July 11, 2019
2 Romanians killed in Halkidiki storm, BNR presents annual report
Newsroom, 11.07.2019, 13:45
Storm — Two Romanian citizens have died and one has been injured in the region of Halkidiki in northern Greece which on Wednesday was hit by a powerful storm, the Romanian Foreign Ministry (MAE) announced today. Romania’s General Consulate in Thessaloniki is monitoring the situation and keeps in contact with the local authorities as well as with the Romanian citizen hospitalized in a local medical unit. MAE reminded Romanians who want to travel to Greece that a code red alert for bad weather has been issued for the Thessaloniki area, where storms and heavy rainfalls are expected until Friday.
Memorandum – Romaero company and the American group Raytheon, which provides Patriot missile systems to Romania, have signed in Bucharest a memorandum of understanding for future cooperation. Romanians will contribute to producing and servicing each Patriot system delivered to Romania. Patriot is the most advanced anti-aircraft and anti-missile defense system at present, as was also underlined by the Raytheon Company’s program manager Michelle DeMaio. According to the PM Viorica Dancila, the signing of the memorandum is indicative of the Romanian industry’s potential to strengthen defense capabilities in as many theaters of operations as possible, as well as of its export capacity. The Romanian PM said that the government’s target was that the funds allotted for equipping the Army should return, to a large extent, to the Romanian economy, and should contribute to revamping the national defense industry through industrial cooperation and technological transfer.
Brussels — The president of the EC Jean-Claude Juncker meets today the former Social Democratic MEP Ioan Mircea Paşcu, proposed by the Romanian government for the position of interim European Commissioner for regional policies. Romania made this proposal after the resignation of Corina Cretu from this position. She will next occupy an MEP position. Previously, the EC president called on the Council not to appoint, for only 4 months, other commissioners for the vacant positions, but, according to Radio Romania’s correspondent to Brussels, his request was rejected. The assignment of new commissioners is the exclusive decision of the EC president who will take into account the candidates’ skills and competencies.
Tennis — The Romanian tennis player Simona Halep (7 WTA) is today meeting the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina (8 WTA) in the Wimbledon semifinals, the year’s 3rd Grand Slam tournament. Previously Halep defeated the Chinese Shuai Zhang (50 WTA).Halep and Svitolina face off against each other for the 8th time, the Ukrainian holding the lead with 4 matches won. They will meet for the first time on grass court. In the other semifinal, the American Serena Williams (10 WTA) will take on the Czech Barbora Strycova (54 WTA). In the mixed doubles, the Romanian Raluca Olaru and the Croat Franko Skugor will be up against the pair Jelena Ostapenko/Robert Lindstedt (Latvia/Sweden) in the quarterfinals.
Economy — Romania’s economic growth rate in 2018 of 4% remained robust but was based mainly on consumption and less on investments, the governor of the National Bank of Romania (BNR) Mugur Isărescu said upon the presentation of the bank’s annual report. However, Romania is among the countries with the lowest public debt, which accounts for 35% of the GDP, the BNR governor also said. As to the 3.84% inflation rate, announced by the National Institute of Statistics for last month, Mugur Isărescu said he had expected it to drop but that he was pleasantly surprised that it dropped under 3.9%. (translation by L. Simion)
