July 16, 2015 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news.
Newsroom, 16.07.2015, 12:15
Romania is willing to assist Serbia in its EU accession process if the country’s officials want that, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said at the end of a meeting with his counterpart, Tomislav Nikolici, on Thursday in Serbia. The Romanian head of state also said Serbia deserves to be rewarded for the important reforms it has implemented so far. The two officials also discussed about the economic ties, and mentioned, among the joint projects, the Timisoara – Belgrade motorway, cross border cooperation and energy interconnection. Illegal migration and ways to help Serbia join the EU energy policy were also on the meeting’s agenda. As for the national minorities, Iohannis and Nikolic agreed that it is up to the authorities in both countries to consolidate the status of the Romanian minority in Serbia and of the Serb minority in Romania. President Iohannis also met with the country’s Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic who said that the Romanian-Serbian ties are important for the whole region.
European Union finance ministers approved on Thursday 7 billion euros in bridging loans to keep Greece afloat, allowing it to make a bond payment to the European Central Bank next Monday and clear its arrears with the International Monetary Fund. The European Council is to confirm the loans on Friday. In the meantime, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will negotiate the details of his country’s third bailout program in the past five years – worth up to 86 billion euros. Greek MPs adopted Wednesday night the tough economic measures requested by international lenders in exchange for the aid plan. The measures include, among other things, higher taxes and a higher retirement age. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras got the support of the opposition to have the bill adopted. Before the vote in Parliament, during an anti-austerity rally, protesters threw Molotov cocktails at the police, who in turn used tear gas. Several policemen and two photo-reporters were slightly inured in the clash, and dozens of young people were arrested. In another move, the European Commission has introduced an investment plan for Greece, worth 35 billon Euros, by 2020. The plan is aimed at helping the country relaunch its economy, provided the measures agreed upon at the Eurozone summit are implemented.
On Thursday, president Klaus Iohannis signed the decree appointing Iulian Matache Transport Minister, the Presidential Administration announced. A former state secretary with the same ministry, Matache was prime minister Pontas second choice, after the head of state rejected the nomination of Mihai-Viorel Fifor for this office, saying that he did not have the necessary managerial experience. Iulian Matache will thus take over the office previously held by Ioan Rus, who resigned following some offending statements he made about the Romanians working abroad.
In Bucharest, negotiations between management and trade unionists representing air traffic controllers ended on Wednesday night, when the parties reached an agreement on some of the protesters claims. The talks were held after Wednesdays warning strike, which affected dozens of flights at the Henri Coanda International Airport in Bucharest. By Tuesday, July 21st, both the employer and the trade union must come up with clarifications and solutions to the protesters demands. The most important one regards the retirement age, but the traffic controllers also demand a collective employment contract, salary protection and measures to ensure air traffic safety.
The annual inflation rate in the Eurozone dropped to 0.2% in June, from 0.3% the previous month, and in the EU dropped to 0.1% from 0.3% in May, according to data made public on Thursday by Eurostat. The countries with the highest rates of inflation were Malta (1.1%), Austria (1%), Belgium and the Czech Republic (0.9%). On the other hand, eight EU member countries registered negative rates in May. Topping the list was Cyprus (minus 2.1%), Greece (minus 1.1%), Romania and Slovenia (both minus 0.9%). In March, the European Central Bank started a program of quantitative relaxation, worth 1,100 billion Euros, aimed at helping the Eurozone economy recover and avoiding deflationary spirals.
The meeting between Romania and Slovakia, counting for the second round of the Davis Cup Euro-African Group I, starts on Friday in the Black Sea resort of Mamaia. In the first two men’s singles matches Marius Copil (180 ATP) will be up against Norbert Gombos (126 ATP) while Adrian Ungur (199 ATP) will play against Martin Klizan (38 ATP). In the men’s doubles on Saturday Florin Mergea and Horia Tecau will play against Andrej Martin and Igor Zelenay. On Sunday, Marius Copil will be up against Martin Klizan while Adrian Ungur will try to defeat Norbert Gombos. The winning team qualifies to the World Group playoff.
