July 4, 2015
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România Internațional, 04.07.2015, 12:00
Greeks are preparing for Sunday’s referendum, which asks their opinion on whether to accept or reject the austerity measures imposed by international creditors in order to obtain a new financial aid agreement. Tens of thousands of Greeks participated last night in several protests for and against the referendum in central Athens, after a week of chaos and political turmoil. The PM Alexis Tsipras told his supporters that he would vote for dignity, and a “NO” to the austerity measures proposed by creditors would allow him to negotiate a better financial aid agreement in Brussels. On the other hand, the opposition leader, Antonis Samaras, pleaded for a “YES” vote in the referendum that should defeat what he called the “government’s irresponsibility”. Irrespective of the result of the referendum, the Greek PM promised to reach an agreement with the international financial institutions within 48 hours at the most in the wake of Sunday’s referendum. According to opinion polls the number of YES and NO votes are almost equal. The closed banks and the restrictions on capital flow imposed in the past week in Greece led to a drop in the number of people who supported the government’s stand. Germany ruled out the possibility of restructuring Greece’s sovereign debt, in spite of the IMF’s recommendation in this regard and of the warning that Athens will need an additional 50 billion euros by 2018.
Americans are celebrating Independence Day today, marking the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4th 1776, when the country’s founders declared the then 13 American colonies as 13 newly independent sovereign states and no longer a part of the British Empire. On the occasion, the Romanian interim prime minister Gabriel Oprea conveyed to the American people the warmest congratulations, reiterating Romania’s support for the fundamental values of democracy which the two countries share. In a message addressed on behalf of the government, the interim PM underlined that 135 years of Romanian-American diplomatic relations is the basis for a successful future cooperation.
The Romanian tennis player Monica Niculescu, 48th in the WTA rankings, is playing against the Czech Krystina Pliskova, 134th in the WTA classification, in the 3rd round of the Wimbledon tournament. Also on Saturday in the 2nd round, Monica Niculescu will play in the doubles competition alongside Olga Savciuk from Ukraine against the pair Timea Babos/Kristina Mladenovic, from Hungary and France respectively, 4th seeded in the competition. In the same stage of the competition another Romanian player Irina-Camelia Begu alongside the Spanish Lara Arruabarrerna will take on the pair Jarmila Gajdosova/Ajla Tomljanovici. Also in the second round, in the mixed doubles, the Romanian Horia Tecau and the Slovenian Katarina Srebotnik will face the pair Rohan Bopanna/Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez from India and Spain respectively.
Romania’s economy will grow, in the coming years, by an average of 3% per year, due especially to exports and domestic consumption, shows a recent Moody’s analysis. The factors that positively influence this process are the increase in productivity, the recovery of the labor market as well as the financial support and the monitoring of fiscal policies by international creditors.
