PARLIAMENT The two chambers of the Romanian Parliament resulting from the elections on December 1 Friday convened in separate sessions for the first time. The new legislature comprises as many as 465 MPs, 331 Deputies and 134 Senators. Seven political parties have members in the 2 Chambers, of which 4 are pro-European (the Social Democratic Party, the National Liberal Party, Save Romania Union, and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania) and 3 are sovereigntist parties (the Alliance for the Unity of Romanians—AUR, SOS Romania and the Party of Young People—POT). The 19 national minorities are also represented in Parliament. Until a new Senate speaker is elected, the most senior Deputy, the Social Democrat Ioan Stan, an MP since 2000, serves as acting speaker. He said Parliament’s top priorities are citizen safety, economic development and strengthening social balance. In turn, the most senior Deputy, Seres Dénes of the UDMR, who has been an MP since 1992, serves as acting speaker of the Chamber of Deputies. “It is time we worked together to protect the fundamental values of democracy, overcoming any political differences,” Seres Dénes said.
VISIT Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orban was received in Bucharest on Friday by his Romanian counterpart, PM Marcel Ciolacu. On this occasion, the Romanian Prime Minister highlighted the “decisive” role that Hungary played in Romania’s full Schengen accession. “It is an excellent result that would not have been possible without the decisive involvement during the Hungarian presidency of the EU”, Marcel Ciolacu emphasised. He added that Hungary is one of Romania’s most important trade partners. In turn, Viktor Orban said he believes that “a new era of cooperation” between Romania and Hungary is beginning. “Hungary wants to continue and deepen its collaboration with Romania,” the Hungarian PM stated. On November 22, the Romanian PM met his Hungarian counterpart in Budapest, for talks, among others, on Romania’s full Schengen accession. The visit to Budapest took place in the context in which Hungary is holding the rotating EU presidency until the end of December.
DEFENCE Portugal’s Prime Minister Luis Montenegro, accompanied by senior defence officials, made a working visit to Romania on Friday, in the Caracal Garrison, where Portuguese troops are currently deployed. According to a news release issued by the Romanian defence ministry, the defence chief of staff, General Gheorghiţă Vlad, met with the Portuguese officials to discuss the security situation, bilateral cooperation in the field of defence and joint training opportunities. General Vlad highlighted the strengthening of the relations between Romania and Portugal this year, emphasising the valuable contribution of the Portuguese troops to consolidating NATO’s response capacity in Romania.
FORESTRY The President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, Friday signed into law the Forestry Code, endorsed on December 17 by the Chamber of Deputies, the decision-making body in this case. The Code defines the legal framework for the digitised fight against illegal logging. Video surveillance of forest roads with monitoring/recording systems is introduced, which will help detect theft and illegal logging. New forestry offences are also defined, such as falsifying digital forestry data or declarations, which will be punished by imprisonment for up to 5 years. The new Forestry Code provides, among other things, for the establishment of a National Forestry Registry, which will include all forest owners in Romania.
EU SUMMIT The war in Ukraine, the EU’s trade relations with the United States, the situation in the Middle East and Russia’s interference in the elections were some of the topics discussed at the EU winter summit in Brussels. Attending the summit was also Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky, who called for unity between the European Union and the United States to obtain peace and save Ukraine. The EU heads of state and government also discussed the supply of military equipment and ways to consolidate Ukraine’s energy sector and other civilian infrastructure that has come under deliberate and increasingly intense attacks by Russia. Talks also looked at the effects of Donald Trump’s return to office on transatlantic trade relations. The EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the EU and the United States should do everything to avoid a trade war, because both economies would be affected and China would be only one standing to gain. Also, European leaders recognised Russia’s meddling in the election process in Romania, the Republic of Moldova and Georgia and called for more efficient coordination across the Union to counter Moscow’s hybrid attacks. (AMP)
