March 15, 2018

Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 15.03.2018, 14:02

TENNIS The world’s number one tennis player, Romanian Simona Halep has qualified for the semifinals of the WTA tournament in Indian Wells, California, the USA, with 8 million dollars in prize money after her Wednesday’s win against Croatian Petra Martic. Halep, winner of the 2015 edition of this tournament, will take on Naomi Osaka of Japan on Friday. Osaka comes after a victory against Karolina Pliskova.

VISIT The head of the Romanian diplomacy, Teodor Melescanu, today ends his two-day visit to Germany. Yesterday Melescanu attended the opening of the Leipzig Book Fair where Romania is an honorary guest. In Dresden, Minister Melescanu held talks with the Minister President of Saxony, Michael Kretschmer and the president of the Saxony Parliament Matthias Rosler. The officials have agreed upon capitalizing on the multiple inter-human connections and the social-cultural valences shared by the two countries, in order to step up the promising bilateral trade links, which can give an impetus to the political and diplomatic dialogue. The role of the German minority in Romania and of the Romanian community in Germany in boosting these connections has been underlined.

AGREEMENT Romanian company ROMAERO and Sikorsky, part of the Lockheed Martin group, have signed an industrial partnership agreement under which several companies from Romania’s defence industry will have a long-term involvement in the process of equipping and maintaining the multi-role helicopter Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk. The plant in Bucharest will be the only one authorized by Lockheed Martin to equip and maintain this type of helicopter in Central Europe. According to the authorities in Bucharest, the agreement comes as a confirmation of the potential of the Romanian industry, which is capable of building value-added products.

MCV European Commission officials, carrying out a mission within the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism, have arrived in Bucharest for meetings with representatives of the country’s legal system, Parliament and government. The mission is due to last until March 16th. According to the Justice Ministry, talks will be focusing on recommendations on Civil and Civil Procedure Codes, Criminal and Criminal Procedure Codes as well as on the strategy of developing the country’s legal system. The Cooperation and Verification Mechanism was introduced in January 2007 upon the EU accession of Romania and Bulgaria to assist the two countries in reforming their legal systems and fighting corruption. The authorities in Bucharest would like the MCV to end in 2019.

WEATHER The weather is warmer for this time of the year in Romania currently under an overcast sky and with light showers that have been reported in the country’s north, center, east and on isolated areas in the rest of its territory. Mixed precipitations have been reported in the mountains while the highs of the day range between 8 and 18 degrees Celsius with 16 degrees in Bucharest at noon. Hundreds of hectares of farmland, roads and households have been affected by floods in 15 counties in central, southern, eastern and northern Romania. Scores have already been evacuated in Brasov county, in central Romania, where many households have been flooded. Code yellow and orange alerts for flooding have been issued for several rivers in the country’s east, northeast, center and south.

STRASBOURG The European Union has called on Slovakia to step up investigation in the case of journalist Jan Kuciak and cooperate with the European Anti-fraud Office. Jan Kuciak and his girlfriend have been shot dead while investigating a high-level corruption scandal. In his last unfinished article, Kuciak evoked alleged connections between Slovak politicians and Italian businesspeople suspected of links to the Italian mafia. Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico has stepped down today. Tens of thousands had taken to the streets of Slovakia to potest the corruption in the country and ask for Fico’s resignation.

translated by bill