February 27, 2015

Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news

Ştefan Stoica, 27.02.2015, 15:55

In Bucharest today, at the end of the talks with his Albanian
counterpart, Edi Rama, the Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta said that they
discussed the possibility that Albania might benefit from the energy surplus
produced by Romania. The Prime Minister also said that the line ministers of
the two countries will come up with proposals to improve the relations between
the two countries in education and culture. Victor Ponta has also stressed
that, just like Albania’s joining NATO was a major form of support for the
entire region, the integration of all western Balkan countries into the EU will
favour Romania. Also today, the Romanian Prime Minister will receive his
Georgian counterpart, Irakli Garibasvili. Georgia is Romania’s main commercial
partners in South Caucasus. During the visit he made last year to Tbilisi,
Victor Ponta sent a clear message of support for Georgia’s European and
Euro-Atlantic aspirations.

According to the EC, Romania has managed to
maintain its financial balance and stability, but the 2014 development is not
enough to ensure a sustainable progress. On Thursday, the EC presented the
reports on the basis of which it identified 16 countries as experiencing
macroeconomic imbalances. The fact that Romania has not reached an agreement with
its international lenders on economic an fiscal measures is seen as a weak
point. The report also signals the insufficient progress with regard to
improving budget revenues, the reform of the pensions system, of the
health-care system and of public administration.

The new
Prime – Minister of the Republic of Moldova, the former Soviet country with a
predominantly Romanian speaking population, Chiril Gaburici, carries on in
Brussels today his first formal visit abroad since taking office. On Thursday,
he met with the president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, with whom he
discussed Moldova’s efforts to join the EU, hopefully in 2020. Tusk has
reiterated the EU’s support for Moldova’s territorial integrity and for a
peaceful settling of the situation in the pro-Russian region of Transdiestr,
which separated itself from Chisinau in 1992. Formed by the minority coalition
made up of the liberal – democrats and
the pro-Western democrats, the Gaburici government was endorsed last week by
Parliament, also thanks to the pro-Russian communists’ support.

On January 1st,
2015, 22 of the 28 EU member countries had national minimum salaries ranging
from 183 Euros per month in Bulgaria and 218 Euros per month in Romania, to
1,923 Euros in Luxembourg, according to data made public by Eurostat, the
statistical office of the EU. Ten countries had minimum salaries under 500
Euros per month, and 7 of the minimum salaries exceeded 1000 Euros per month.
As compared to 2008, minimum salaries in 2015, in national currencies, have
gone up in all the EU member states, except for Greece, where the minimum
salary dropped by 14% and Ireland, where it remained flat. Between 2008-2015,
the biggest growth was registered in Romania, namely 95%. Bulgaria and Romania
have the lowest minimum salary in the EU, calculated as to the standard
purchasing power parity.

Three Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and another seven
wounded in the past 24 hours, in clashes with the pro-Russia separatists in
eastern Ukraine, military sources report. The announcement was made after two
consecutive days when no victims had been reported among the Ukrainian troops,
which raised hope that the cease-fire agreement would be observed, despite the
initial violence. The US secret services, though, had warned that the fighting
in Ukraine’s separatist east would continue all through the year 2015. The UN
Security Council is now discussing the situation in Ukraine at its first
emergency meeting held since the enforcement of the Minsk agreement on February
15th.

The
German Parliament has approved with on overwhelming majority the extension of
the financial rescue plan for Greece until the end of June. Before voting, the
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Shauble had called on the Bundestag to approve
the extension, because, he said, the worst – case scenario had to be avoided.
This week, the Eurozone finance ministers have approved the continuation of
this aid for Greece, on the basis of the reforms that Greece has pledged to
implement. Greece’s leftist government has committed, among other things, to
solving the issue of tax evasion and corruption. In order for the program to
come into force, it must be ratified by all Eurozone parliaments.