Newsflash, June 27

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Mihai Pelin, 27.06.2013, 00:00

Romanian President Traian Basescu is attending the European Council in Brussels. The agenda of talks includes, among other things, topics such as boosting youth employment, the economic policies of the member states and joint EU actions aimed at fulfilling economic objectives. The European leaders will also analyze the consolidation policy of the Economic and Monetary Union, relations with strategic partners and enlargement towards the Western Balkans, including the start of negotiations with Serbia. The German Foreign Minister, Guido Westerwelle said on Tuesday that the decision regarding the start of accession negotiations with Serbia will be made at the EU summit this week.

The IMF board has endorsed the latest two assessments of the precautionary agreement signed with Romania and has approved the letter of intent submitted by the Bucharest authorities. So far, Bucharest has not used any of the 5 billion Euros granted under the precautionary agreement. For a successful conclusion of the agreement, the IMF approved three derogations for Romania, concerning the National Bank’s external assets, the old debts to the state budget and the general balance. More on this after the news.

Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta on Thursday paid a visit to Kazakhstan, the second leg of his Asian tour that also includes Uzbekistan and China. In Astana he met with his Kazach counterpart, Serik Ahmetov. High on the meeting’s agenda was the bilateral cooperation in the field of economy and investment. Kazakhstan is Romania’s biggest economic partner in Central Asia. Previously, the Romanian PM visited Azerbaijan, where he met with the countrys President Ilham Aliyev and Prime Minister Yagub Eyyubov. Also approached at the meeting was the recent decision of the Azeri consortium Sah Deniz, which opted for a different transport route of the Caspian gas towards Europe than Nabucco.

Bucharest prosecutors have started hearing the wounded who can give details about the circumstance of the tragic accident in Montenegro, in which 18 people were killed and 29 wounded, all of them Romanian. The deceased have been all identified and the wounded are being treated in Bucharest hospitals. In Montenegro a team of investigators has discovered the tachograph of the bus, which will indicate the speed of the vehicle and other data needed to establish the causes of the accident. Wednesday was a day of national mourning in both Romania and Montenegro.