May 9, 2018
Healthcare trade unions give up strike, US pulls out from Iranian nuclear deal
Newsroom, 09.05.2018, 13:13
Strike cancelled — The Romanian healthcare trade unions have given up the all-out strike scheduled for Friday after reaching an agreement with the government over salary benefits. The leader of SANITAS, Leonard Bărăscu, pointed out that an agreement with 7 main points was concluded, and all provisions would be applied to salary rights that would be granted starting in May. Also, negotiations will be resumed in relation to the collective bargaining agreement in the healthcare system. In turn, the health minister Sorina Pintea announced that the government would modify the unitary pay law in the public system.
Iran nuclear deal — American President Donald Trump announced the US would withdraw from the Iranian nuclear deal and reimpose economic sanctions against Iran. The 2015 nuclear deal curbed Irans nuclear activities in return for the lifting of sanctions that had been imposed by the UN, US and EU. President Trump harshly criticized the deal claiming that the agreement did not prevent Iran from funding terrorism and from destabilizing the Middle East. In a joint declaration, France, Germany and Great Britain have expressed regret for Mr. Trump’s decision and announced they remained committed to the deal. The EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said that the EU decided to support the agreement. The Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that Teheran would observe the deal. The American President’s decision was hailed by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Israel while the Russian Foreign Ministry said Russia was deeply disappointed with Donald Trump’s decision.
May 9 — The Romanian Defense Ministry organizes Wednesday May 9 military ceremonies in Bucharest and across the country to mark May 9, a day with a threefold significance for Romanians. Romania celebrates the State Independence Day proclaimed in 1877. The Romanian soldiers fought in the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878 obtaining independence from the Ottoman Empire. May 9 also marks the victory of the United Nations Coalition in WWII. Thirdly on May 9 Romania marks Europe Day known as Schuman Day, in commemoration of the 1950 Schuman Declaration. The French foreign minister Robert Schuman proposed a plan for economic cooperation between France and Germany to give up historical rivalries between the two states.
Tennis — The Romanian tennis player, Simona Halep, will take on, today, the Czech Kristyna Pliskova (94 WTA) in the eighth finals of the Madrid tournament which has total prizes up for grabs worth almost 6.7 million Euros. On Tuesday Halep defeated the Belgian Elise Mertens (16 WTA) 6-0, 6-3. The Romanian tennis player is the winner of the last two editions of the Madrid tournament.
Eurovision — Ten countries (Austria, Estonia, Cyprus, Lithuania, Israel, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Albania, Finland and Ireland) have qualified to the final of the Eurovision 2018 song contest following the first semifinal held on Tuesday night in Lisbon. Romania’s representatives, The Humans band, will sing the piece “Goodbye” on Thursday in the second semifinal. The artists representing the founding members of the contest, namely Germany, Italy, Britain, France and Spain alongside Portugal, last year’s winner, have automatically qualified to Saturday’s final.
Economy — The governor of the National Bank of Romania, Mugur Isărescu, on Wednesday said, upon the presentation of the quarterly report on inflation, that in March the inflation rate reached 4.95%, which is the highest value reported over the past 5 years. In another development, at the Country Risk Conference hosted today in Bucharest, the national bank governor’s main advisor on monetary policy, Lucian Croitoru, said that the attitude towards inflation and competitiveness was the most important thing Romania should take into account in the process of integration into the Euro zone. He added that integration into the Euro zone had to be made with much care, as this is one of Romania’s most sensitive moves. Eurostat data published in April show that Romania reported the highest inflation rate in March within the EU. (news translated by Lacramioara Simion)
