January 26, 2014
A roundup of domestic and international news
România Internațional, 26.01.2014, 13:48
ECONOMY – A mission of the IMF, the World Bank and the European Commission is assessing in Bucharest the stand-by loan agreement signed last year. The loan amounts to 4 billion euros, but Bucharest only plans to use this money in case of emergency. The goal is to protect Romania from prospective financial shocks and to help reducing the financing costs. Until February the 5th, the international experts are to have talks with the authorities, representatives of political parties, trade unions, business associations, banks and civil society. The talks focus on the priorities of economic reforms and the legislation with an impact on the economy.
DIPLOMACY – The Foreign Minister of the Netherlands, Frans Timmermans, will be in Bucharest on Monday, when he will have meetings with Prime Minister Victor Ponta, with the Romanian Foreign Minister, Titus Corlăţean, with civil society representatives as well as Dutch business people in Romania. According to the Romanian Foreign Ministry, talks will focus on aspects related to the strengthening and diversification of economic cooperation, able to consolidate the Netherlands’ status as a major investor in Romania. European issues will also be on the agenda, including energy security, the EU enlargement policy, the Eastern Partnership, with a focus on the Republic of Moldova.
SYRIA – The negotiators of the Syrian regime and opposition are meeting again in Geneva today for a second round of talks, after on Saturday they discussed the dispatching of humanitarian aid to Homs (in the west of Syria). The Red Cross describes the situation in Homs as a disaster, after the rebel quarters have been under army siege since June 2012, and the thousands of Syrians who live there are deprived of food and medicine. Today, the negotiators for the regime and opposition in Syria, jointly with the UN mediator Lakhdar Brahimi, are to discuss, according to France Presse, the issue of the thousands of prisoners and civilians abducted in this country since the protests against Bashar al-Assad’s regime broke out in March 2011.
UKRAINE – Several Opposition leaders in Ukraine announced plans to carry on protests, after president Viktor Yanukovych had proposed measures to overcome the crisis. Yanukovych offered the executive power to the Opposition leaders and agreed to a revision of the Constitution that would reduce the president’s powers. On Saturday night, some 200 protesters stormed a building in downtown Kiev, near the Independence Square, the symbol of the opposition movement, and occupied it. Since late November, the Independence Square in Kiev has been the site of Ukrainian anti-government unrest, after the authorities chose to put on hold the EU accession talks and instead strengthen ties with Russia.
EGYPT – Tens of people lost their lives and several hundreds were wounded during rallies in Egypt, where regime supporters as well as mostly Islamist opponents took to the streets on Saturday to mark three years since the 2011 rioting that ousted president Hosni Mubarak. The Egyptian Interior Ministry announced that over 1000 people had been arrested. The new authorities in Egypt have been running a crackdown on protesters, for seven months now, after the Army removed and arrested the Islamist president Mohammed Morsi.
WEATHER – The Romanian weather services have launched a code-red alert for heavy snowfalls and blizzard in several counties in the south and east of the country. Because of the bad weather, the three motorways in the south have been closed, and traffic on several national roads has also been discontinued. The south-eastern county of Tulcea is isolated, after all the roads connecting it to the rest of the country have been blocked by snow. Railway traffic is also hindered, while power outages have been reported in tens of localities. Schools in the capital Bucharest and other counties will be closed down on Monday and Tuesday because of the snow and blizzard.
