3 July 2015, UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 03.07.2015, 12:15
On the last day of campaign before Sunday’s referendum on the bailout package offered to Greece, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras again called on the Greek Citizens to reject it. The president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Junker has warned that such a decision will dramatically affect the country’s negotiating position. On Sunday, the Greeks are to vote either in favour or against the conditions requested by the international creditors. According to polls, the two sides have very close percentages. The capital controls and restrictions imposed by the government in the banking sector have convinced many to favor saying ‘yes’ on Sunday. The IMF has warned that Greece will need new loans, worth around 50 billion Euro over the next three years, as well as debt restructuring in the absence of reforms and solid economic growth. In a report issued before the breakdown of negotiations between Athens and international lenders, the IMF claims that Greece’s debt dynamics is unsustainable given the slow pace of reform. Currently, Greece has a 320 billion Euro debt, of which 65% to Eurozone countries and the IMF and 8.7% to the European Central Bank.
The Duchy of Luxembourg takes over officially from Latvia the rotating presidency of the European Union. With rising Eurozone instability, triggered by the Greek crisis, Luxembourg faces major challenges, such as preserving the Eurozone, as recently stated by the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, who was previously PM of Luxembourg. The duchy will also have to manage an unprecedented migration crisis.
Romania’s economic prospects are positive, and the risks in the banking sector have diminished along with the drop in the number of bad loans, shows a recent analysis made by Moody’s rating agency. The Romanian economy is expected to grow on average by 3% per year, especially due to exports and internal consumption. The factors that influence this process in a positive way are productivity growth, the EU-IMF financial support, as well as these institutions supervising fiscal policies. On the other hand, Moody’s has warned that there are threats to the economic growth, namely the level of the external debt and the contagious effect of the turbulence created by the situation in Greece.
The first of the two NATO command and controls centers in Romania will become operational in September. It was inaugurated on Thursday in Bucharest, in the presence of the Secretary General of the Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, and Romania’s president, Klaus Iohannis. This structure will host 42 NATO officers and will be headed by a Romanian commander. Other similar centres will be rendered operational by the end of the year in Bulgaria, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Also, in Romania, the command of the South-East Multinational Division is due to become operational next spring. The establishments of these command units are part of the process of strengthening the eastern flank of the Alliance.
29th seed Romanian tennis player Irina Begu was defeated on Friday by number 4 in the WTA classification, Maria Sharapova, in the third round of the Wimbledon grand slam. Another Romanian, Monica Niculescu, qualified to the third round and she is to meet the Czech player Krystina Pliskova. Also on Friday, in the men’s double, the Romanian — Indian pair made up of Florin Mergea and Rohan Bopanna qualified for the next stage as well, defeating Thomaz Belluci and Guillermo Duran of Brasil and Argentina respectively. The Romanian — Dutch pair Horia Tecau/Jean-Julier Rojer has too qualified for the next round, after a marathon match against Andre Begemann of Germany and Julian Knowle of Austria.
In its first game in European championships, Romanian football team FC Botosani tied at home in the first leg of the first preliminary round of the Europa League against the Georgian team Tskhinvali. The second leg will take place in a week in Georgia. If they prevail, FC Botosani will play against Polish team Legia Warsaw in the second preliminary round, the same round in which Astra Giurgiu will be facing Scottish squad Inverness Caledonian Thistle. Romania’s vice-champions, ASA Targu-Mures, qualified straight to the third preliminary round of the Europa League. Romania’s champions, Steaua Bucharest, will play against Slovak team AS Trencin, in the second preliminary round of the Champions League.
