September 14, 2021 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news.

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Newsroom, 14.09.2021, 20:00

EPPO — The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) announced on Tuesday that since it started its operations on 1 June 2021, it has registered more than 1700 crime reports from participating EU Member States and private parties. 300 investigations have been opened, with some crime reports still under evaluation. The damage to the EU budget that is estimated to have occurred as a result of the activities currently under investigation is almost 4.5 billion euros. The European Public Prosecutor’s Office is an independent and decentralised prosecution office of the European Union, with the competence to investigate, prosecute and bring to judgment crimes against the EU budget, such as fraud, corruption or serious cross-border VAT fraud. At this stage, there are 22 participating EU countries. Denmark, Ireland, Hungary, Poland and Sweden do not participate in the EPPO. Of the participant countries, Slovenia has not yet appointed its delegate-prosecutors, a situation emphasized repeatedly by the EPPO chief, the Romanian Laura Kovesi, France Press reports.

CORONAVIRUS – Romania reported 4,000 new Covid cases on Tuesday from around 47 thousand tests, as well as 96 new deaths. 675 Covid patients are in intensive care, their number being on the rise. The coordinator of Romania’s mass vaccination campaign Valeriu Gheorghita said the vaccination rate among children over the age of 12 is nearing 15%, which he described as “insufficient”. He warned that the number of intensive care admissions among children is likely to grow. More than 5.2 million people are fully vaccinated in Romania, which accounts for only a third of the eligible population.

ENERGY – Romanian president Klaus Iohannis on Tuesday received a delegation from the Italian energy and utility group Enel led by the latter’s director Francesco Starace. Iohannis said at the meeting that a joint effort of energy companies and state authorities was needed, to take the best measures to protect vulnerable consumers and companies in the production sector, which have been highly affected by the current increase in energy prices. Iohannis emphasised the need for considerably more investment in the development of new production units in the energy sector, that should consolidate Romania’s and the region’s energy security. The Enel delegation also met with prime minister Florin Cîţu with whom they discussed, among others, about investment in renewable energy and digitization. The Enel visit to Romania comes amid hikes in wholesale electricity and gas costs and the prospect of significant increases in energy costs for end consumers this winter. In Romania, Enel controls two major electricity and natural gas suppliers, three electricity distribution operators, a renewable energy plant operator and the local branch of its advanced energy solution company, Enel X.

DEFICIT – Romania’s current account deficit passed 9 billion euros in the first seven months of the year, compared with 5.35 billion same time last year, according to a National Bank report. The country’s foreign debt also grew by over 6 billion euros since the beginning of the year, to reach 132 billion euros, of which almost 73% represents long-term foreign debt. The National Bank report also says that direct foreign investments grew to reach some 4 billion euros in the first seven months of the year.

LGBTIQ – The European Parliament adopted a resolution requiring the removal of all obstacles faced by LGBTIQ persons when exercising their fundamental rights, including freedom of movement, anywhere in the European Union, according to a statement published on Tuesday on the European Parliament’s website. Under the resolution, the marriages and registered partnerships formed in another member state must be recognised across the Union, while same-sex spouses and partners must enjoy equal treatment as opposite-sex couples. Following a ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union in the Coman & Hamilton case recognising that the term “spouse” includes same-sex spouses under the EU freedom of movement directive, the Commission is called on to take measures against Romania if the government does not update the domestic legislation to reflect this judgment, MEPs have requested. In June 2018, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that EU states cannot hinder the freedom of residence of a EU citizen by refusing to grant residency to their same-sex spouse from a non-EU country. The case referred specifically to the Romanian citizen Relu Adrian Coman and his American spouse Robert Clabourn Hamilton. MEPs also take note of the discrimination faced by LGBTIQ communities in Poland and Hungary.

PARTNERSHIP – Romania and the United States will continue to be a bulwark of Euro-Atlantic values and meet future challenges together as friends and allies, read a joint press statement from the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the US Department of State on Tuesday. The statement was released on the 10th anniversary of the signing of a joint declaration on Strategic Partnership for the 21st Century and the Agreement on the deployment of the Ballistic Missile Defense System in Romania. (EE)