October 2, 2018 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 02.10.2018, 19:07

BUCHAREST – According to
President Klaus Iohannis, Romania supports a close cooperation between the EU
and Great Britain after Brexit and Bucharest is interested in an agreement on
foreign security. Also with regard to Brexit, the president has stated that
Romania firmly supports the importance of negotiating an ambitions regulation
framework regarding citizens’ mobility, by observing the principles of
reciprocity and non-discrimination. The statements were made during the meeting
in Bucharest with the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier. Barnier stated in
turn that Romania, as holder of the presidency of the EU Council in the first
half of 2019, will play a major role in ensuring the necessary institutional
framework that would ensure an ordered withdrawal of the UK and also the smooth
running of negotiations on the future relations between the EU and the UK. Also
on Tuesday, Barnier met with the Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila, who
stated that Romania was interested in having all Romanian citizens residing in
Great Britain continue to live, work and study as before.

BREXIT – British PM
Theresa May announced on Tuesday new regulations for migration in the UK, to
come into effect after Brexit, favoring qualified workers. Details will be
provided in a speech to be held on Wednesday at the Conservative Party congress
in Birmingham. According to the new regulations, people who want to settle in
Great Britain will have to have a minimum level of income in order to guarantee
they would not take jobs away from British citizens. Student visas are not
subject to those regulations. EU citizens are right now free to move to the UK,
which will no longer be the case after Brexit, planned to come into effect in
2020.

RULE OF LAW – Romanian PM
Viorica Dancila and Justice Minister Tudorel Toader will attend in Strasbourg on
Wednesday the debates in the European Parliament regarding the rule of law in
Romania. On Monday, the Civil Liberties Committee of the European Parliament
was the venue for debates between Euro MPs of various political parties and the
First Vice-President of the EC Frans Timmermans. The latter said that the changes made by
the authorities in Bucharest in terms of the judiciary worried not only
Romanians, many of whom took to the streets to protest, but the entire EU.
Frans Timmermans said that if the EC concluded that European common rules were
violated, it would not hesitate to bring the Romanian Government to court.

VAT – The European
Commission will support Romania in combating VAT fraud, given that the country registers
a 36% collection deficit, said on Tuesday the Romanian Finance Minister Eugen
Teodorovici. The statement was made after the meeting Teodorovici had in
Luxembourg with Pierre Moscovici, the European Commissioner for Economic and
Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs. At the meeting, Teodorovici assured
the EU official that the Romanian presidency of the EU Council will promote the
solving of VAT-related cases, with focus on the reform of VAT quotas. In
another move, Commissioner Moscovici accepted the invitation extended by
Teodorovici to pay a visit to Romania in November.

MOTION – On Tuesday, the
Romanian Senate rejected the simple motion filed by the opposition National
Liberal Party and Save Romania Union against the Transport Minister Lucian
Sova. The signatories accused him of mismanagement of the country’s roads and
railroads. A similar vote will be held in the Chamber of Deputies on Wednesday,
this time against the Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici. According to the Liberals,
Teaodorovici must answer for the failure of the fiscal and taxation strategy.

APPOINTMENT – On Tuesday,
Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis signed the decree appointing the Minister of
European Funds, Rovana Plumb, as interim Minister of Education. The holder of
the office, Valentin Popa, announced his resignation last week, after a meeting
with the leader of the Social Democratic Party Liviu Dragnea. That was the
second resignation in the cabinet headed by Viorica Dancila, after the one of the Research
Minister Nicolae Burnete.

NOBEL – The US scientist
Arthur Ashkin has won the Nobel Prize for physics, alongside Gerard Mourou of
France and Donna Strickland of Canada, for research into laser physics, which
the Swedish Royal Academy of Science deemed revolutionary. This year’s Nobel
Prize season opened on Monday with the announcement for the Nobel Prize in
medicine. US researcher James P. Allison and Japanese researcher Tasuku Honjo
were granted the prize for new cancer therapies. On Wednesday, the prize for
chemistry will be announced, while on Friday the Nobel Peace Prize will be
awarded. The prize for literature will not be awarded in 2018, for the first
time after almost 70 years.

HEALTHCARE – The month of
October is dedicated to the fight against breast cancer. Organizations all
across the world are encouraging education and research regarding this danger. The
Romanian Health Minister Sorina Pintea has stated that almost 9,000 cases of
breast cancer are diagnosed annually in the country, of which 3,000 fatal.
According to the minister, many of them could be prevented through regular
check-ups.