WELFARE As of today,
the pension point in Romania has increased by 12.5% up to 360 euros. The
minimum wages are also expected to increase up to 375 euros and the lowest
wages in the construction sector will go up to about 800 euros. Starting
January 1st, state employees will get a 10% pay rise and the benefits for
children are to be adjusted to the inflation rate. At the same time the 10
eurocent fuel subsidy has been eliminated although the government
pledges to reintroduce it if price hikes are going to exceed the purchasing
power. Authorities in Bucharest have maintained the measures of capping and
subsidizing electricity and natural gas.
MAE Carrying on the moves for
Romania’s accession to Schengen and the OECD as well as supporting the Republic
of Moldova’s EU accession are some of the priorities of the Romanian diplomacy
in 2023, says the yearly report of the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Romania will continue to support the creation of a mechanism for holding
responsible those who committed the aggression in the illegal war Russia is
presently waging on Ukraine. As for the country’s NATO membership, the Ministry
says it will promote Romania’s strategic priorities inside the alliance
including at the upcoming NATO summit in July in Vilnius where the Romanian
ministry is expected to be pleading for the consolidation of the NATO
deterrence and defence posture on its eastern flank in view of defending
national security and in the Black Sea area, as an area of strategic importance
for the Euro-Atlantic security. The report also mentions the moves to get
Romania into the Visa Waiver programme. As for the states in the region, the
ministry says that Romania will continue to actively provide multidimensional
assistance and support to the neighboring Ukraine and support the European and
Euro-Atlantic orientation of Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Georgia.
EU On January 1st
Sweden took over from the Czech Republic the presidency of the EU Council and
for six months will be playing a key-role of leader and mediator inside the
bloc. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has reviewed some of the main
issues, which are to be addressed such as the war in Ukraine, the fight against
climate change and Europe’s competitiveness. Sweden’s priorities are focusing
on a ‘greener, safer and more free Europe’, Kristersson says. Ulf Kristersson
and his cabinet are quite unknown on the European stage as his conservative
government came to power more than nine months ago after it had replaced the
Social-Democrats led by Magdalena Andersson.
DAY Orthodox
believers, who are a majority in Romania, on January 1 celebrate St. Basil the
Great, whose name is born by 600 thousand Romanians. St. Basil lived in the 4th
century and used to be a bishop in Caesarea, a city in modern-day Turkey. During
the 9 years of his mandate as a bishop, St. Basil proved to be a great
theologian, a defender of the Orthodox faith, a good organizer of the monastic
life and the social activity inside the church. It was the first bishop who built
hospitals and asylums for the poor and the underprivileged.
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