September 13, 2015 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news.
Newsroom, 13.09.2015, 19:30
Thousands of people gathered on Sunday in the main square of Chisinau, the capital city of the Republic of Moldova, in another mass protest against what they see as widespread corruption. In a scam that has exposed endemic corruption and highlighted the power of oligarch groups in the country of 3.5 million, 1 billion dollars has disappeared from the banking system – roughly one-eighth of Moldovas gross domestic output. The fraud has caused a rapid depreciation in the national currency, stoking inflation and hurting living standards. Protests will continue in the capital city and several other cities in the country.
The Romanian Foreign Ministry hails the anniversary, on September 13th, of four years since the adoption of the “Joint Declaration on Strategic Partnership for the 21st Century Between Romania and the US” and since the signing of the “Romania — US Agreement on placing the American anti-ballistic missile system in Romania”, reads a release. The two documents have contributed significantly to the strengthening of the Romanian-American ties, Romanian Foreign Minister, Bogdan Aurescu has said.
Romanian prime minister Victor Ponta said in a TV show on Saturday evening that the head of the country, the head of the government and the interior and foreign affairs ministers share the same view as regards Romania’s stand on the migrant crisis. The Romanian deputy prime minister and interior minister Gabriel Oprea who will attend an extraordinary meeting of the EU Justice and Home Affairs Council on Monday in Brussels, will express Romania’s willingness to host 1,705 asylum seekers from Italy and Greece and another 80 people from outside the EU. However, Gabriel Oprea will reject the refugee quotas imposed on EU member states by the European Commission, under which Romania would have to host over 6 thousand migrants. The Romanian Foreign Ministry has said that a EU member state cannot be punished for not being able, for objective reasons, to host and integrate an imposed number of refugees. The statement follows Austrian chancellor Werner Faymann’s proposal on Saturday, for the EU to cut structural funds to countries that refuse to take more refugees. According to the Romanian Foreign Ministry, structural funds are not part of the talks related to the refugee crisis.
The cooperation agreements and operational programs do not include stipulations regarding the punishment of member states that refuse migrant quotas or restrictions of their access to European structural and investment funds, EU Commissioner for regional policy, Romanian Corina Cretu stated on Sunday. Previously, Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann had asked for the access to structural funds to be restricted for countries that reject the imposed migrant quotas, such as Romania, the Czech Republic, Denmark and Poland.
Italian tennis player Flavia Pennetta, seed no. 26, won the US Open in New York, the last Grand Slam of the year, on Saturday. Pennetta defeated in the final her Italian conational Roberta Vinci, 7-6, 6-2. In the semi-finals Pennetta had defeated world no. 2 Simona Halep of Romania.
