26, 2023

A roundup of domestic and international news

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Newsroom, 26.01.2023, 13:55

Aid – This year, the state will grant aid worth 1,400 lei for the payment of energy, heat, gas or wood bills to certain categories of Romanians: pensioners, people with disabilities who have low incomes, beneficiaries of social aid and families receiving support allowance. There is only one condition: the net income of a family member should not exceed 2,000 lei (approx. 410 Euros). This aid will be granted as of February, by means of energy cards, which will be printed and distributed through the Romanian Post, based on the lists sent by the Ministry of Labor and Social Solidarity. According to the authorities, there are approximately four million beneficiaries of these cards.

JHA – Stockholm is hosting today and tomorrow, the first meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council (JHA) under the Swedish presidency of the Council of the European Union. The first day of discussions will be dedicated to home affairs, while the second day will focus on justice-related topics. It is the first meeting of the justice and interior ministers of the EU countries, after the December 2022 meeting, when Romania and Bulgaria received a negative vote from Austria and the Netherlands regarding their accession to the free travel Schengen area. This time, the topic of Schengen expansion is not on the JHA Council’s agenda. Last week, the Romanian Interior Minister, Lucian Bode, stated that accession to the Schengen area remained an extremely important objective for Romania and that the subject would be discussed on the sidelines of the meeting. The Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, said in the press conference that preceded the JHA council that the ministers would discuss a new strategy of returning to the countries of origin the migrants who entered the EU illegally, after the Netherlands demanded that the EU should oblige several countries to take over their citizens considered ineligible to stay on the territory of the community bloc, by restricting their access to visas. On Tuesday, on the occasion of the launch of a new strategy to increase the rate of deportations from the EU, the European Commission announced that more than 300,000 illegal migrants were registered in 2022 alone.

Weather – In Romania, in the extra-Carpathian regions, the weather is generally overcast, with persistent clouds and slight rains. Rain and sleet are reported in the south-east, and in the south and east snowfalls prevail. Snow will be reported also in the mountain areas, and a new layer of snow will be registered in the Southern and the Curvature Carpathians. In the west, center and northwest of the country, the sky is temporarily cloudy. Maximum temperatures range between 0 and 8 degrees Celsius. Meteorologists have issued a code yellow alert for rainfalls, hail, strong winds for several counties in the south and center of the country, valid from Thursday afternoon until Friday morning. From tomorrow morning until Saturday evening, a yellow code alert for precipitation in the form of rain and snow, blizzard and strong winds will also be in place for the south-eastern part of Romania, but also for several counties in the center, east, south and southwest.

Ukraine – Now that the United States and Germany have pledged to send advanced tanks to Ukraine, their rapid delivery in sufficient numbers is vital for defense against Russia, said President Volodymyr Zelensky, who thanked the allies for their decision. The United States and Germany announced on Wednesday that they would send Abrams and Leopard 2 tanks respectively to Ukraine. The decision, long awaited in Kyiv, would help the Ukrainian army in a possible spring counteroffensive against the Russian forces in the occupied territories. Moscow described sending tanks to Ukraine as a dangerous provocation.

Government – The Romanian government establishes, in todays meeting, the guarantee ceiling for the ‘Noua Casa’-New House program. On the agenda of the meeting is also the amendment of the law regarding the support granted in agriculture for the purchase of diesel oil. The government will also establish the level of the diesel oil subsidy to be paid this year and the amount allocated for payment from the budget of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. The government is also to set up a commission to solve disputes in the field of immovable cultural heritage. Also, the executive will approve, through a decision, the framework agreement between the Government of Romania and the Swiss Federal Council regarding the implementation of the second Swiss contribution in certain EU member states for the reduction of economic and social differences within the EU, signed in Bucharest, last December. (LS)