The President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, on Friday sent a letter
\nto the heads of the Senate and Chamber of Deputies, announcing his intention to address Parliament on September 16th . The head of state last
\ngave an address in Parliament on June 22nd, when he presented
\nRomania’s National Defence Strategy for 2015-2019.
\nSubsequently endorsed by the two chambers of Parliament, the Defence Strategy
\nbrings forth the new concept of broadened security. <\/p>\n
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In
\nthe first six months of the year 2015, Romania’s economy grew by 3.8%, as
\ncompared to the same period last year, said on Friday the National Statistics
\nInstitute. The sectors that contributed the most to the growth of the GDP, in
\nthe first semester of the year, were trade, transport, vehicle maintenance, hotels
\nand restaurants, communications and industry. Exports, on the other hand,
\nimpacted the GDP negatively, as they were lower than imports. Economic growth
\nwas prompted mainly by household consumption, followed by the investments made
\nby companies in buildings and equipment.<\/p>\n
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Bucharest
\nmay sign a new assistance agreement with the International Monetary Fund and
\nthe European Union in 2016, to protect its economy against market shocks, the
\nFinance Minister Eugen Teodorovici told Bloomberg. According to him, Romania
\nstands on its own and does not need IMF funding, but a flexible deal would be a
\ngood idea, as a safety net against market instability. Since the start of the
\neconomic crisis in 2009 to date, Romania has signed 3 consecutive loan
\nagreements with the IMF and the EU, which served as an anchor for the
\ngovernmental policies related to the budget, the privatisation of state-owned
\ncompanies and the economy, Bloomberg notes. The current agreement with the IMF
\namounts to 2 billion euros, but so far Bucharest has not used these funds.<\/p>\n
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The
\nRomanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu is taking part in Luxemburg in an
\ninformal meeting of the EU foreign ministers. According to the Romanian Foreign
\nMinistry, talks focus on topics like the EU eastern border, particularly the
\nrecent developments in Ukraine and the relations with the Russian Federation,
\nthe Middle East peace process, relations with Iran and the immigrant crisis.
\nSpecial attention will be paid to the stage of the reform process in the
\ncountries on the east of the EU, particularly the Republic of Moldova, Georgia
\nand Ukraine, the security situation in east Ukraine and the measures required
\nfor the immediate implementation of the Minsk agreements. <\/p>\n
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In the neighbouring Republic of Moldova the multi-national military
\nexercise Fire Shield has begun, with 26 troops from Romania and 150 from the USA taking part. The exercise marks
\n24 years since the formation of the National Army of Moldova, shortly after
\nChisinau proclaimed its independence from Moscow, on August 27, 1991. Also
\nthese days, more than 100 Moldovan military are taking part in the Sea
\nBreeze-2015 drills, taking place in Ukraine under the NATO aegis. According to
\nthe Constitution, the Republic of Moldova is a neutral state, but it has been
\ncooperating with NATO since 1994. The capital city Chisinau hosts an Alliance
\nintelligence centre, and Moldovan troops took part in the post-conflict
\nreconstruction operation in Iraq between 2003 and 2008.<\/p>\n
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Great
\nBritain is ready to do more to help overcome the immigration crisis in Europe
\nand to provide resettlement to ‘thousands’ more Syrian refugees, the British
\nPrime Minister David Cameron said on Friday. Cameron thus gave in to rising
\npressure in Great Britain, favouring the provision of more aid for refugees. The
\nUN Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, has urged for the resettlement
\nof at least 200,000 asylum seekers in the EU and has stated that all the EU
\nmember countries should take part in this program. Since the beginning of the
\nyear, at least 300,000 people have crossed the Mediterranean, and 2,600 have
\ndied trying to do that. The EU is making efforts to deal with this
\nunprecedented flow, the largest after WWII. Many of the refugees are fleeing
\ncountries devastated by war, such as Syria and Afghanistan, putting their
\nlives at risk in order to rich the West.
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Romania’s national rugby team plays against Tonga in Bucharest on
\nSaturday, in the last test before leaving for England for the World Cup due to
\nbegin on September 18. Romania is part of the competition’s Group D, alongside
\nFrance, Ireland, Canada and Italy. The Romanian rugby team has taken part in
\nall the World Cup final tournaments so far, but they never got past the group
\nstage.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A roundup of domestic 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":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-100444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n