December 19, 2022 UPDATE
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Newsroom, 19.12.2022, 19:48
Schengen — There is no justifiable reason not to welcome Romania and Bulgaria into the Schengen area, because all the conditions for accession are met, said the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, on Monday in Bucharest. In a press conference with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, she also stated that efforts were being made to solve this situation as soon as possible, even next year. ‘The external border of the European Union is defended. We see that all countries, including Romania, apply all components of the Schengen acquis, which answers any kind of concerns that could exist from this point of view, the Brussels official added. For his part, Klaus Iohannis said that the Schengen topic will not be on the agenda of the extraordinary European Council due on February 2023, and discussions will take place only on the sidelines of the meeting. We remind you that, at the beginning of the month, Austria blocked the Schengen accession of Romania and Bulgaria in the JHA Council, in contradiction with the position of the other member states, invoking issues regarding illegal migration.
Visit – The Romanian Foreign Minister, Bogdan Aurescu, had meetings in Chisinau with the Moldovan President Maia Sandu, the Parliament Speaker, Igor Grosu, and the Prime Minister Natalia Gavriliţa, with whom he discussed the European course of the Republic of Moldova (an ex-Soviet state with a majority Romanian-speaking population). Aurescu reiterated Romanias full support for managing the wide-ranging crises that Moldova is facing and for advancing at a determined pace the reforms necessary for joining the European Union. He mentioned the prompt steps that led to the supply, by Romania, in a critical period of energy crisis, of over 80% of the electricity needs of the Republic of Moldova. There was also an in-depth exchange of assessments regarding the security situation against the backdrop of Russias war of aggression against the neighboring state, Ukraine. Economically, at the end of the year, a record value of 3.5 billion dollars of trade between Romania and Moldova is expected, increasing by approximately 46% as compared to 2021.
Energy — The European energy ministers have reached an agreement on capping the price of natural gas, the Czech presidency announced on Monday in a Twitter post. The agreement comes after several weeks of talks on a package of emergency measures that have created divisions among member states in an attempt to respond to the energy crisis. According to documents consulted by Reuters, it was agreed that the gas price cap would be triggered when the quotes, at the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) gas hub in Amsterdam, reach 180 Euros for a Megawatt-hour (MWh) for three days. The same document shows that the cap could be introduced starting on February 15, 2023 and, initially, it will not apply to over the counter type transactions (outside the market).
Revolution – In Timisoara, in western Romania, the demonstrations marking the 33rd anniversary of the anti-communist revolution of December 1989 continued. The demonstrations bring back to attention the courage and sacrifice of the martyr-heroes, as well as the need for the young generation to carry forward the spirit of freedom. These days have seen marches on the route of the Revolution, religious services, wreaths laying ceremonies, concerts, exhibitions, film screenings and debates and a pilgrimage to the monuments of the Revolution Memorial. The demonstrations will culminate on December 20, the day Timişoara was declared the first city free of communism in Romania. The uprising against the communist regime in Romania broke out in Timişoara on December 16, 1989 and, from December 21, extended to Bucharest and other cities of the country. All in all, over 1,000 people died and around 3,000 were injured in the fighting that took place in the only country in Eastern Europe where the regime change took place violently.
Statistics — In 2021, the adjusted average annual salary for full-time employees in the European Union was 33,500 Euros, according to data published for the first time on Monday by the European Statistics Office (Eurostat). Last year, among the EU member states, the highest average annual salary was in Luxembourg (72,200 Euros), Denmark (63,300 Euros) and Ireland (50,300 Euros), and the lowest in Bulgaria (10,300 Euros), Hungary (12,600 Euros) and Romania (13,000 Euros). On the other hand, according to Eurostat, the hourly labor cost increased by 3.4% in the EU in the third quarter of the year, compared to the same period in 2021. The most significant annual advance was reported in Hungary and Bulgaria, but increases of over 10% also occurred in Lithuania, Poland, Greece and Romania.
Museum — Romania will provide voluntary financial contribution to support the Museum of the Victims of Communism in Washington. The museum is worth 3 million dollars and is granted in a single installment. The contribution is intended for the construction of the museum, as well as the creation of the section presenting the victims of the communist regime in Romania. The Foreign Ministry, the Romanian Academy, the National Council for the Study of Securitate Archives and other institutions in Romania can provide information, for the purpose of a good representation of the victims of communism in Romania. (LS)
