Romania’s and Bulgaria’s Schengen accession, initially scheduled for March, has been postponed again until further notice. The Polish presidency of the EU preferred to delay, at the Justice and Home Affairs Council in Brussels, the vote on the two countries’ accession, thus avoiding a negative decision, since the Netherlands and Finland are opposed to Romania’s and Bulgaria’s accession which they criticize for the lack of progress in fighting corruption and reforming the judiciary. The Romanian President, Traian Basescu, announced that Bucharest would continue diplomatic efforts for Schengen accession given that recent assessments show that Romania fully complies with the community acquis.

“Diplomacy has its limitations but this does not mean that we will give it up. We have to obtain an accession roadmap. And nobody should expect Romania to have a non-European behavior. For the moment it’s the Netherlands and Finland that have had a non-European attitude. Romania wants respect and ever since EU accession we have behaved as good Europeans. “

The president of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek, has given assurances in Bucharest that one of the priorities of his mandate is working out a solution in this respect.

Changes in Romania’s government

As of this week the Romanian government has a new ministry – the Ministry for European Affairs headed by Leonard Orban, a former European Commissioner for Multilingualism and former presidential advisor on European integration issues. The new ministry is in charge of speeding up the absorption of European funds given that Bucharest has so far used only 4% of the money allotted by the EU for the period 2007- 2013. Leonard Orban:

“By the end of 2012 Romania will have to spend at least 1.9 billion euros in order not to lose all the funding. By the end of 2013 Romania will have to spend a further 6.7 billion euros”

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Also, as of this week, the Labor Ministry has a new head. Sulfina Barbu has replaced Sebastian Lazaroiu who was revoked last week by PM Emil Boc. The priority of this ministry remains the modernization of the social welfare system, Sulfina Barbu has announced, which implies the passing of the Framework Social Welfare Law by Parliament as soon as possible.

The Romanian Foreign Ministry publishes the text of the agreement between Romania and USA regarding the placement of elements of the American anti-missile defense shield on the Romanian territory.

The Romanian Foreign Ministry on Friday published the text of the agreement between Romania and USA regarding the placement of elements of the American anti-missile defense shield at an airbase in the south of Romania. The document has been concluded for an indefinite period of time but it can be terminated by any of the parties through written notification. The agreement was signed on September 13th by Romania’s Foreign Minister, Teodor Baconschi, and his American counterpart, Hillary Clinton.

The low level of the Danube affects navigation on Romania’s territory

Naval transport on the Romanian sector of the Danube and tourism in the Danube Delta have been affected by the low water level reported this week. Hundreds of ships and barges stopped to avoid wreckage on sand banks while cruise operators reported more than 300 thousand euros worth of losses in 10 days.

The Romanian foreign minister, Teodor Baconshi, is attending the UN General Assembly.

Attending the UN General Assembly in New York, the Romanian Foreign Minister, Teodor Baconshi, hailed the recent changes in Northern Africa and the Middle East, underlining that these events are similar in spirit with what happened in Romania 20 years ago. He also reiterated Bucharest’s availability to help these countries face the inevitable obstacles of transition. On the other hand, the Romanian foreign minister said Romania supported the setting up of a Palestinian state, but that the only viable solution for declaring a Palestinian state was that negotiated by the Palestinians and the Israelis.

Moldovan PM Vlad Filat visited Bucharest.

The Moldovan PM Vlad Filat visited neighboring Romania where he met with the Romanian President Traian Basescu. The Romanian head of state recalled that Bucharest granted a non-reimbursable loan worth 100 million euros to Moldova and expressed hope that the two countries would start joint projects soon. On the other hand, Vlad Filat announced that the resumption of negotiations was agreed in Moscow regarding the separatist region of Transdniester in the 5 + 2 format. The news was welcomed by Bucharest. Transdniester went out, de facto, of Chisinau’s authorities’ control in 1992 after an armed conflict that was ended by the intervention of the Russian troops on the side of the separatists.

The reputed Romanian jazzman, Johnny Raducanu has passed away.

The music world in Romania has been shaken by the death of famed jazzman and composer Johnny Raducanu. He died at 79 of a heart attack. Dubbed by the American jazz expert Leonard Feather “Mr. Jazz of Romania”, Johnny Raducanu toured such countries as Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, France, Greece, Belgium, the US, Switzerland and Russia. In 1987 he became an honorary member of the “Loius Armstrong” Academy in New Orleans.