July 11, 2015
For a roundup of domestic and international events, click here.
Newsroom, 11.07.2015, 12:00
VISIT – President Klaus Iohannis on Monday is paying his first official visit to Spain. The president will meet with King Felipe VI and with Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. President Iohannis will also attend several cultural meetings and will meet with representatives of the business environment and the Romanian community in Spain. According to official data issued by the National Institute of Statistics, over 750,000 Romanians are living in Spain, accounting for the largest community of foreign immigrants in this country.
GREECE – Eurozone Finance Ministers are today discussing the latest reform proposals of the Greek Government. Eurogroup president Jeroen Dijsselbloem said the package would be thoroughly looked into, since the decision would have long-term effects. The Greek Parliament adopted the reform package on Friday evening, even though some members of the ruling party abstained or voted against. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras admitted some measures go against the promises made in the parliamentary election campaign by the ruling left, although he says they are milder than those proposed by the lenders. Greece wants a three-year financing package, and commits to adopting a new pension law by this autumn and to come up with a new fiscal legislation. Athens also intends to cut military expenses, increase the VAT and to eliminate tax breaks for Greek islands by the end of 2016. Greeces debt currently amounts to 320 billion euros, of which 65% to Eurozone countries and the IMF, and 8.7% to the European Central Bank. Starting July 1, Greece has technically defaulted on its payments and needs a third financial rescue package to avoid leaving the Eurozone.
UNION – Some one thousand young people from the Republic of Moldova crossed the Romanian border on Saturday morning, where they met with one thousand Romanians, advocating the unification of the two states. On Sunday, they will reach Bucharest and will hand president Klaus Iohannis the declaration of unification adopted on July 5 signed by 30,000 citizens of Moldova as part of the great national assembly. The rally was called by NGOs from the two states, according to which “only if we stand united can we face future challenges, live well in our own country and enjoy a larger country, without internal borders and setbacks, with a common and prosperous destiny for all Romanians. The event was held in the public square which hosted the great anti-Soviet protests of 1989-1990 and where in August 1991 the Great National Assembly hailed Moldovas independence from Moscow. We recall the Moldova emerged as an independent state on part of Romanias eastern territories annexed by the USSR in 1940.
FREEWAY – The first freeway segment linking Romania to another European state was opened on Saturday. The A1 freeway segment linking Nadlac and Arad to the new Nadlac II border crossing point, links Romania to the Hungarian highway M43. The freeway will open to transport of people and goods, having ten lanes on each direction. Transport of hazardous material must undergo a health safety check before being granted access, as well as all slow-running vehicles.
TENNIS – Romanian Horia Tecau and his partner Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands are today playing the mens doubles final at the Wimbledon tennis tournament, the third Grand Slam tournament of the year. Tecau and Rojer will play Jamie Murray of the UK and John Peers of Australia. In the semi-finals, Tecau and Rojer grabbed a close win over Florin Mergea of Romania and Rohan Bopanna of India, after five sets. Horia Tecau is playing his fourth final in Wimbledon. He qualified three times to the finals, alongside Robert Lindstedt of Sweden in 2010, 2011 and 2012, losing every time. The only Romanian to win the Wimbledon doubles competition is Ilie Nastase, who won with Jimmy Connors of the United States the 1973 finals against John Cooper and Neale Fraser of Australia.
COMMEMORATION – Numerous foreign delegates are today attending the ceremonies marking 20 years since the massacre of Srebenica in Bosnia. Some 8,000 Bosnian Muslims, mostly young men, were killed by the Bosnian-Serb army, against the backdrop of an ethnic war that led to the break-up of former Yugoslavia. Before leaving to Bosnia to attend the proceedings, Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic has condemned what he has termed “the most Srebenica crime.
