Romania’s president
\nKlaus Iohannis is to decide who will ensure the temporary leadership of the
\ngovernment while prime minister Victor Ponta is recovering from surgery. In a
\nwritten request, Ponta proposed deputy prime minister Gabriel Oprea for the
\njob, having last week handed over to him the the prime ministerial
\nprerogatives. According to a government release, the prime minister’s recovery
\nwill last approximately 3 weeks and will not affect the cabinet’s activity.
\nPress agencies note that Victor Ponta’s health problems came amidst a big
\ncorruption scandal, with the National Anticorruption Directorate starting
\ncriminal investigations against the prime minister for money laundering,
\nfalsifying documents and tax evasion, all of which were allegedly committed
\nsome years ago, while Ponta was working as a lawyer. The prime minister says
\nthe accusations against him are politically motivated and promised to present
\ndocuments proving his innocence. <\/p>\n
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President Klaus
\nIohannis is today presenting Parliament with the country’s national defence
\nstrategy for the 2015-2019 period. On the 17th of June, the defence
\ncommittees in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate gave a positive opinion on
\nthe document ahead of the debate and vote in Parliament. The concept of extended
\nsecurity is one of the novelties of the strategy. National security thus refers
\nnot only to defence, but also aspects related to public order, economy,
\ninfrastructure, education, healthcare, the environment and culture. The
\nnational defence strategy reaffirms Romania’s strategic partnership with the US
\nand the country’s NATO and European Union membership as pillars of its foreign
\nand security policy. <\/p>\n
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EU foreign ministers have today launched a naval mission
\nto stop smuggling of migrants in the Mediterranean, the France Presse news
\nagency reports. The first vessels, submarines, patrol aircraft and drones are
\nto deployed within a week. The decision was taken in the opening of a monthly
\nmeeting in Luxembourg which is also attended by Romania’s foreign minister
\nBogdan Aurescu. Also today, EU foreign ministers decided to extend economic
\nsanctions against Russia by the end of January 2016 over this country’s
\ninvolvement in the conflict in Ukraine. The sanctions, which are to expire at
\nthe end of July, target areas such as the banking, defence and oil sectors. <\/p>\n
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Romania’s defence
\nminister Mircea Dusa is today visiting the military taking part in the TRIDENT
\nJOUST and RESOLUTE CASTLE exercises under way in central Romania. Over 1,000
\ntroops from 25 countries take part in the Trident Joust exercise between the 17th
\nand the 28th of June. As part of the exercise, structures of the
\nAllied Joint Force Command Naples are deployed to Romania and, as a first, the
\ncommand and control of the NATO Response Force are transferred to this
\ntemporary location. The Resolute Castle exercise, which takes places until the
\n15th of September, involves over 200 military and military equipment
\nfrom the Romanian and American engineering corps. <\/p>\n
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The foreign minister of the
\nRepublic of Moldova Natalia Gherman has been appointed interim prime minister
\nfollowing the resignation of Chiril Gaburici over accusations that he forged
\nhis baccalaureate diploma. Gaburici, who took office in February 2015, refused
\nto act as interim prime minister and resigned on the 12th of June.
\nParliament has to appoint a new government within the next three months, by
\nSeptember 12th at the latest. The daughter of former president
\nMircea Snegur, Natalia Gherman took over as minister of foreign affairs and
\nEuropean integration in 2013 in Iurie Leanca’s government. Earlier, she held
\nthe position of deputy minister within the same ministry. <\/p>\n
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\nEurozone
\nleaders meet in Brusels today to discuss Greece’s situation. This country risks
\ndefaulting and exiting the eurozone unless it reaches an agreement with its
\nforeign creditors by the end of the month. Eurozone finance ministers are to
\nhold talks ahead of the meeting. Greece needs 7.2 billion euros by the end of
\nJune, when the current agreement expires, but its leftist government has so far
\nrefused to implement the reforms demanded by its creditors on account of their
\nsocial costs. The Greek government said prime minister Alexis Tsipras has
\nprepared a new set of proposals to reach a mutually beneficial agreement with
\nthe country’s international creditors. Following austerity measures imposed by
\nthe International Monetary Fund, the European Union and the European Central
\nBank as part of two economic rescue packages, Greece’s economy has shrunk by
\n25%, pensions and salaries have been cut and one in four people is unemployed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A round of local and international news<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":100004,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[28877],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-100296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-newsflash"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n