September 27, 2013 UPDATE

For a round-up of domestic and international news, click here.

Mihai Pelin, 27.09.2013, 20:12

According to France Presse, the Romanian Foreign Ministry said there was no connection between Romania’s bid to join Schengen and the issue of the Roma. The ministry called on France to refrain from turning this into an election issued, underlining the fact that all European citizens have the right to circulate freely within the Union, irrespective of their country belonging to the Schengen area. On Thursday, French government spokesperson Najat Vallaud-Belkacem said that Romania does not meet the conditions for joining the free circulation area. There is in France a heated public debate on the issue of the Roma of Romanian origin, ahead of the March 2014 municipal elections. Politicians on all sides claim that the Roma refuse to integrate, and should not be allowed in the country.

The IMF on Friday approved Romania’s application for a new stand-by loan worth two billion Euro for two years, with two billion more granted by the European Commission. As part of the new agreement, the government commits to selling most companies currently run by the Ministry of the Economy. At the same time, PM Victor Ponta said recently that the only tax hikes agreed on with the IMF target luxury products, in order to compensate for dropping the VAT on bread and subsidizing health costs. This is Romania’s third loan with the IMF since the advent of the global financial crisis, the first being contracted in 2009 and the second in 2011.

Optimism about the euro zone’s economy brightened for the fifth month running and hit a two-year high in September, adding to evidence that recovery is underway, Reuters reports. The European Commission said on Friday that the 17-nation bloc’s morale rose faster than expected to 96.9 from 95.3 in August. The euro economy returned to a modest growth in the second quarter of this year with a 0.3 percent rise, driven by a stronger-than–expected expansion in France and Germany. Euro zone leaders, struggling to bring down record unemployment are looking for growth to continue in 2014.

Romania is in dire need of a specialized workforce as some of its best workers have found employment abroad, Romanian labour minister Mariana Campeanu said on Friday. In an attempt to find better jobs, event less trained people are trying their luck in other EU countries, the Romanian official went on to say. Various newspapers and publications have highlighted the problems facing the Romanians who are seeking employment in a foreign country, one of these being the disgruntled locals, who fear that Romanian immigrants could take their jobs, working for lower salaries and accepting worse conditions.

International weapons inspectors present in Syria will be investigating the venues of seven chemical attacks, UN sources announced in Damascus on Friday. After weeks of intense negotiations, Russia and the USA have agreed upon a text providing for the dismantling of president Bashar al-Assad’s chemical arsenal. Since the beginning of the conflict in Syria, in March 2011, the UN Security Council failed to agree upon a document in this respect, which was vetoed by Moscow and Beijing three times. The document includes sanctions against the regime in Damascus unless the plan on scrapping its chemical weapons is carried out, but the measures to be taken aren’t specified.

Over 370 people have been indicted in Romania in the first eight months of the year for acts of corruption, according to the prosecutor of the High Court of Appeals. This number is 20% higher than the prosecutions filed last year. Around 1,500 cases of corruption have been successfully seen through in this interval, said the prosecutors.

Romania needs a lot of opportunities for developing tourism, and will soon receive financing from the World Bank for spa tourism, according to the Romanian minister of tourism, Maria Grapini, speaking at the World Tourism Day celebrations in Bucharest. The theme of the event is ‘Tourism and Water’, as the United Nations declared 2013 the year of cooperation in relation to water.