The process of transferring power to the new political team that will head the world’s second power for the next 10 years has ended in China with the appointment, on Friday, Li Keqiang as prime minister. The new prime minister, number two in the Chinese Communist Party, is the technocrat that replaces Wen Jiabao. On Thursday, the Chinese Parliament elected Xi Jinping as the country’s new head of state. Xi Jinping is taking the place of the former president Hu Jintao under whose leadership China saw the most spectacular economic growth ever, with an average rate of over 10 percent per year.

Romanian Interior Minister Radu Stroe on Thursday and Friday will attend the meeting of the EU’s Justice and Home Affairs Council. The agenda for talks will also include Romania’s and Bulgaria’s Schengen accession. On Tuesday, Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta announced, following a meeting with president Traian Basescu, Foreign Minister Titus Corlatean and Interior Minister Radu Stroe that Romania would not call for a vote in order to decide our country’s accession to the passport-free travel area at the JHA meeting. The decision follows after Germany and Finland announced they would oppose Romania’s Schengen bid.

A new environmental fee for cars has come into effect in Romania on Friday. The fee only accounts for the carbon dioxide emissions. Minister Rovana Plumb estimates the new fee will bring revenues of around 160 million euros in 2013.

Syrians are today celebrating two years since the start of the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad. The non-violent movement against the president started on March 15th, 2011 and has turned into a bloody conflict between the governmental troops and the opponents of the regime in Damascus. According to the United Nations, over 70 thousand dead 1 million refugees were reported in these years of conflict. On Thursday, the UN Security Council voiced concern at the impact the conflict in Syria has on the neighbouring Lebanon. The Council pointed out that the kidnapping and gun trafficking are affecting Lebanon’s stability.

Romania reported in February the highest annual inflation rate among the 27 EU members, of 4.8%, according to the European Statistics Institute. According to Eurostat, the inflation rate dropped to 1.8% in the euro zone and to 2% in the EU. This is the first time, after September 2010, when the inflation rate in the eurozone is below the target set by the European Central Bank. The lowest annual inflation rates were recorded last month in Greece, 0.1%, Portugal, 0.2% and Latvia, 0.3%, while the highest levels were reported in Romania, 4.8%, Estonia, 4% and the Netherlands, 3.2%.