May 11, 2019
Klaus Iohannis Monday participates in meeting of Eastern Partnership countries, Halep plays in the Madrid final
Newsroom, 11.05.2019, 14:13
Eastern Partnership — The Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Monday will participate in Brussels in a meeting of the representatives of the Eastern Partnership countries, which marks 10 years since the setting up of this initiative. According to the presidential administration, the Romanian president will highlight the fact that the partnership contributed to the strengthening of the economies and societies of the eastern countries, and also to an enlarged stability of the EU borders. President Iohannis will also underline that the EU expects a permanent political commitment from the partner countries in terms of the observance of commitments made in their relation with the EU. The Eastern Partnership is an initiative which created a common area of democracy, prosperity, stability and close cooperation among the EU member states and partners states such as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. The meeting will also be attended by other high-ranking EU officials.
Fitch — The Fitch international rating agency affirms ratings for Romania’s long term debts in hard and local currencies at BBB minus, with stable outlook for both, but warns that the budget deficit might rise to 3.4% of the GDP in 2019, shows a Fitch communiqué. Romania’s country ceiling has been affirmed at BBB plus, while the short-term local and hard-currency IDR (Issuer Default Rating) was affirmed at F3. In another move, the Fitch analysts draw attention that the budget and current account deficits, the foreign debt level over the average value reported in the states included in the same category of investments and the pro-cyclical fiscal policy are risks threatening Romania’s macroeconomic stability.
CCR — Romania’s Constitutional Court will discuss on May 28 the notification made Friday by the Romanian President Klaus Iohannis in relation to the recent modifications brought to the Criminal and Criminal Procedure Codes and to the anti-corruption law. President Iohannis claims that in regard to the Criminal Code and the anti-corruption law the parliament also changed some provisions that were not related to the re-examination he had requested. As to the modification of the Criminal Procedure Code, the president says they failed to harmonize the texts previously criticized by the Constitutional Court. The opposition Liberals also submitted a notification on the same issue, which will be debated on May 22. The modifications adopted by Parliament and forwarded to the president for promulgation on May 2, reduce the statute of limitations for criminal liability, introduce a one-year deadline for denouncing cases of bribe taking and influence peddling, decriminalize dereliction of duty and diminish by half punishments for embezzlement and abuse of office.
Tennis — World’s no. 3 tennis player, the Romanian Simona Halep, is today playing in the finals of the Madrid tournament which has prizes up for grabs worth a total of 7 million Euros. This is her 4th final in Madrid. Halep will take on the Dutch Kiki Bertens, world’s no. 7 player. In the semifinals the Romanian player defeated the Swiss Belinda Bencic (18 WTA), while Kiki Bertens eliminated the American Sloane Stephens, world’s no. 8. Halep won the Madrid tournament in 2016 and 2017. If she wins today’s final, she will return on Monday on top position in the WTA ranking. The men’s Romanian-Dutch pair Horia Tecău/Jean-Julien Rojer qualified to the doubles final of the Mdrid tournament, after defeating 2-1 in the sets the pair Wesley Koolhof (the Netherlands)/Stefanos Tsitsipas (Greece). Tecău and Rojer, champions in Madrid in 2016, will play Sunday against the winners of the match pitting Diego Schwartzman (Argentina)/Dominic Thiem (Austria) against Guido Pella (Argentina)/Joao Sousa (Portugal). (translation by L. Simion)
