October 29, 2023

Click here for a roundup of local and world news

Newsroom, 29.10.2023, 13:55

GOVERNMENT PM Marcel Ciolacu announced that
preparations have started for drafting the 2024 public budget. The government
will analyse the projects and programmes that went well, as well as the
investment applications for next year. On the other hand, the PM dismissed the
idea of other fiscal changes in addition to the ones for which his Cabinet has
taken responsibility before Parliament. The law on measures to ensure Romania’s
long-term financial sustainability, promulgated by president Klaus
Iohannis on Thursday, introduces
new taxes and tax raises and cuts off tax facilities.Some of the measures take effect
on November 1, while the others will be enforced as of January 1. Marcel
Ciolacu also estimated that the new pensions law will be endorsed in Parliament
by the end of next month and will take effect on January 1, 2024.

VISIT
The European Commission vice-president for Values and Transparency, Věra
Jourová, will be on an official visit to Romania on Monday, when she will have
meetings with president Klaus Iohannis, PM Marcel Ciolacu and other Cabinet
members. According to the European Commission, the EU official will discuss the
rule of law and reforms in the judiciary, Romania’s goals in the digital
decade, the digitisation projects included in the National Recovery and
Resilience Plan, as well as AI and fighting disinformation.

ISRAEL
Israel has moved to the second stage of the war against Hamas, namely the land
operation in Gaza Strip, the Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu announced. In a
televised address, he warned that this was going to be a long and difficult
war, aimed at freeing the hostages taken by the Palestinian terrorist group and
at destroying the military and leadership capabilities of Hamas. An Israeli
tactics expert described Israel’s current operation as modular, with
alternating attacks from 4 directions (water, air, land, and virtual). So far
the Israeli Army resorted to air strikes to hit Palestinian territory, after
the Hamas attacks of October 7 killed over 1,400 people in Israel. In turn, Hamas
says the Israeli retaliatory strikes killed over 8,000 people. According to an
Israeli army spokesman, the number of hostages held by Hamas was updated at 130.
The UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, voiced his surprise at the escalation
of Israel’s military attack on the Gaza Strip after the UN General Assembly issued
a resolution calling for immediate humanitarian ceasefire. Guterres said that
in spite of this international consensus, the bombing has reached unprecedented
levels. Pro-Palestinian rallies were organised on Saturday in many cities in
the world.

PEACE
The president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, attending a meeting in Malta,
called for a global model based on his 10-point plan for peace with Russia, Reuters
reports. An official list of the participants in the meeting is not yet
available, but attending were officials for European, South-American, Arab,
African and Asian countries. The plan includes clauses concerning the
restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, the pull-out of Russian troops,
protection of food and energy supplies, nuclear security and the release of all
prisoners. The co-chairs of the meeting, Ukraine and Malta, issued a joint
declaration that mentions the participants’ commitment to just and sustainable
peace, based on the UN Charter. The parties will take steps to arrange for a
possible peace summit at a later date.

DST On Saturday night, Romania switched to winter time, setting
clocks back one hour from 4 AM to 3 AM. Sunday is thus 25-hour long. Daylight
saving time, first suggested by the scientist Benjamin Franklin in 1784, is
currently used in 70 countries. The concept has come under debate in recent
years, with the EU asking member states to end seasonal clock changes and
choose either winter time or summer time, but a decision in this respect is yet
to be made. (AMP)