The Week in Review 12-18 July

A look at the headline-making events this past week

România Internațional, 18.07.2015, 14:50

President Klaus Iohannis on a formal visit to Spain

Early this week,
Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis paid a formal visit to Spain. The talks with
King Felipe 6th and prime minister Mariano Rajoy focused on economic
cooperation and the situation of the big Romanian community living in Spain.
The Romanian head of state recalled that, at the end of last year, Spanish
investment in Romania exceeded 1.3 billion Euros and pleaded for a stronger
presence of such investment in Romania, especially in fields such as energy,
industry and agriculture. In turn, King Felipe said Bucharest was entitled to
joining the Shenghen agreement, thanks to the sustained efforts it had made
also as external border of the EU. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy appreciated the
way in which the approximately 1 million Romanians in Spain managed to
integrate and their role in Spain’s economic dynamics. During talks with
representatives of the Romanian community, Klaus Iohannis told them that a
coherent vision of the Diaspora had already started to get shape at the level
of the presidential administration.

Klaus Iohannis in Serbia

On Thursday, president Klaus
Iohannis traveled to neighboring
Serbia, which is one of Romania’s key partners in the region. The talks with
his Serb counterpart, Tomislav Nikolici, with prime minister Alexandar Vucic
and parliament speaker Maja Gojkovici focused on regional stability, economic
cooperation, Serbia’s European integration prospects and several joint
projects, in fields such as infrastructure, cross-border cooperation and energy
interconnectivity, the president has stated. He has also said that Romania
supports Serbia’s European prospects and hopes that accession negotiations will
start this year. Moreover, Bucharest is willing to help Belgrade in this
process. The situation of the Romanian
minority in Serbia, and the observance of their rights, which Bucharest has
constantly supported, was a major
topic on the visit’s agenda. Klaus Iohannis stressed that the Romanian minority
in Serbia must enjoy all the rights stipulated in the international documents,
with regard to representation, education, religion and media in their mother
language.

Air traffic controllers’ strike

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 controllers demanded a new
collective employment contract, wage
protection, air traffic safety and a lower retirement age. By Tuesday, July 21st,
both the employer and the trade union must come up with clarifications and
solutions to these demands.

A new transport minister

Iulian Matache is
the new Transport Minister in Romania. A
former state secretary in the same ministry, Matache was prime minister Ponta’s
second choice, after the president rejected the nomination of Mihai-Viorel
Fifor for this office, saying that he did not have the necessary managerial
experience. Iulian Matache thus takes over the office previously held by Ioan
Rus, who resigned following offending statements he made about the Romanians
who are working abroad.

Prime Minister Victor Ponta steps
down as head of the Social Democratic Party

Leader of the Social Democrats since February 2010,
Prime Minister Victor Ponta has decided to step down as president of the party
and to take no other leading position within the party until he proves his
innocence in the case in which the National Anticorruption Directorate accuses
him of corruption. The prime minister is currently being prosecuted for
forgery, tax evasion and money laundering, which he allegedly committed while a
lawyer. His party colleague, Senator Dan Sova, a former Transport Minister in
the Ponta Government, is the main culprit in this case. President Klaus
Iohannis and the right wing opposition called on the premier to resign and thus
avoid harming Romania’s image abroad. For the time being, Rovana Plumb is the
interim party president, the one who took care of party leader prerogatives
also when Ponta was away in Turkey, to have his knee operated on. In the
meantime Ponta has returned to Romania and has been heard by anti-corruption
prosecutors, who issued as decision of distraint upon Ponta’s property.

Greece’s situation

The Romanian Foreign
Minister Bogdan Aurescu has hailed the historic agreement on the fresh
financial aid program for Greece. Aurescu has recalled that during the Greek
crisis, Bucharest hoped a solution would be found, to favour Greece’s European
future. This week, the Eurozone leaders have reached an agreement regarding
Greece’s bailout, thus avoiding the country’s exiting the Eruozone. On
Wednesday night, the Greek Parliament approved the reform measures requested by
the international lenders in exchange
for resuming the financial aid plan, after tense debates against the background
of violent anti-austerity rallies staged in capital Athens. The tough economic
measures requested by lenders include, among other things, higher taxes and an
increase in the retirement age.