August 5, 2015
A roundup of domestic and international news.
Newsroom, 05.08.2015, 12:00
The Danube’s level and discharge have dropped to alarming levels due to severe drought and are close to reaching an all time low. At its entrance point in Romania the River Danube’s discharge is half its usual level and experts warn that things might get worse. Over 80 ships have been stationed temporaily in two Romanian ports because of the low water level, which in 2003 reached an all-time low of 60 centimetres. Metheorologists have warned that August will also be a dry month.
Nearly 5,000 civilians have been killed or hurt in the Afghan conflict in the first half of this year, according to the UN. The spike points to a deteriorating security situation since the withdrawal of foreign troops. The total number of casualties in the conflict reached 4,921 in the first six months of 2015, an increase of 1 percent compared to the same period in 2014, the United Nations said in a report released Wednesday. The vast majority of civilian casualties, around 90 percent, resulted from “ground engagements, improvised explosive devices, complex and suicide attacks and targeted killings,” the report said.
The European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has said that after having read the latest reports on Greece he is confident that Athens can reach an agreement with international lenders this month. The Greek Government is today holding talks with representatives of the international lenders on a series of technical details of a new loan, the third financial aid package to be granted to Athens. Greek authorities need to provide details about the reforms they committed themselves to implementing and the banks’ recapitalization. Greece hopes to forge the new agreement in due time, in order to be able to return an instalment of 3.5 billion euros to the European Central Bank, due on August 20.
The head of the International Monetary Fund delegation to Romania, Andrea Schaechter, and the Fund’s Resident Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, Guillermo Tolosa, have recommended to the authorities in Bucharest to slow down the implementation pace of the measures laid down in the new tax code and the expenditure plans, so as to be able to achieve a gradual reduction in public debt, ease the tax burden and finance new projects. The two officials have also suggested to the government to resize its proposed tax and duty cuts to preserve the country’s macroeconomic stability. On the other hand, Prime Minister Victor Ponta has pointed out that budget returns have increased since the beginning of the year and that a set of measures with a positive impact on the state have been adopted, such as a decision not to tax companies’ reinvested profit, the VAT cut from 24 to 9% for food products and the 5% cut in social security contributions. President Klaus Iohannis sent the tax code bill back to Parliament for re-examination.
The Higher Security Council in the neighbopuring Republic of Moldova is convening today, at the reguest of the country’s presdient, Nicolae Timofti, to assess Moldova’s economic, financial, social and political situation, the Chisinau media reports. On Monday, the World Bank’s representative for the Republic of Moldova, Eurpe and Asia, Alex Kremer, talked with the Moldova’s pro-Western PM, Valeriu Strelet, about the World Bank’s financial assistnace for the country for 2015-2017. Kremer reconfirmed the bank’s availability to help the new Moldovan government ensure the stability of the financia-banking system, boost economic development and increase citizens’ social protection. Moldova’s cooperation with the World Bank is based on the Partnershipm Startegy for 2014-2017 which includes projects worth 450 million dollars.
On Wednesday, in the third preliminary round of the Champions League, Steaua Bucharest is due to face the Serbian side Partizan Belgrade in an away match. The previous match, which ended in a draw, was played on Bucharest’s National Arena but no public was allowed. Steaua is still under a UEFA sanction for the incidents reported during the match against Dinamo Kiev, counting towards the Europa League group stage in the 2014-2015 season.
