BUDGET Romania’s Parliament Wednesday endorsed the 2024 state budget
and social security budget bills, backed by the parliamentary majority made up
of the Social Democratic Party and the National Liberal Party. Next year,
Romania’s budget will focus on investments of roughly 7% of GDP and a 3.4%
economic growth rate, while the estimated budget deficit is 5% of GDP. According
to PM Marcel Ciolacu, the 2024 budget is aimed at development and equity, is based
on investment and secures the required funding for the promised pension and
salary increases. The opposition on the other hand argues that the budget is
built on unrealistic estimates which will fail to ensure economic development.
EVASION The Romanian Chamber of Deputies passed new measures to curb
tax evasion. Failure to withhold taxes and charges, submitting accounting
documents for fictitious expenses, keeping double accounting records or the use
of cash registers that are not connected to the National Information Control
System will be considered offences. Punishments, which range from one to ten
years in prison, are harsher for repeat offenders.
TIMIŞOARA The western Romanian city of Timişoara Wednesday marked 34
years since it declared itself the first city free of communism in Romania. To
celebrate the victory against communism, several events took place, including
short film and documentary screenings, and a marathon tour at the Brâncuşi
exhibition at the Art Museum. 34 years ago, after the repression of the
uprising that started on December 17, big factory workers went on strike and
gathered in the centre of the city. In front of the crowd, the army withdrew to
the barracks, the people arrested were released and the Romanian Democratic
Front was established. From Timisoara, the people’s uprising against the regime
led by the dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu spread to several other cities in the
country. Over 1,000 people lost their lives and around 3,000 were injured in
the events.
AWARD The president
of the Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu, was awarded on Wednesday the Timişoara
for European values prize. The award and the EUR 30,000 prize will be handed
to her on January 12-13. According to Timişoara’s Mayor Dominic Fritz, in
selecting Maia Sandu as the recipient of this prize, the jury appreciated her
clear stand on Moldova’s integrity, and her determination in pursuing the goal
of Moldova’s European integration.
MIGRATION MEPs and
the representatives of EU member states have reached an agreement on a
comprehensive approach to the Union’s migration and asylum policies, one of the
most toxic political topics facing the bloc in recent years. The document is
aimed at standardising and stepping up migrant verification procedures at the
EU’s external borders, a solidarity mechanism and the repatriation of the
migrants ineligible for the refugee status. (AMP)
