June 18, 2015 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 18.06.2015, 12:15
The presidential administration in Bucharest on Thursday presented members of the NATO and EU diplomatic corps with Romania’s new National Defense Strategy. According to a communiqué issued by the presidency, the strategic vision, the main elements and directions of the new strategy were highlighted, especially from Romania’s perspective as member of NATO and the EU. Already unanimously endorsed by the Romanian Parliament’s special committees, the new National Defense Strategy will be presented by President Klaus Iohannis on Monday, in a joint session of the Romanian Parliament’s two chambers. More on this after the news.
Two members of the governing coalition in Romania, the Liberal Reformist Party and the Conservative Party are to merge on Friday, under what will be called the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats — ALDE. The future centre-right party will have just one parliamentary group and will run as a single body in next year’s local and parliamentary elections. The Liberal Reformist Party, headed by the Senate Speaker Calin Popescu Tariceanu and the Conservative Party, whose leader is the Agriculture Minister Daniel Constantin, are junior-partners in the government dominated by the Social Democrats headed by Prime Minister Victor Ponta.
The Romanian Foreign Minister, Bogdan Aurescu, pleaded in Chisinau on Thursday for the rapid setting up of a new government of the Republic of Moldova, the neighboring country with a predominantly Romanian speaking population. During a meeting with the president of the Chisinau Parliament, Andrian Candu, Aurescu said that a new coalition government would guarantee Moldova’s commitment to continuing democratic reforms, in keeping with the citizens’ expectations and would ensure the stability of the republic. On Wednesday, the Romanian Foreign Minister was also received by the Moldovan president Nicolae Timofti, an opportunity for the first to stress the importance of political stability, as a prerequisite for Moldova’s advancing towards European integration. Aurescu’s visit to Chisinau took place less than a week after the Prime Minister of Moldova, Chiril Gaburici, accused of having forged his high-school graduation diploma, resigned. Subsequently, the leaders of the minority government coalition, made up of liberal democrats and democrats, spoke about the possibility of including into the new government the third pro-European party represented in Parliament, namely the Liberal Party.
The former president of the Romanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mihail Vlasov, on Thursday was given a final sentence by the High Court of Cassation and Justice. In April 2014, anti-corruption prosecutors had accused him of influence peddling and the High Court sentenced him to 5 years in prison for corruption. Vlasov had demanded one million Euros from a person in exchange for promises that he would use his influence with the members of the International Court of Arbitration.
Over 1000 soldiers from 25 NATO member countries are participating in a collective defense exercise at the Cincu firing grounds in Brasov County, central Romania. It is an exercise for which, for the first time in the history of the Alliance, a NATO military command unit has been temporarily deployed in Romania. The exercise is due to end in late June and is part of a large-scale NATO operation, mobilizing over 14 thousand soldiers on the eastern border of the Alliance. Also, Romanian firing grounds and garrisons in eastern Romania are hosting, until June 26th, multinational drills for special operations under the name of ROUSOFEX 15. Participating are soldiers from Romania, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, the Republic of Moldova, Poland, the US and Turkey.
Greece will not get an extension of its debt payment deadline, the IMF Director Christine Lagarde has announced. Previously, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel had stated that reaching an agreement on the Greek crisis was still possible. Greece needs 7.2 billion Euros by the end of the month, when the current agreement expires, but the leftist government refuses to implement certain reforms, because of the social costs they entail.
Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, ranking third in the WTA classification, on Thursday qualified for the quarter finals of the WTA tournament in Birmingham, Great Britain, after defeating Klara Koukalova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-3, in just 50 minutes. In the quarters, Simona will play against the French Kristina Mladenovic. Also on Thursday, the Romanian — Indian pair made up of Florin Mergea and Rohan Bopanna qualified for the semifinals of the ATP doubles in Halle, Germany, beating Martin Draganja of Croatia and Henri Kontinen of Finland. In the last but one round of the competition, they will play against the US pair Eric Butorac/Scott Lipsky. The Romanian Horia Tecau and the Dutch Jean Julien Rojer have also qualified for the semifinals, where they will be playing against the pair made up of Raven Klaasen of South Africa and Rajeev Ram of the US.
