29 June 2015, UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news ...
Newsroom, 29.06.2015, 12:17
Mihai Razvan Ungureanu, proposed by president Klaus Iohannis for the position of head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, is to be heard on Tuesday by the joint committee for the control of the Foreign Intelligence Service. The committee’s role is advisory and precedes Parliament’s vote. Ungureanu is supported by the Liberals, the main party in the opposition, the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, the National Union for the Progress of Romania (the latest partner in the ruling coalition), and the National Minority Group. The governing Social Democrats and their partners in the newly formed political alliance, called the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, have announced they do not approve of Ungureanu’s appointment. Mihai Razvan Ungureanu was head of the Foreign Intelligence Service between 2007-2012, Foreign Minister between 2004-2007 and also Prime Minister in the first half of 2012.
The Romanian Foreign Ministry recommends Romanian tourists in Greece to keep cash on hand, in case bank cards could not be used in that country. Despite of assurance given by the Greek authorities, there have been cases of card payments being turned down. The Romanian Embassy in Athens and the consulate in Thessalonica, together with the Foreign Ministry are closely monitoring all developments, including the impact on tourist services against the current economic background in Greece, the Romanian Foreign Ministry has also stated.
The European Commission President, Jean Claude — Junker, has called on the Greek citizens to endorse, at Sunday’s referendum, the financial rescue plan proposed by Greece’s international lenders. He has stated that the package of measures proposed does not entail salary and pension cuts, as the government headed by Alexis Tsipras has argued. Also, Jean Claude-Junker has warned that Greece’s leaving the Eurozone has never been and will not be an option. European banks’ stocks have plunged, the worst affected being those of Spain, Portugal, Italy, France and Germany, after Athens restricted capital movement and kept banks closed for business, according to Bloomberg and Reuters. The Financial crisis in Greece has also affected the Asian stock markets, where the Euro fell against the USD and the Japanese Yen. In Bucharest, the National Bank of Romania has assured the public that the Greek banks operating in Romania will not be affected, as national legislation imposes deposit insurances worth up to 100,000 Euro.
On Sunday, the Liberal Dorin Chirtoaca won the second round of elections in the race for the mayor’s office in Chisinau, the capital of the Republic of Moldova. With over 53% of votes, he defeated Socialist Zinaida Grechannyi, winning his thirds mayoral term. Chirtoaca’s victory could speed up negotiations carried out by Liberals with parties from the present ruling coalition, the Liberal Democrats and the Democrats, aiming to form a pro-Western majority.
The Tunisian tourist authorities announced that, starting on July 1, the tourist police would be bolstered by 1,000 armed security guards to protect tourist objectives. This is the first time that the tourist police gets to carry weapons, according to authorities. At least 30 British tourists were killed on Friday in the bloodiest attack in the recent history of the country, when a young Tunisian opened fire on a hotel beach close to the resort of Sousse, 140 km south of the capital, leaving 38 people dead. The attack was claimed by the so-called Islamic State.
In Vienna, negotiations between Iran and western powers are back on track. France Presse reports that the latter want to make sure that the Iranian nuclear program stays civilian for as long as possible, in exchange for lifting sanctions. The US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, have already had two rounds of talks in Vienna. The negotiations, which started 20 months ago, were scheduled to end on Tuesday, 30 June, but the foreign ministers of the 5+1 group, USA, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany, will continue meeting over the next few days in an attempt to reach a settlement.
World number three and third seed Simona Halep will play against Slovakian player Jana Celepova in the first round of the grass court tournament in Wimbledon, the third Grand Slam of the year. Last year, Halep reached the semi-finals of the tournament. Monica Niculescu will play for the first time against Monica Puig of Puerto Rico, ranked 91st in the WTA classification. If Niculescu and Halep prevail, they will face off against each other in the second round. 70th ranked Andreea Mitu will play against no.122 Olga Govortsova of Belarus. Alexandra Dulgheru had to leave the tournament, as she was defeated by Kristinja Mladenovic of France. In the men’s doubles, the pair Horia Tecau- Jean-Julien Rojer is fourth seed, and is to play in the first round against Slovak Martin Klizan and Czech Lukas Rosol. The 9th seeded pair Florin Mergea of Romania/ Rohan Bopanna of India will play in this round against Tim Smyczek of the US and Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic.
