September 11, 2014 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news.
România Internațional, 11.09.2014, 12:11
On Thursday the Ukrainian Government confirmed for the first time that the pro-Russian rebels have extended their control over Ukraine’s eastern border with Russia up to the Azov Sea, after last month’s offensive in the area. According to the Russian media, the separatists occupied the territory separating the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk “peoples republics” and an area controlled by Russian military near the Azov Sea. The situation in southeastern Ukraine has changed significantly after the enforcement of the cease fire accord signed on Friday, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said. He gave assurances that the separatist region would stay within the borders of Ukraine, which made no concessions in terms of border security.
EU governments agreed on Thursday that new economic sanctions on Russia would take effect on Friday, September 12, but held out the prospect of cancelling some or all of them next month if they believe a peace plan is working. European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said EU officials would conduct a review before the end of September of how a peace plan was working in Ukraine and if Russia was complying, some or all sanctions could be lifted. The EU sanctions would prohibit the companies from raising capital in Europe via “financial instruments with a maturity exceeding 30 days”, the draft document said. Moscow would take comparable measures in response to the new EU sanctions, such as caps on used car imports and other consumer goods.
The Parliament committees in charge of the diaspora have called for the resignation of the minister designated to deal with communities abroad, Bogdan Stanoevici, under accusations of incompetence. Members of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate are also accusing the Social Democrat minister of planning the World Congress of Romanians Abroad in November going against the rules on consulting Parliament, as Parliament did not get to vote in joint session the budget of the event and the methodology of appointing delegates. MPs have also complained loudly about the Diaspora Festival, organized in the summer.
Romania is not threatened by the conflict in the area in terms of military or territory, but will be under economic, informational and commercial threat, said for Mediafax Romanian head of intelligence George Maior. He specified that strategically involved institutions should be supported by the political class in Bucharest in order to be able to cope with these challenges. At the same time, Maior said that, according to Romanian intelligence estimates, tax evasion dropped in Romania from 22 to 27% of the GDP to 18 to 20%. He also added that the worst tax evasion is in VAT, estimated at 12%, followed by national health insurance tax evasion, estimated at 2.4%.
Romanian Foreign Minister Titus Corlatean said that the strategic partnership with the US is essential. He added that there is no alternative outside NATO for Romanian foreign policy. 13 years away from the 9/11 attacks, Corlatean said that Romania joined the global war on terror since the beginning, and could not be on the sidelines militarily or from an intelligence point of view.
