July 2, 2014 UPDATE

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Roxana Vasile, 02.07.2014, 19:58

The ratification of the Republic of Moldova’s association agreement with the EU by Parliaments in Chisinau and Bucharest is a historic moment, Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta said on Wednesday. The agreement, signed in Brussels on June 27th, has been ratified by the Chamber of Deputies in Bucharest with 284 yes votes, one vote against and an abstention. At the same time, with a landslide majority the chamber has also ratified the association agreements with the EU signed by two other ex-soviet states, Georgia and Ukraine. Romania’s senate is to ratify these documents on Thursday. In Chisinau, the MPs of the pro-European coalition and the liberals have voted for the ratification of the agreement, while the communists and socialists have voted against it. The vote has been hailed by the Romanian Foreign Ministry in Bucharest, according to which, the ratification is proof of the Republic of Moldova’s advance on the European path.

The Romanian government’s project to reduce social insurance contributions paid by employers by 5% was adopted by the Chamber of Deputies with a landslide majority on Wednesday. Present at the debates Prime Minister Victor Ponta said the measure, which is to come into effect on October 1st, was aimed at boosting the business environment and fostering the creation of new jobs. We recall that Romania’s foreign lenders, the IMF, the European Commission and the World Bank as well as the big trade union confederations are against the measure.

Romania is committed to staunchly support the priorities of the Italian presidency of the EU, Prime Minister Titus Corlatean said on Wednesday. He has also voiced the conviction that the mandate of the Italian presidency will be one dynamic and successful. The statement by the head of the Romanian diplomacy was made during the conference on Italy’s taking over of the EU half-yearly presidency hosted by the Italian embassy in Bucharest. The event has also brought together the ambassador of Italy, Diego Brasioli, the head of the European Commission representation in Romania, Angela Filote as well as members of the diplomatic corps in Bucharest.

All the measures NATO had taken against the backdrop of the crisis in Ukraine were defensive, appropriate and according to the international obligations of the Alliance, NATO secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in Berlin after a meeting with German chancellor Angela Merkel. In turn, the German official criticized the lack of progress in the peace talks during the ceasefire, which is no longer in effect in eastern Ukraine. Mrs. Merkel said the West would not give up on efforts to find diplomatic solutions to the conflict in Ukraine. On Tuesday, government troops resumed their onslaught against the pro-Russian rebels, after the latter had rejected a peace plan proposed by president Petro Poroshenko.