While Romania still has no budget for 2021, the country’s Constitutional Court ruled on Wednesday that the Parliament needs to clarify a law requiring a 40% increase of pensions. The government wants a much lower increase, in the current economic context, and it may now have the Parliament’s support.
The dispute goes back to 2019 when the then-socialist majority adopted the Pension Law, which included a provision to raise pensions as of September 2020 by a whopping 40%.
The high increase has been criticised by international institutions and analysts since the law was adopted. However, given the unprecedented crisis generated by the coronavirus health crisis, scrapping the proposed raise became an urgency, particularly as credit agencies warned they would cut Romania’s ratings to junk status.
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BUDAPEST
‘Mother – woman, father – man’ constitutional amendment passes. The Hungarian parliament approved on Tuesday amendments to the constitution that proclaim, among other things, that “the mother is a woman, the father is a man.”
It also now states that “Hungary protects the right of children to self-identity according to their sex at birth and provides an upbringing in accordance with the values based on Hungary’s constitutional identity and Christian culture.” On the same day, parliament also passed a bill that mandates that single people need a special ministerial permission to adopt someone. More.
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EU INSTITUTIONS
8 European countries join forces on vaccination campaign. The ministers of health of Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland, have issued a statement vowing to coordinate their efforts for the safe, efficient and transparent use of the COVID-19 vaccine.
COPENHAGEN
Arctic security could be destabilised by power rivalry between US, Russia, China. The growing interests and presence of Russia, China and the US in the Arctic have a destabilising effect on the region’s security, according to the annual risk assessment conducted by the Danish Defence Intelligence Service (DDIS). Read more.
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BERLIN
CDU party conference to go fully digital. After delays and debates around the format, the Christian Democrat Union (CDU) party will meet entirely virtually to decide on a new leader in mid-January, following a formal decision from the party’s executive committee on Monday. Read more.
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PARIS
Discussions are set to resume on Tuesday, following official consultations with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Monday.
A compromise could not be reached on Sunday regarding the speaker of the chamber of deputies position, coveted by both PNL (PPE) and USR PLUS (RE). According to sources attending the talks, PNL wants both the chairmanship of the chamber of deputies and the prime minister position, while USR PLUS wants to split those functions between both parties.
As the talks have not reached a conclusion for the moment, both parties will present their own proposals for the prime minister position in talks with President Iohannis.
Welcome to this EURACTIV special edition on agrifood trade, where we take a closer look at each member state’s position on trade and their country’s own specific issues.
Free trade agreements (FTAs) have become an increasingly contentious issue for a number of member states over the past few years, especially with the looming issue of the ratification of the Mercosur deal, which has been in the works for over 20 years.
In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the importance of creating resilient food systems and ensuring food security taken on a renewed importance, but stakeholders are divided over how best to achieve this.