October 3, 2014
For a roundup of domestic and international news, click here.
Ştefan Stoica, 03.10.2014, 12:00
ELECTION CAMPAGIN KICKS OFF — The campaign for the presidential elections of November has kicked off today. The 14 candidates enrolled in the race for Cotroceni need to win over some 18 million Romanians eligible for casting their votes. The first ballot will be held on November 2, while the second on November 16. Some 18,550 voting polls will be set up nationwide and another 294 abroad. Some 21 million paper ballots will be printed out while 94,000 stamps will be made available.
BLACK SEA SUMMIT — Romania’s Foreign Minister Titus Corlatean on Friday attended the 5th edition of the Black Sea Summit. The Romanian official called for an overarching cooperation with a view to achieving a genuine development and solidarity in this region. Talks focused on the latest developments in the region, but also on the impact of the Association Agreements Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine have signed with the European Union. Minister Corlatean said that one of Romania’s main objectives is to consolidate the potential of the Danube area as a corridor facilitating exchanges between European markets and the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea or Central Asia. Several clear-cut projects are already ongoing in Romania as part of the Danube Strategy, bringing direct benefits to the Black Sea region, such as protecting maritime eco-system, Corlatean has said.
MEETING — Romanian deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Daniel Constantin is today holding talks with Moldovan Prime Minister Iurie Leanca and his counterparts from Germany, Christian Schmidt and from the Republic of Moldova, Vasile Bumacov, on the sideline of his visit to Chisinau. The agenda of talks focused on Romanian-Moldovan cooperation regarding the joint action plan in the foodstuff sector for 2014-2015. Talks will also focus on foodstuff trades in the context of the Free Trade Agreement Moldova has signed with the EU, as well as cooperation in the phyto-sanitary sector.
NATURAL GAS — Romania’s internal natural gas output ensures sufficient supplies, while diminishing exports from Russia are not a factor of concern, Economy Minister Constantin Nita has said. The statement follows a 13% slash Gazprom has operated to natural gas exports to Romania. In turn, Energy Minister Razvan Nicolescu gave assurances that the population would not be affected by this move, since existing supplies are enough to last the entire winter.
ELECTIONS — The EU’s poorest state Bulgaria will see snap elections on Sunday for the third consecutive time in two years. The previous Government, led by the Socialists tendered its resignation this July following mass protests. Opinion polls have placed the GERB centre-right party as favourite to win the ballot, although it still needs to secure an absolute majority and eliminate the risk of any further political instability. Living standards in Bulgaria are still behind the bloc’s average, since consecutive Cabinets have failed to root out corruption and combat organized crime, Reuters reports.
WAR ON TERROR — The Turkish Parliament has sanctioned the Government to give the go-ahead to a military operation in Syria and Iraq. The Turkish army will therefore join the efforts of the US-led international coalition targeting the Islamic State terrorist cell. Hailed by the United States and France, the decision follows after jihadist terrorists have laid siege to a town on Turkey’s border with Syria, which forced thousands of civilians to flee their homes and join the hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees in Turkey. The United States has launched a series of air strikes on August 8 in Iraq, and has extended its attacks to Syria on September 22.
FOOTBALL — Both Romanian teams lost Thursday’s evening matches in Europa League. In Group J, Steaua Bucharest lost 1-3 to Dinamo Kiev of Ukraine, while in Group D Romanian vice-champions Astra Giurgiu admitted a 1-2 home defeat to Red Bull Salzburg of Austria. Steaua ranks second in Group J, followed by Allborg of Denmark and Rio Ave of Portugal. Astra on the other hand is bottom of the table in Group D, with Dinamo Zagreb in first place followed by Dinamo Kiev and Celtic Glasgow.
