January 23, 2015
A roundup of domestic and international news
România Internațional, 23.01.2015, 13:48
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has invited representatives of all political parties represented in Parliament to join him for consultations on the legislative priorities of the next parliament session on Wednesday, January 28th. The agenda of talks will include topics such as a better organization of voting abroad, the funding of election campaigns and political parties and means of accelerating the parliamentary immunity lifting parliamentary immunity. This is the president’s second round of consultations with the parties represented in parliament since he took over the presidential office on December 21st. On January 12th Iohannis got consensus for a political agreement aimed at ensuring in 2017 a minimum 2% of the GDP threshold for the National Defense Ministry.
The High Court of Cassation and Justice in Romania is today hosting the first hearings in the famous case of illegal returns of property, in which 17 people are under trial. Among them there are three influential politicians, the resigning senator Viorel Hrebenciuc and parliamentarians Ioan Adam and Tudor Chiuariu, and also several magistrates. The 17 are accused by the anti-corruption prosecutors that in 2013 they got involved in the illegal return of dozens of thousands of hectares of forest. The damage is estimated at some 300 million Euros.
Events celebrating 156 years since the union of the Romanian Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia are being held today all across the country. On the 24th of January, 1859, Alexandru Ioan Cuza, elected a week earlier ruler of Moldavia, was unanimously elected by the Elective Assembly in Bucharest sovereign of Wallachia and proclaimed ruler of the United Principalities. Cuza’s reforms laid the institutional foundation of modern Romania. In 1918, the establishment of the national state was completed by the union with the Kingdom of Romania of the historical provinces with predominantly Romanian speaking populations, which until then had been under the rule of the neighbouring empires.
The UN Security Council has firmly condemned Thursday’s bombing of a trolleybus in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, killing 13 people, and has called for an investigation, Reuters and FP report. The 15 Council member states have also stressed the need for a full implementation of the peace agreements in Minsk, concluded in September, and have hailed the appeal launched in Berlin by the foreign ministers of Germany, France, Ukraine and Russia for a cease of hostilities in Ukraine’s separatist east. Violent clashes have started again in Ukraine. At least 44 people have died in the east in the past 24 hours, of which 10 Ukrainian soldiers. Since April 2014, over 5 thousand people, civilians and soldiers, have been killed in the clashes between the Ukrainian army and separatists.
Talks continue in Chisinau between the three pro-European parties: the Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova, the Liberal Party and the Democratic Party, on the formation of a government coalition, following the parliamentary elections of November 2014, when they together got most of the votes. The leaders of these three parties have failed to reach an agreement as to the number of seats each party is entitled to and have started to accuse one another of blocking the talks. The Republic of Moldova’s European partners have called on politicians to speed up negotiations, and economists warn that the country might lose EU funding because of its failure to observe its commitments. Last year Chisinau concluded association and free-trade agreements with the EU, whose member it hopes to become in 2020.
IMF General Director Christine Lagarde has hailed the European Central Bank’s plan regarding massive acquisitions of state bonds, worth over one thousand billion Euros, aimed at revitalizing Eurozone economies. Lagarde believes that these measures will help reduce the costs of crediting in the Eurozone, raise inflationist expectations and reduce the risk of a longer period of lower inflation. Yesterday, the European Bank announced a monthly acquisition plan of up to 60 billion Euros, starting March 2015 until September 2016. Following the announcement, the Euro has dropped significantly, down to the lowest level in the past 11 years against the US dollar. At the same time, Asian stock markets, the biggest European stock exchanges and the Wall Street have registered significant growths. The announcement made by the European Central Bank has also lowered interest rates on the Eurozone countries’ public loans. The European Parliament has hailed the decision, stressing though that it cannot replace reforms.
Two tennis players are representing Romania in the fourth round at the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the year. The third best player in the world, Simona Halep, also seeded 3rd in the tournament, has defeated American Bettanie Mattek Sands 6-4, 7-5 and Irina Begu beat Carina Witthoeft of Germany 6-4, 6-4. Next Halep will play against the Belgian Yanina Wickmayer and Begu witll take on Eugeni Bouchard from Canada, number 7 in the WTA rankings. In the men’s doubles, Romanian Horia Tecau and Dutch Jean Julien Rojer have also made it to the fourth round, after defeating the Australian pair Chris Guccione — Lleyton Hewit. Also playing in the eight finals will be pair made up of the Romanian Florin Mergea and the British Dominic Inglot.
