March 7, 2015 UPDATE
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România Internațional, 07.03.2015, 12:15
The Romanian foreign minister, Bogdan Aurescu, participated Friday and Saturday in Riga in the informal meeting of the EU foreign ministers. On the occasion the Romanian minister talked about the importance of the fast and unconditional implementation of the Minsk agreement, meant to provide a political solution to the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Also minister Aurescu said that Romania wanted sanctions to be maintained against Russia. The EU had to be ready for adopting new sanctions if fighting was resumed in the Mariupol area, for instance, minister Aurescu added. Besides the Ukrainian crisis, the agenda of the meeting also included the crisis in Libya, the revision of the European Neighborhood Policy and the preparation of the Eastern Partnership summit to be held in Riga on the 21st and 22nd of May.
Germany’s foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, will pay a visit to Romania on Monday. He will meet with president Klaus Iohannis, with PM Victor Ponta and his counterpart Bogdan Aurescu. According to the German embassy in Bucharest, during this visit, Steinmeier will receive the title of honorary citizen of the city of Sibiu. He will participate there in an event organized by the Germans’ Democratic Forum in Romania which marks 25 years of existence.
The Romanian economy might grow by 3% if the Fiscal Code and the Fiscal Procedure Code are modified said the Romanian finance minister Darius Valcov. The National Agency for Fiscal Administration should take further measures to fight tax evasion, and if the new codes, which are now under public debate, were applied, the population’s purchasing power would grow with the reduction of taxation, Darius Valcov added. In his opinion, the implementation of the new codes will create more than 500 thousand jobs.
The European Central Bank will launch on Monday a large-scale program worth 1,100 billion euros meant to support the Euro zone economy and avoid deflation in the euro zone countries. The president of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, pointed out that, as of Monday, the bank would start purchasing euro bonds and would continue to buy mortgage-backed and asset-backed bonds. The European Central Bank program is applied in the context in which the annual inflation rate in the Euro Zone continued to drop in January, reaching minus 0.6% from 0.2% in December. If this trend continues, the Euro zone will technically enter a period of deflation.
Romania’s Davis Cup team has qualified in the 2nd round of Europe/Africa Zone Group I after defeating Israel’s team on Saturday, in Sibiu (central Romania). The decisive point was brought Saturday by the pair Horia Tecau/ Florin Mergea who defeated 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 the pair Bar Tzuf Botzer / Edan Leshem. On Friday, in the two single matches Adrian Ungur defeated Bar Tzuf Botzer and Marius Copil defeated Dudi Sela. In the second round Romania will play against Slovakia, on home ground, between July 17th and 19th. The winner will play in the playoffs for advancing to the World Group.
