June 7, 2018 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 07.06.2018, 20:20

TENNIS Romanian tennis player Simona Halep,
the world’s number one and the competition’s odds-on favourite, on Thursday
qualified for the finals of Roland Garros, the second Grand Slam tournament of
the year. In the semifinals, Halep outclassed 6-1, 6-4 Spanish Garbine
Muguruza, the world’s number three and winner in Paris two years ago. The other
semifinals game US player Sloane Stephens has defeated her compatriot Madison
Keys in two sets, 6-4, 6-4. We recall that Halep lost two finals in France, in
2014 and 2017 and has also lost the finals in Melbourne this year.

CCR Romania’s Constitutional Court (CCR) on
Thursday published the explanatory statement through which it had ruled that
the head of state must issue a decree on sacking the country’s anti-corruption
chief prosecutor, as a legal conflict of constitutional nature was detected.
The conflict was caused by the president’s refusal to greenlight a proposal on
sacking the prosecutor issued by the country’s Justice Minister. The Court
explains that under the Constitution, prosecutors are doing their jobs under
the authority of the Justice Minister who is also a decision-making factor in
the prosecutors’ activity. The CCR has also explained the president does not
have the constitutional competence to bring arguments against the sacking
proposal tabled by the field minister. We recall that Romania’s president Klaus
Iohannis had turned down as ungrounded a request by Justice Minister Tudorel
Toader to sack chief prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi, the head of the country’s
main Anti-corruption Agency (DNA). The CCR’s decision calling for Kovesi’s
dismissal has attracted a lot of heat from the opposition and civil society
alike at the same time fueling speculations that in its current form the
Court’s verdicts might be politically influenced.

GROWTH Romania posted solid economic
growth in 2017, low unemployment levels and an improving financial sector,
according to a report published on Wednesday by the International Monetary Fund
after consultations with Romania. The IMF experts warn, however, that the
Romanian economy is showing signs of overheating. Public investment fell
significantly in percent of GDP amid a low absorption of EU funds, while the
government and current accounts deficit widened to 2.8% and 3.4% of the GDP,
respectively, the IMF report also shows. Romania is expected to see a 5%
economic growth rate in 2018, accompanied by a current account deficit and
elevated inflation.

VISIT The Romanian president Klaus
Iohannis is paying an official visit to Poland to attend a top-level meeting of
the B9 Format that includes NATO members from central and eastern Europe.
Iohannis and his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda on Thursday held talks on the
strategic partnership between the two countries and regional, European and
security cooperation. The two officials also reviewed the excellent bilateral
cooperation mainly in the economic and defence fields. Also on Thursday
Iohannis and Duda attended the opening of an exhibition entitled A centennial
of the Alliance. Romanian-Polish diplomacy 1918-1939 staged by the Romanian
Cultural Institute in Warsaw together with the Romanian Embassy and the support
of the Foreign Ministries of the two countries as part of the celebrations of
the 100th anniversary of the creation of modern Romania and the
centenary of Polish independence.

(translated by bill)