September 22, 2015
A roundup of domestic and international news.
Newsroom, 22.09.2015, 12:00
The Romanian deputy prime minister and interior minister, Gabriel Oprea, is today attending in Brussels the EU Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting. Ministers will focus on the Commission’s proposal for the emergency relocation of 120 000 persons in need of international protection, from member states exposed to massive migratory flows to other EU member states. Romania will stick to its initial stand as to the number of refugees that it can take in, which is 1,785. If the European Commission’s proposal for mandatory national quotas is submitted to a vote, Bucharest will give a negative vote, according to a release by the Rumanian Interior Ministry. An EU extraordinary summit devoted to the refugee crisis will be held on the 23rd of September, the day after the EU Interior Ministers’ summit on the same topic.
The Greek Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras, has today announced the membership of his new cabinet, that will have to implement the stipulations of the agreement worth 86 billion euros forged in August with the international lenders after months of difficult negotiations. Alexis Tsipras took the oath of office for a second term as Greek prime minister on Monday, promising to revive the crippled economy, following a clear election victory of his left-of-centre party, Syriza, on Sunday. He announced his plan to rebuild the government coalition in order to secure 155 of the total 300 seats in Parliament. Tsipras resigned in August and caled early elections, after almost one third of the Syriza MPs stood against the bailout deal with international lenders.
The Romanian and Moldovan governments are holding a new meeting in Neptun, in south-eastern Romania. They will discuss joint projects running on a non-refundable amount of 100 million euros, granted by the Bucharest authorities, such as energy infrastructure and transport projects, but also environment protection and health system development. Also approached will be the importance of stabilising Moldova’s banking system, after the disappearance of 1 billion dollars, forging a new agreement with the IMF and the cuntry’s path towards the EU.
Trade unionists in the Romanian railway system are currently on a work-in strike for two days, starting today. They are unhappy with the labor conditions, they want to sign the collective labor agreement by September 30 at the latest and also a salary raise by at least 10%. Trade unionists also want meal vouchers for all working hours and vacation vouchers starting January 1, 2016. A decision whether an all-out strike will be called or not on October 1st is to be taken on Wednesday.
Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, seed no. 2 in the WTA ranking, has today qualified to the second round of the WTA tournament in Guangzhou, China, after having defeated Croatian Petra Martici. Halep, the competition’s main favourite, will next be up against Hungarian Timea Babos, the WTA 76th ranked.
