15 July, 2015
News and Current Affairs
Ştefan Stoica, 15.07.2015, 11:59
Several flights scheduled for early Wednesday on the main international airport in Bucharest were affected by the two-hour warning strike staged by air traffic controllers. The strike comes after Tuesday’s continuing talks with management yielded no results. According to Romanian legislation, in such situations only one third of air traffic is guaranteed. The controllers are demanding wage protection, air traffic safety, but also some rights such as retirement age guarantees. The employer said they would take the strike decision to court. Air traffic controllers announced that they still haven’t ruled out a general strike in the future.
According to a US State Department spokesperson, the nuclear deal with Iran has no bearing on the development of the missile defense shield. Moscow insists that the Iranian deal made ballistic missile defense moot. According to US diplomacy, Iran has the largest stockpile of ballistic missiles in the Middle East, which is of great concern for the US and the international community, making necessary a system of missile defense. Press agencies recall that US plans to deploy anti-ballistic systems in Europe, including Romania, invoking the threat from Iran, have been the touchstone for relations between Moscow and Washington.
The Greek Parliament votes today on the measures agreed upon by the Prime Minister in negotiations with international lenders, in exchange for a bailout package. The Greek PM, Alexis Tsipras, promised he would implement the reforms demanded in Brussels, such as reforming pensions, improving taxation and adjusting the Value Added Tax, in order to avert a disastrous outcome for his country. Analysts say that several members of the coalition he leads will vote against the measures he agreed to, believing them to be ‘blackmail’ by the Eurozone countries. The aid agreed upon last week would not be sufficient to pull Greece out of its predicament, and the country may go to the IMF for additional financial and technical support next year. The IMF itself criticized the agreement, believing that Greece’s crippling debt requires much more important changes than the Eurozone is prepared to live with. The single currency countries are prepared to erase some of Greece’s debt, granting it a grace period of 30 years to allow for economic recovery able to sustain paying back loans. According to the IMF, however, the Eurozone will end up supporting Greece’s annual budget. The Greek state owes over 320 billion Euros at this point.
Romanian football champions Steaua Bucharest defeated in an away game Slovak side AS Trencin, 2-0, in the first leg of the second preliminary round of the Champions League. The second leg is played the coming Wednesday. In the other continental competition, the Europa League, will see two other Romanian teams playing for promotion on Thursday, in away games. Astra Giurgiu plays against Inverness CT of Scotland, while FC Botosani plays against the Polish team Legia Warsaw. A third Romanian team in the Europa League, ASA Tg. Mures, has already qualified to the third round.
Romania will wrap up its financial assistance program with the EC, WB and IMF by late September, upon its official expiration, Romanian Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici said in Brussels. On Tuesday he attended the meeting of finance ministers of the 28 EU members, where the EC expressed worries regarding the possible negative effects that the present fiscal relaxation measures may have on the budget deficit. According to Teodorovici, however, the country is ready to live up to all its commitments as part of the accord with the three lenders. He also added that the tax breaks introduced recently were meant to reduce the financial gap between Romania and its European peers.
