Newsflash, 15 iulie 2013

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Ştefan Stoica, 15.07.2013, 15:00

The Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta is, as of Monday, interim Transport Minister as well, after the resignation of the former head of the ministry, Relu Fenechiu. On Friday, the Court sentenced Relu Fenechiu to five years in prison, payment of damages and some rights removed for the coming three years for conspiracy to commit abuse of office. The former minister was accused that through the companies he owned, he sold transformers made in the 1970s and 1980s as new products to a state-owned company providing electricity maintenance and services with the complicity of the leadership of the respective company.

Head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde is paying a two-day visit to Romania, the first one since her appointment in July 2011. Christine Lagardes agenda includes meetings with Romanian officials and representatives of the private sector, civil society and the academic field to discuss about Romania’s economic perspectives. On Monday, the IMF chief held talks with Prime Minister Victor Ponta while on Tuesday she will have a meeting with President Traian Basescu. On July 17, a joint mission of the IMF and the European Commission will come to Bucharest for talks with the Romanian authorities on a new precautionary agreement.

An international conference on mediation in the area of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, organized by the Romanian Foreign Ministry is held on Monday and Tuesday in Romania’s capital city Bucharest. On this occasion, the Foreign Minister Titus Corlatean voiced Romania’s full availability to join efforts to prevent and solve conflicts in this area. Representatives of the EU and the United Nations and representatives of the academic field are attending the conference.

Romania’s football champion Steaua Bucharest on Tuesday will play a home game against FK Vardar Skopje of Macedonia. The game counts towards the Champions League’s second preliminary round. Another Romanian football team Astra Giurgiu, a squad that made its debut in the European football season on Thursday will play in the Europa League. Pandurii Targu Jiu and Petrolul Ploiesti will be facing Levadia Tallin from Estonia and Farr Oerr Islands’ Vikingur Gotta, respectively.

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