July 8, 2014
Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news
Bogdan Matei, 08.07.2014, 13:27
Romania’s European Funds Minister has officially dispatched to the European Commission the updated Partnership Agreement proposal over 2014 — 2020. Authorities in Bucharest specified the updated document complied with all suggestions and commentaries coming from the European Commission for the document’s official version issued in March. The country’s European Funds Minister Eugen Teodorovici has estimated Romania would be signing the agreement by autumn. The most important sums are earmarked for the Infrastructure Operational Program, accounting for 9.4 billion euro, the Regional Operational Program, standing at 6.7 billion Euro and the Humans Capital Operational Program, with 4.1 billion Euro worth of funding.
Constantin Istrate is the fifth name on the list of persons who were suspect of perpetrating political crimes during the communist regime in Romania. Istrate’s name has been made public today, by the Institute for the Investigation of the Communist Crimes and the Memory of Romanian Exile. The Institute announced it would file a complaint with the General Prosecutor’s Office. Istrate was deputy commander of the Gherla penitentiary. He was also one of the best-known and most cruel officers of the communist penitentiary system. Istrate tortured and brutally punished convicts. He was also responsible for the implementation of a detention regime that claimed the lives of more than 200 political detainees. Istrate has been included on a list of 35 people who were suspect of perpetrating crimes and political abusive activities during the communist regime. Those under investigation are aged between 81 and 99 years old.
Russia threatened the Republic of Moldova it would stall a series of bilateral trade agreements, following the ratification by Chisinau of the Association Agreement with the European Union. Radio Romania’s correspondent to Moscow quoted Russia’s prime minister Dmitri Medvedev as saying that through the agreement, the Republic of Moldova has created a different legal framework for its relationship with Russia, and with the Russia-Kazahstan-Belarus customs union. The Republic of Moldova’s creation of the free trade agreement area with the European Union will force Russia to implement measures of protection for its own market, given the incompatibility of the technical standards between the two unions. Medvedev also warned that European products would penetrate the customs union as Moldovan products, so that they can benefit from the facilities granted for such products. Moldova’s deputy economy minister Octavian Calmac replied that the Association Agreement with the European Union doesn’t run counter Chisinau’s economic ties with its former Soviet partners from the Community of Independent States.
At least 16 people, among whom four NATO military ,have been killed today in a suicide bomb attack in eastern Afghanistan. The Talibans claimed responsibility for the attack. The blast occurred in the Parwan province, northeast of Kabul. It is the deadliest attack so far, targeting international forces. We recall that a year ago NATO troops finalized the transfer of security control to the Afghan forces, and ever since have only been providing training and support operations. Romania has stated the withdrawal process of its 2,000 military stationed in that country. By the end of the year, only 200 Romanian military will continue their mission in Afghanistan, mainly training the Afghan Army.
The European Commission in Brussels today has organized the first high-level international conference on the coordination of the international support for Ukraine. Participants will seek to set the priority areas requiring immediate support for Kiev. Presiding the conference is the Commissioner for enlargement and neighborhood policy Stefan Fule. Representing Ukraine at the conference is the country’s deputy prime minister Volodymyr Grossman. Also attending the conference are such donors as the European Union, the United States of America, Canada, Japan, Norway, Switzerland, the IMF, the United Nations’ Development Program, the OSCE and the World Bank.
Romania’s Finance Minister Ioana Maria Petrescu and the budget minister delegate Liviu Voinea in Brussels today take part in the first meeting of the Ecofin council, run under the European Union Council’s Italian presidency. High on the meeting’ s agenda are the presentation the Italian presidency’s working program, a ministerial debate focusing of the revision of the Europe 2020 strategy as well as a briefing offered by the European Commission on the negotiation stage of incomes taxation under the form of interest payments. Also high on the meeting’s agenda is the preparation stage of the legislation pertaining to setting banks’ contribution to the resolution fund.
