THE WEEK IN REVIEW

Leyla Cheamil, 19.10.2024, 14:00

The leaders of the EU countries, including the Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, met in Brussels on Thursday and Friday to discuss topics such as Ukraine, the situation in the Middle East, EU competitiveness, migration and foreign affairs. Also on the agenda was the European Union’s support signal, which it must give at the highest level for the Republic of Moldova, in the context of the upcoming elections and the referendum through which the population is asked if they want to join the EU. It is one of the points for which Romania insisted on appearing both in the debate and in the final declaration of the summit. A second element that Romania insisted on is the one in which the European leaders ask the European Commission to analyze the reasons why energy prices in Eastern and Southern Europe tend to be higher than those in the rest of the EU bloc. One of the problems would be the poor interconnectivity of the market and the blockage that occurs in the central region of Europe. Thus, countries like Romania cannot take advantage of the moments when the European market offers better prices. Migration, however, was a hot topic, given that the phenomenon continues to put pressure on the EU borders. On Wednesday, President Iohannis participated in the European Union – Gulf Cooperation Council Summit, held in Brussels. This first edition of the Summit represented a defining moment for the consolidation of the Strategic Partnership between the two regions and laid the foundations for in-depth cooperation in the upcoming period. The joint partnership focuses on the security, sustainable development and prosperity of the two regions, by stimulating bilateral trade and investments, energy cooperation and combating climate change and also on increased connectivity, including in the digital field and interpersonal contacts. Iohannis, pleaded for the updating and expansion of the contractual framework in the field of trade and investments, also supporting steps for visa liberalization. Romania is interested in improving connectivity between the two regions, through the development and expansion of some projects, such as the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor and under the umbrella of the Global Gateway, which would allow for a more efficient joint use of new technologies, energy sources and critical materials.

The European Commission provisionally approved Romania’s third payment request for PNRR

The European Commission has provisionally approved Romania’s third payment request for the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, but expects to receive additional information from the Bucharest Government, within a month, in order to make the full payment. According to the European Commission’s assessment, Romania has met only 62 of the 68 reform or investment milestones, which is why they propose the partial suspension of the payment until additional clarifications are provided. If they are considered sufficient, the Commission will make the full payment of the two billion euros. If not, the European Commission will make a partial payment to Romania, and our country will have a second period, this time of six months, to meet the outstanding milestones. The European Commission is going to say exactly the amount that will not be transferred to Bucharest from the payment request, in the amount of 2,700,000,000 euros. The Minister of Investments and European Projects, Adrian Câciu, said that the Government is already working to fulfill all the requests. Among the milestones achieved are the stimulation of energy efficiency in industry, the reform of the public pension system and investments to improve the energy efficiency of the existing building stock.

Romanian politicians under corruption charges

On Thursday, anti-graft prosecutors began to search the office of MP Nelu Tătaru, at the Municipal Hospital in Huşi (east), where he works as a surgeon. The searches take place after, at the beginning of the week, the Chamber of Deputies partially lifted the immunity of the former minister, accused of taking bribes from patients this year. Nelu Tătaru says that he is not guilty and that he has never conditioned the medical act on receiving material benefits. The former Minister of Health was stripped of all his political positions and was excluded from the lists for the parliamentary elections. On Wednesday, the Permanent Bureau of the Romanian Senate, during an online meeting, decided that the request to lift the parliamentary immunity of senator Eugen Pîrvulescu should be sent to the Legal Commission for the preparation of a report, and that it should be submitted to the vote of the plenary on Monday, October 21. Last week, Senator Eugen Pîrvulescu was placed under criminal investigation  in a case in which he is accused of instigation to influence peddling.

Victories for Romania in international football competitions

Romania’s youth team qualified for the 2025 European Under-21 Football Championship, after defeating Switzerland 3-1, on Tuesday evening, in Bucharest, in the last match of Group E of the preliminaries. The Romanians thus secured their fourth consecutive presence at an U-21 final tournament. Also on Tuesday evening, the Romanian national football squad defeated the Lithuanian team, 2-1, in Kaunas, in the Nations League C League (Group 2). It is the fourth victory of the Romanians in this tour, after the ones against Lithuania at home, Cyprus and Kosovo. Romania leads the group with 12 points. The Nations League will also have a direct effect on the European preliminaries for the 2026 World Cup.