The Republic of Moldova’s
\nPrime Minister Designate, Ion Sturza, is to present his cabinet’s membership
\nand governing program, for which it will call for Parliament’s endorsement on
\nMonday. Following consultations with the parliamentary parties, he only managed
\nto get the support of the Liberal Democrats, who are only 19 out of a total of
\n101 MPs. Most parliamentary parties have announced they will not support the
\ngovernment on January 4th. Last week, the Constitutional Court in
\nChisinau ruled that president Nicolae Timofti’s decree on the designation of
\nIon Sturza as PM was constitutional. The ruling was given following a claim
\nfiled by 14 former Communist MPs, now allies to the Democratic Party, according
\nto which Nicolae Timofti had not consulted them on the designation of the PM
\nand had not proposed a candidate accepted by a parliamentary majority.<\/p>\n
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On January 7th,
\nthe Romanian Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos will pay a formal visit to Berlin,
\nduring which he will meet with Chancellor Angela Merkel. The two officials will
\ndiscuss, among other things, means of strengthening bilateral cooperation and
\nalso the situation created by the influx of migrants to Europe. The visit’s
\nagenda also includes meetings with members of the Romanian community in Germany
\nand of the Romanian – German Economic Forum. The delegation that will accompany
\nPM Ciolos will also include the Foreign Minister, Lazar Comanescu.<\/p>\n
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On January 1st, the Netherlands took over, for the 12th time, the
\nrotating presidency of the EU. Fighting terrorism, the influx of migrants and
\nthe situation in Syria will be the main challenges facing the Netherlands in
\nthis extremely difficult period, both at European and international level. The
\nkey role of the Dutch presidency will be that of moderator between the 28 EU
\nmember countries. The Dutch PM Mark Rutte has given assurances that it will be
\na pragmatic presidency, focused on solving common issues, which can only be
\nsettled through cooperation.<\/p>\n
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In 2016, Romania must pay 113
\nmillion Euros, in interest rates and commissions, to the EU and the WB, under
\nthe stand-by loan agreement concluded in 2009. in 2015, Romania paid over 1,8
\nbillion Euros to the IMF, the EU and the WB. Also, 2015 was the year when
\nBucharest fully paid the loan from the IMF. The total amount reimbursed by
\nRomania over 2009-2015 stood at 4,837 billion Euros, according to the Romanian
\nFinance Ministry. By 2023 Romania must pay 4.88 billion Euros to the WB and the
\nEU. The largest amount, 3.8 billion, will go tot the EU.<\/p>\n
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The trajectory of populist movements, the elimination
\nof the threat posed by the Islamic State terrorist organisation, the popularity
\nissues facing the German and French leaders, are the main international events
\nto be followed in 2016 according to the Wall Street Journal. Almost every EU
\ncountry is faced with the emergence of populist parties discontent with
\nBrussels’s policies, which are pleading for regaining national independence,
\nthe famous publication also reads. As regards terrorism, the Obama
\nadministration has not yet found a solution to effectively fight against the
\nIslamic State network without amplifying Iran’s and Russia’s power. On the
\nother hand, the wave of terrorist attacks in France and the inflow of
\nimmigrants to Germany are serious challenges for the two countries and for the
\nEU’s essential values. Despite that, analysist say that, both the French
\npresident Francois Hollande and the German Chancellor Angela Merkel will
\nprobably stay in power until the 2017 elections.<\/p>\n
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The Romanian Ministry of
\nCulture keeps on its priority agenda the purchasing of Constantin Brancusi’s
\nwork Wisdom of the Earth, although it does not have the necessary money in
\nthis year’s budget, and very likely in next year’s budget either, as the owners
\nrequest 20 million Euros for this piece of art. Constantin Brancusi, who lived
\nbetween 1876 and 1957, is dubbed one of
\nthe greatest sculptors of the 20th century. He deeply influenced the
\nmodern concept of form in sculpting, painting and drawing. We recall that the sculptural
\nensemble in Targu Jiu, made up of the ‘Table of Silence’, ‘The Gate of the
\nKiss’ , ‘The Chairs Alley’ and ‘The Endless Column’, was included in UNESCO’s
\nheritage list in 2007.<\/p>\n
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Romanian tennis players Irina Begu, Monica Niculescu, Andreea Mitu
\nand Patricia Tig will participate in the Shenzhen tournament in China,
\nshedulled to start on Sunday. The tournament has over 400,000 USD up for grabs.
\nAccording to the organizers, Begu and Niculescu will be among the top seeds.
\nAndreea Mitu will also be on the main table, while Patricia Tig will play in
\nthe qualifiers. Simona Halep, who won the Shenzhen tournament in 2015, is top
\nseeded in the Brisbane tournament in Australia, which will be unfolding in the
\nsame period and has over 900,000 dollars in prize money.<\/p>\n
<\/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-100748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n