September 9, 2014
A roundup of domestic and international news.
România Internațional, 09.09.2014, 12:03
Corruption undermines economies, democracies and security throughout the whole region and, given the crisis in Ukraine, all political and social decision makers must fight against it, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia, Hyot Yee, has today said in Bucharest. The American official has pointed out that Romania is an example for other countries in terms of effectiveness of its judiciary, which makes an essential contribution to curbing corruption and which has so far made remarkable efforts in this respect. Corruption is one of the main reasons for the instability in Ukraine, the Romanian Intelligence Service chief, George Maior has said in his turn. In his opinion, Romania’s approach of the corruption phenomenon is a good one, with an emphasis on strengthening the institutions able to deal with it.
The US Secretary of State, John Kerry, is today travelling to the Middle East this week, as part of efforts to build a coalition to confront the militant group Islamic State. He was expected to hold talks with the foreign ministers of Iraq, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and six Gulf Arab states in the Saudi city of Jeddah. According to the US administration, over 40 countries are part of the coalition against the jihadists who control areas of Iraq and Syria. On Wednesday, president Barrack Obama will unveil his strategy to combat the Islamic State, against the background of the US having intensified air strikes against Iraq.
The Chamber of Deputies in Bucharest has today rejected President Traian Basescu’s request for the bill on a 5% decrease in the employers’ social security contributions to be re-examined and passed the bill. Finance Minister Ioana Petrescu has said there are resources to compensate the decrease in budget revenues for 2014 and 2015. In July, President Traian Basescu announced he backed the measure, but sent the bill back to Parliament to be re-examined, as he had questions about how it can be supported by the budget.
The Romanian Defense Minister Mircea Dusa is taking part in a two-day informal meeting of the EU defense ministers. The meeting, held in Milan, has started today. This is the first high level meeting organized by the Italian presidency of the EU Council. On the first day of the meeting, participants will discuss the security situation in Ukraine, Iraq and Syria. High on the agenda are also the EU-NATO cooperation in terms of rapid reaction capability, the EU — Ukraine and the financing of the EU missions and operation. The second day of the meeting includes talks devoted to the European Defence Agency, focusing on cooperation in developing reliable military capacities.
The first report on the cause of the Malaysian aircraft’s crash in eastern Ukraine this July has been made public today. Dutch experts say Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 broke up in mid-air after being hit by “numerous objects” that “pierced the plane at high velocity”. The report released by the Dutch Safety Board said there was “no evidence of technical or human error”. The plane was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it crashed in rebel-held territory eastern Ukraine in July, killing all 298 people on board.
