Newflash, June 22

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Valentin Țigău, 22.06.2013, 19:19

European Parliament president German Martin Schulz has been designated as the official candidate of the Party of European Socialists for the position of European Commission president after the legislative elections of 2014, Sergei Stanishev, the president of the Party of European Socialists, said on Saturday. The announcement was made at the Party of European Socialists Council, also attended by Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta. The agenda of the meeting focused on defining the main priorities for the months ahead and to kick off the election campaign in the run-up to the European legislative elections of next year.

Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, currently ranking 45th in world standings, continued her good run in 2013 by winning her second consecutive title this year. On Saturday the Romanian player defeated Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium in the final match of the s’Hertogenbosch tournament in the Netherlands. Her good trim helped her overcome her superior, more experienced and better ranked opponent. Aged 21, Halep is at her best season of her career, after winning last week the final of the Nurnberg tournament, her first WTA title, against Bosnian-born Andrea Petkovic of Germany. With this win Halep has secured qualification to the Wimbledon tournament due to kick off on Sunday, where she will go up against Olga Govorteva of Belarus in the first round.

Romania and Bulgaria are discussing the possibility of building a hydroelectric power plant on the Danube River, Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta announced on Saturday after meeting with his Bulgarian counterpart Plamen Oresharski. The location of the power plant is yet to be established. We recall that Romania and Bulgaria have recently inaugurated the second bridge over the Danube River, linking Calafat in Romania to Vidin in Bulgaria. The two officials also discussed the two countries’ Schengen aspirations and prospects brought by the Nabucco gas pipeline project.

The main sates opposing Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad on Saturday announced their decision to dispatch “urgent aid” to the Syrian opposition on the ground in order to allow them to counter the “brutal attacks by the regime” in Damascus, France Press and Reuters news agencies report. Eleven states, including the United States, the United Kingdom and France have argued that “all military aid will be channeled” via the High Military Council of the Syrian Free Army. Each state is to send war material and equipment “in their own way”, reads the same press release.