March 29, 2019 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 29.03.2019, 20:40

MEETING A new meeting brought together in
Snagov, close to Bucharest, on Friday representatives of Romania, Bulgaria,
Greece and Serbia. Prime ministers Viorica Dancila, Boiko Borisov, Alexis
Tsipras and Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic held talks on the headway made
in several joint regional projects in the fields of transportation,
infrastructure and energy. Romanian capital city Bucharest also played venue
for the fifth meeting of the High Level Cooperation Council between Romania and
Bulgaria. The tight partnership with a view to strengthening security, economic
development and the region’s connectivity was also tackled and upon the joint
session, the governments of the two countries signed several cooperation documents
in various fields of activity. According to Prime Minister Dancila, these are
referring to cooperation between the police forces of the two states in
emergency situations, to ways of boosting small and medium-sized enterprises as
well as streamlining the field of transports, improving navigation conditions
on the Romanian-Bulgarian sector of the Danube and transport connectivity
between the two states.

AMENDMENTS The government in Bucharest on
Friday amended a series of emergency ordinances, including the controversial 114
comprising fiscal measures. Introduced late
last year, the ordinance attracted a lot of heat from the business environment
in Romania. According to the government, the new amendments are based on the
opinions of those involved, with whom representatives of the ruling coalition have
held consultations of late, but the market reality has also been considered. Also
on Friday, the government brought amendments to laws regulating the Environment
Fund Administration Budget allowing the continuation of government programmes
aimed at renewing Romania’s car fleet with new non-polluting vehicles. Under
the fresh amendments, 35 thousand Romanians will have the chance of buying less
polluting vehicles, such as hybrid or electric cars. Romania will this year also
see the implementation of a programme providing for the installation of solar
panels that might allow citizens to produce their own green energy.

BREXIT European Council President,
Donald Tusk, has called an emergency leaders’ summit on April 10th after
British Parliament on Friday rejected for the third time the withdrawal
agreement. British Prime Minister Theresa May has voiced her deep regret for
the vote on Friday. According to a spokesperson for the government, Theresa May
will continue efforts to get her deal past the Commons. Under a decision made
by the European leaders at their latest summit in case of a new rejection,
Britain could crash out of the bloc on April 12. A Commission spokesman has
said shortly after the vote thatthe
EU has been preparing for a ‘no-deal’ scenario since December 2017 and is now
fully prepared for it. He has cautioned that a transition period will in no
circumstances be replicated in a ‘no-deal’ scenario.

(translated by bill)