March 1, 2015
A roundup of local and international news.
Newsroom, 01.03.2015, 13:54
The minister responsible for liasing with the Romanians abroad, Angel Tilvar has travelled to southern Italy on an official visit to inquire into the situation of the Romanian community in this region. He had talks in the province of Ragusa with the representatives of the ethnic Romanians and the local authorities about the problems of many of the 42,000 Romanians on the island in southern Italy. Talvar said he discussed some of their recent labour problems, such as work conflicts, exploitation and black market employment. The minister and his delegation are on a three-day trip to Italy, which is home to 1 million Romanians, the largest ethnic Romanian community in the world.
650 military from the Romanian Special Operations Forces will be in Kabul for the next 6 months to provide assistance to the Afghan security forces as part of a NATO mission. The Romanian troops will also ensure the protection of the air base in Kandahar. Romania thus joins a number of states providing assistance to the Afghan security forces following last year’s withdrawal of the NATO and US troops from Afghanistan, where they fought the Taliban for 13 years.
Fitch Ratings has affirmed Romania’s long-term government debt rating at BBB, with a stable outlook. According to the finance minister in Bucharest, this is mainly the result of positive expectations regarding economic growth in the next few years and a better fiscal policy compared with Romania’s BBB peers. Fitch Ratings forecasts the Romanian economy to grow by 2.7% this year, and its budget deficit and public debt standing below the BBB median. Moreover, experts say the continuation of the fiscal consolidation process and economic growth may lead to a better rating for Romania in the near future.
A mourning rally to honour opposition activist Boris Nemtsov is held in Moscow today. A constant critic of Vladimir Putin’s regime and a former deputy prime minister, 55-year-old Nemtsov had a reputation as a leading liberal reformer. He was shot dead on Friday night near Kremlin hours after taking part in a live radio talk show in which he appealed for support for a Sunday march against president Putin and his policy in Ukraine. The Kremlin leader described Nemtsov’s killing as a cynical and cowardly act and said all efforts would be made to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice. The international community has condemned the attack, with the US calling on Moscow to conduct a “prompt, impartial and transparent investigation”.
Parliamentary elections are held in Estonia today amid security concerns over Russia. The pro-Russian Centre Party is expected to do well, but not to win enough votes to form a government, according to France Presse news agency. A former Soviet republic and today a member of the European Union, the eurozone and NATO, Slovenia has a population of 1.3 million, a quarter of whom are ethnic Russians. Russian military exercises carried out on the Estonian border a few days before the elections have increased fears that Russia might seek to destabilise other former Soviet states. According to a poll published on Saturday, the Reform party has 26% of voting intentions, followed by the Centre Party with 22% and the Social Democrats with 19%.
