May 12, 2015
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România Internațional, 12.05.2015, 12:00
During the Regional Cyber Security Summit currently underway in Bucharest a pilot project is to be launched today by the Centre for Innovation in Cyber Security. The summit, which has been organized by the Romanian field ministry jointly with the US Department of Commerce, has brought together representatives of 17 countries from Central and Southeastern Europe who are presenting their cyber security strategies in Bucharest. Romania has already proved to be an IT regional leader during the present Ukrainian crisis and Russia’s aggressive policy.
Over 300 members of the two main trade unions in Romania’s public administration have today protested in front of the government building in Bucharest. They have claimed improved work conditions and better wages. The protesters are disgruntled with a government decision under which 60% of these workers will be given minimum wages irrespective of their training, age or the type of work they are doing. Public servants also staged protests on Monday and similar actions have been scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday.
Greece is facing the risk of running out of liquidities in a couple of weeks, the country’s finance minister Yanis Varoufakis said after Athens’ failure to reach an agreement on another bailout tranche, France Press reports. Yesterday EU finance ministers hailed the progress Athens had made in talks with its foreign lenders, but said that ‘more work was needed’. Lenders are asking for fresh economic reforms but the far-left government, which came to power on pledges to end austerity in the country, insists on finding alternative solutions. Greece’s public debt has reached 320 billion euros, which accounts for 175% of the country’s GDP.
US secretary of state John Kerry is paying his first formal visit to Russia after the annexation of Crimea and its involvement into the conflict in Ukraine. The US official is to meet his Russian counterpart Serghei Lavrov in Sochi. According to US officials, Kerry is likely to also be received by president Putin, who could meet the US official if his schedule allowed. According to Radio Romania corespondent in the US, the situation in Ukraine is expected to be high on the agenda of the Russian-American talks along with the situation in Yemen, Syria and Iran’s nuclear programme.
The Forestry Code is subject to more debates in the specialized committees of the Chamber of Deputies, upon request by president Klaus Iohannis. The president has called for a renewed assessment of the document, which in his opinion includes provisions aimed at limiting the activity of some economic agents, creating prerequisites for discriminatory treatment. MPs of the ruling coalition and from the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania in the Senate have ruled out the requested amendments but the decision makers are in the Chamber of Deputies. In another development, the government has notified the National Anticorruption Directorate on the numerous corruption cases in the forestry sector between 2009 and 2012. Illegal deforestation sparked off numerous street protests last weekend in several Romanian cities. President Iohannis has pledged the issue will be discussed in the next Higher Defence Council’s proceedings.
