June 28, 2016 UPDATE
Click here for an update on domestic and international news
Newsroom, 28.06.2016, 12:15
Brussels is hosting, on Tuesday and Wednesday, the first European summit after the referendum in the UK. The 28 heads of state and government will look into the consequences of Britain’s decision to leave the EU and will talk about article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which the UK may trigger to be able to leave the EU. On Tuesday, the president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, said there would be no negotiations with Great Britain, unless the British PM David Cameron, announces the triggering of article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty. Also on Tuesday, the European Parliament called on the UK to trigger article 50 as soon as possible in order to avoid uncertainty that could damage the interests of the Union and to protect the integrity of the community bloc. In a resolution passed with 395 votes for and 200 against, the MEPs gathered in an extraordinary session in Brussels underlined that the will expressed by the British people had to be fully observed. Also on Tuesday, the German chancellor Angela Merkel said, ahead of her leaving for Brussels, that she would do her best to prevent the dismantling of the EU following the Brexit vote. Romania is represented at the summit by President Klaus Iohannis who will convey a message of unity and solidarity and will plead for the equal rights of all EU citizens, including of the Romanians who live and work in the UK.
The effects of the Brexit inn Romania will be felt at three levels: on the short term, at the level of financial markets, on medium term, that is 1 or 2 years, at economic level and on long term at political and institutional level. These are the estimates of the national bank vice-governor, Bogdan Olteanu, presented on Tuesday at a conference on economic issues. Bogdan Olteanu said there would be disruptions in the coming weeks but there are instruments that can contain these disruptions at global level.
Standard & Poors agency downgraded Britain’s sovereign credit score, judging last weeks vote to leave the European Union would hurt its economy. Standard & Poors stripped Britain of its top-notch credit rating, dropping it from “AAA” to “AA”. According to S&P, Brexit would lead to a less predictable, stable, and effective policy framework in the UK. Consequently, financial firms, especially foreign ones, might look to other destinations for investment after Britain leaves the EU. Fitch Ratings also downgraded its ranking for Britains creditworthiness by one notch, and said more cuts could follow. Another major rating agency, Moodys, will downgrade the credit rating outlook for major British banks to “negative” because of the fallout from the vote to leave the EU. The Fitch agency announced that it downgraded Britain’s ratings against the backdrop of concern related to the impact of the Brexit on the British public finance.
Meteorologists have issued a code orange alert for torrential rain in 6 counties in northeastern Romania, where the amounts of water will exceed 60l/sq.m locally. A code yellow alert for unsettled weather has been issued for the counties in the Eastern and Curvature Carpathians and in the south east of Romania. The alerts are valid from Tuesday evening until Wednesday morning. Also hydrologists have issued a code yellow alert for flooding valid until Wednesday night and a code orange alert until Wednesday afternoon for several rivers in eastern Romania. Following the bad weather reported over the past days, tens of people have been evacuated and hundreds of households flooded.
More than 40 divers from Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, the US, Turkey and Ukraine are participating in the multinational drill Eurasian Partnership Dive 16, in the territorial waters of Romania. The 6th edition of the drill is taking place from June 28 until July 8. The drill has 3 sections: diving for exercising the procedures of searching, neutralizing and destroying underwater makeshift explosive devices, diving for fighting sea mines and deep sea diving.
(news translated by Lacramioara Simion)
