12 November 2017

Romania's defence minister to attend meeting of the EU External Affairs Council and the European Defence Agencys steering board in Brussels on Monday.

Newsroom, 12.11.2017, 13:49

EU. The Romanian defence minister Mihai Fifor is attending the meetings
of the EU External Affairs Council and the European Defence Agency’s steering
board on Monday in Brussels. On the agenda is the signing by the interested
countries of a notification to be sent to the EU High Representative and the EU
Council stating their wish to join the Permanent Structured Cooperation known
as PESCO. EU defence and foreign ministers will take part in a joint working
lunch during which they are expected to discuss the implementation of the
European Union Global Strategy in as far as security and defence are concerned.
The External Affairs Council will also tackle the progress of EU-NATO
cooperation in the presence of the NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. The steering
board of the European Defence Agency will look at the development of military
capabilities across the Union with emphasis on the implementation of the
Agency’s key tasks, given the recent developments of the Common Security and
Defence Policy.

No-confidence
motion. The Liberal opposition says it will begin procedures to file a
no-confidence motion against the government after the latter’s controversial
tax measures, which have come under virulent criticism by trade unions and some
sections of civil society. The National Liberal Party says it will also request
the Ombudsman to challenge the government’s emergency order in the
Constitutional Court. The cabinet, made up of the Social Democratic Party and
the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, has decided to transfer the payment of
social security contributions from employers to employees and to cut income tax
from 16 to 10% as of January 1st. The government has given
assurances that these measures would not lead to a decrease in salaries or to
higher costs for employers. The labour minister Lia Olguta Vasilescu has
explained that the measure to have the employees pay the social security
contributions was taken because 30% of companies do not pay health and pensions
contributions. The finance minister Ionut Misa has confirmed that more than
175,000 companies are yet to pay this year the social security contributions
for 2 million employees.

Patriot system. A bill on Romania’s purchase
of the first Patriot missile system will reach the Senate on Monday, said the
defence minister Mihai Fifor. He said the technology would become operational
in 2019. The bill refers to the purchase of seven missile defence systems worth
around 3.9 billion dollars. The first system is to be contracted by the end of
the year. Patriot is considered the world’s most advanced aircraft defence
system and one of the few to have been tested in real combat situations. It is
equipped with a complex radar system able to detect enemy missile in record
time and react to threats in a matter of seconds. Only 12 countries in the
world own this type of system, namely the US, The Netherlands, Germany, Japan,
Israel, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Taiwan, Greece, Spain, South Korea and the United
Arab Emirates.

Spain. The
Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy is expected in Barcelona today on his
first trip to the region since Madrid imposed direct rule on Catalonia. On
Saturday, an estimated 750,000 people protested in Barcelona asking for the
release of the separatist leaders placed in temporary detention. Madrid
suspended Catalonia’s regional autonomy at the end of October after the
regional government unilaterally declared the region’s independence. Rajoy will
address a campaign meeting of his centre-right People’s Party ahead of the
early regional elections on the 21st of December called after the
dissolution of the regional parliament and the sacking of the separatist
government led by Carles
Puigdemont.

Slovenia
elections. Slovenian voters are going to the ballots today in the second round
of the presidential elections. Incumbent president Borut Pahor, who is running for a second 5-year term, faces
Marjan Sarec. Pahor is expected to win, but commentators say a low turnout may
deliver a surprise. Pahor won 47% of the votes in the first round and Sarec
27%. Pahor is not affiliated to any political party but is supported by the
Social Democrats, who he led in 2012. Sarec is an independent candidate and a
former mayor of Kamnik, 20 km from Ljubljana. Slovenia’s president has a
largely ceremonial role, with most power being held by the prime minister and
Parliament.

Tennis. The Romanian
tennis player Mihaela Buzărnescu, ranked 72nd in the world, today lost to China’s
Shuai Zhang, world
no. 36, in straight sets, in the final of the ITF tournament in Tokyo worth
100,000 dollars in prize money. Zhang also defeated Buzărnescu in 2012 in the Roland Garros qualifiers. After
reaching the final in Tokyo, Mihaela Buzărnescu
has climbed to the 69th position in the WTA ranking, the highest in
her career. Another Romanian player, Simona Halep, tops the world ranking.