March 9, 2015 UPDATE
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România Internațional, 09.03.2015, 12:15
The Romanian President, Klaus Iohannis, on Monday met in Bucharest with Germany’s foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier. High on the agenda of talks were such topics as economic cooperation and security. They also tackled issues related to NATO’s presence in Romania, according to the decisions made at the latest NATO summit and the developments in the EU’s eastern neighborhood. The German official also had talks with the Romanian PM and the foreign minister. He said that there was no link between the conditions for Romania’s Schengen accession and the security situation in the region caused by the Ukrainian conflict. In the city of Sibiu, in central Romania, Steinmeier will participate in the events occasioned by the 25th anniversary of the Germans’ Democratic Forum in Romania.
Russian warships and aircraft have been detected in the Black Sea area where NATO military drills are scheduled, but they have observed international norms, the DPA news agency reports. NATO ships are undertaking, as of Monday, military drills in the Bulgarian Black Sea port of Varna, against the backdrop of tension between the West and Russia, the Euronews channel reports. 6 ships from the US, Canada, Turkey, Germany, Italy and Romania will hold training exercises alongside ships from the Bulgarian, Romanian and Turkish navies. The drills will include simulations of anti-aircraft and anti-submarine attacks as well as simulations of attacks by small-sized ships. Bulgaria and Romania became NATO members in 2004.
The European Central Bank on Monday launched its program worth 1,100 billion euros mainly aimed at boosting economic recovery in the Euro zone and avoiding deflation in the EU. According to Central Bank president Mario Draghi as of Monday the bank will start buying euro bonds and will continue to buy mortgage-backed and asset-backed bonds. The measure comes against the significant depreciation of the European single currency against the US dollar and the pound, reaching the lowest level since 2007. The annual inflation rate in the euro zone continued to drop in January reaching minus 0.6% from 0.2% reported in December.
The foreign ministers from the Euro zone are assessing a list of measures that Greece has pledged to implement in exchange for the next loan installment of the bailout package. The measures focus on administrative reforms on the labour market, on fighting corruption, tax evasion and smuggling. Creditors, on the other hand, are requesting measures with immediate effect — such as an increased VAT, viable privatization projects, cuts in state employees salaries and pensions. Under the recently signed accord with the Euro zone countries, Greece will not receive additional funds until June unless it implements fresh economic reforms. On Friday, Greece reimbursed 310 million euros out of a total of one billion and a half, which is to be paid to the IMF in the following two weeks. Unemployment is affecting a quarter of the population in Greece, whose foreign debt stands at 315 billion euros, accounting for 175% of the GDP.
The Romanian rock band Voltaj will represent Romania in the Eurovision song contest due in Vienna in May. Their song, ‘All over again’ was selected during a national TV program on Sunday night from 12 songs that were competing. The song is about the ordeal of the Romanians who go to find employment in foreign countries leaving their children behind.
The Supreme Court on Monday confirmed the decision of the Prosecutors’ Office with the High Court of Cassation and Justice to reopen the file of the June 13th – 15th 1990 miners’ raids, that violently put an end to a large-scale manifestation against the power instated in Romania after the fall of the Communist dictatorship in December 1989. Back then, against the backdrop of incidents reported in the capital Bucharest, the then leftist president Ion Iliescu claimed the rally was a coup d’etat and called on the miners in the Jiu Valley (in the center west) to come to Bucharest to defend democracy. The miners came to Bucharest where they attacked the University building, the headquarters of the opposition parties and of several independent newspapers. Officially the miners’ raids of June 13th – 15th 1990 left behind 6 dead, hundreds of wounded and more than one thousand people arrested abusively. Romania was obliged by the European Court of Human Rights in September last year to continue investigations in this file.
