March 19, 2015 UPDATE
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România Internațional, 19.03.2015, 12:15
Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis is taking part for two days in the European Council’s Spring Session scheduled to take place in Brussels. The agenda of the session focuses on topics such as strengthening energy security and foreign relations. Before leaving, the Romanian President said Romania supported the setting up of an energy union framework based on the 5 dimensions proposed by the European Commission: energy security, a single internal energy market, energy efficiency, environment protection as well as research, innovation and energy competitiveness. The Eastern Partnership, the crisis in Ukraine, the relations with the Russian Federation and other foreign policy hot topics, such as the developments in Libya, also rank high on the agenda of the European Council Spring Session, president Klaus Iohannis also added.
The Romanian PM Victor Ponta on Thursday announced that he approved the resignation of the finance minister, Darius Valcov, after the National Anti-Corruption Directorate called on the Senate to approve the arrest and taking into temporary custody of the finance minister. The latter is being investigated on corruption charges for corrupt practices he perpetrated between 2008-2009 when he was mayor of the town of Slatina (in the south). According to prosecutors, Valcov received bribe worth 2 million euros in exchange for awarding contracts to a certain company. On the other hand, the National Anti-Corruption Directorate asked the approval of Parliament for the arrest and taking into temporary custody of MP Theodor Nicolescu who is accused of bribe taking and abuse of office in a case regarding the illegal refunding granted for overpriced buildings. In the same case, in which the damage stands at 75 million euros, the outgoing president of the National Integrity Agency, Horia Georgescu, has been taken into temporary custody for 30 days.
The draft fiscal code will be finalized at the end of the week. It will be subsequently debated by the Government and adopted on Wednesday, jointly with the Fiscal Procedure Code. The document will be tabled to Parliament for debate next week. The announcement was made by Prime Minister Victor Ponta in Thursdays Government session. The two documents have been the object of public debate in the last month. Under the new code, the Government wants to ease taxation for the population and businesses. The most important changes are cutting VAT from 24% to 20% starting next year and to 18% starting 2019, eliminating the tax on special constructions, maintaining the flat tax and slashing it to 14% starting 2019. The new fiscal provisions will come into effect starting January 2016.
Over 25 Romanian companies are participating these days in Hanover (Germany) in the most important fair devoted to communications and IT — CEBIT. Romania’s national stand, called “RomaniaIT” mainly displays software solutions for a large range of applications, shows a communiqué of the Romanian Economy and Trade Ministry. This year’s edition of the fair, which comes to an end on Friday, is being attended by more than 3700 exhibitors from 75 countries. Organizers expect the number of visitors to reach 250 thousand.
The Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, no. 3 in the world, will play Friday against Serena Williams, the world’s no. 1, in the semi-finals of the Indian Wells tournament, the USA, which has prizes up for grabs worth 5.4 million dollars. In the quarterfinals Halep defeated in 3 sets the Spanish Carla Suarez Navarro. Serena has a 4-1 lead in direct encounters wit Simona Halep, who is playing in the semifinals of the Californian tournament for the 2nd consecutive year. Also in Indian Wells the pair made up of the Romanian Florin Mergea and the British Dominic Inglot was eliminated in the quarterfinals by the pair Marcin Matkowski (Poland) / Nenad Zimonjic (Serbia).
The US President Barack Obama and the German Chancellor Angela Merkel have no intention to ease sanctions on Russia, in response to Moscow’s increased support to rebel militias in Eastern Ukraine. In a telephone conversation, the two leaders agreed that Moscow must first comply with all the obligations stipulated in the Minsk ceasefire agreement. Over 170 freight trucks from Russia carrying nearly 2,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid on Thursday crossed the Ukrainian border, headed to the rebel-held separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. Kiev has warned that the convoy’s crossing without the consent of the Ukrainian authorities is a breach of the terms of the agreement. Sources within the Ukrainian Security and Defence Council claim the freight trucks are transporting mostly weapons and ammunition.
