January 20, 2016 UPDATE

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România Internațional, 20.01.2016, 12:15

VISIT – Romania supports all efforts to consolidate border controls and hopes this contribution will be recognized in addition to the additional Schengen accession criteria, which Romania has fulfilled, Romanian Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos said in Paris on Wednesday, after meeting with French President Francois Hollande. Dacian Ciolos pointed out that Romania was interested in joining a robust, consolidated and dependable Schengen area, supporting all initiatives in this respect. During the meeting the two officials also approached ways to intensify economic relations, common objectives in the fields of research, defence and education, the developments in Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, with regard to the latters efforts to join the EU. At the same time Francois Hollande accepted the invitation of visiting Romania this year. Dacian Ciolos is also due to meet with Romanian BA and MA students at the Sciences Politiques University, as well as with representatives of the Romanian community. On Thursday, the Prime Minister is set to meet heads of French businesses and hold official talks at the National Assembly headquarters.

MOLDOVA – The Moldovan Parliament on Wednesday passed the structure and programme of the new Cabinet led by Prime Minister designate Pavel Filip. The new Government got 57 votes in favour out of the total of 101. The head of Government thanked parliamentary parties for their support and promised to maintain a constructive dialogue with them, as well as with the opposition. A protest was also staged before the Parliament building. Unhappy with the vote, protesters forced the police security cordon, entering Parliament. Pavel Filip has this week been designated to form a new Cabinet, backed by a majority made up of Democratic, Liberal, former communist and a group of Liberal-Democratic MPs.

MEETING – On Thursday President Klaus Iohannis is meeting heads of diplomatic missions to Bucharest. The president will outline Romanias main foreign policy priorities for this year. The new Apostolic Nuncio to Bucharest, his Holiness Miguel Maury Buendia, will deliver a keynote address on behalf of the diplomatic corps.

RULING – The Constitutional Court of Romania ruled on Wednesday that the law giving special pension benefits to local elected officials is against the Constitution, as notified by the Government. The Court has found that the law is unclear, it discriminates between elected officials and fails to indicate the financing sources. On December 26, 2015, the Government notified the Court that some provisions in the law apparently breach the Constitution, in that they regulate privileges for certain local elected officials, they give special rights retroactively and fail to specify financing sources for the new benefits. The Government warned that there are at least 16,300 potential beneficiaries of the law, and the budgetary strain in 2016 may affect the stability of the fiscal-budgetary framework.

DEFENCE – Romanian Defence Minister Mihnea Motoc on Thursday will pay an official visit to Brussels, where he will hold talks with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and with his Belgian counterpart Steven Vandeput. The Romanian official will also meet with General Petr Pavel, the head of the NATO Military Committee at the NATO General Headquarters. Mihean Motoc will also visit Romanian patients who suffered burn injuries in the Colectiv nightclub fire tragedy last year. The patients are currently receiving specialized medical care at the Queen Astrid Military Hospital in the Belgian capital city. We recall that 63 people were killed in the fire at Colectiv on October 30, 2015.

BRUA – The BRUA pipeline, which will connect the natural gas networks of Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria, is a major Romanian contribution to enhancing the security of the EU natural gas supplies, by diversifying sources for Central Europe, says the Romanian Ministry of Energy. The Connecting Europe Facility-Energy Committee in the European Commission Tuesday validated the allocation of 179 million euros for the works to be carried out by the Romanian company Transgaz on the national natural gas transport system in view of the development of the BRUA pipeline. The Commission said the BRUA inter-connector is a key step to the development of the EU natural gas market, in that it will enable natural gas to reach Central Europe from the Caspian region and other sources. For 2014-2020, the Commission has earmarked 5.3 billion euro for the trans-European energy infrastructure.

COLD WEATHER – The weather is extremely cold in most regions. The capital city Bucharest and 19 counties in the south and the centre are under a code yellow alert against extremely low temperatures. Skies will be overcost in most regions, while dense fog is expected in the morning. From Thursday until the end of the week, meteorologists have extended the alert against cold snap to the majority of the country, except five counties in the west and northwest. Minimum temperatures will range from minus 17 to minus 4 degrees, while highs will range between minus 9 and plus 2 degrees.

MIGRATION – The European Commission is considering measures to distribute migrants more fairly across EU Member states, news agencies report. The President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, told the European Parliament on Tuesday that the Union has two months to bring the migrant crisis under control, otherwise the Schengen visa-free region may collapse. Donald Tusk also estimated that the EU as a political project would fail unless it manages to manage its external borders properly. He discussed strengthening border controls and stepping up the establishment of reception centres in Greece and Italy, where migrants will be classed as either economic migrants, to be repatriated, or refugees to be sent to Member States under the compulsory quota rules. Yesterday in Prague, the interior ministers of the Visegrad Group (Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia), reiterated their opposition to the compulsory quotas and asked for the set-up of efficient ‘hotspot’ centres. According to the figures proposed by the European Commission, Romania is to receive a total 6,351 refugees.

(Translated by V. Palcu)