January 5, UPDATE
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România Internațional, 05.01.2015, 12:15
The Romanian government asked, in court, for a halt to payments towards US company Microsoft for 2013-2015. The motion was filed in the main local court in Bucharest at the end of 2014. An investigation was opened after the Anti-Corruption Directorate applied for it with the Government Control Office in relation to irregularities in the contracts signed by the Ministry of Education and Microsoft between 2009-2012. Prosecutors have widened the investigation, uncovering irregularities committed by officials from all governments between 2000 and 2012. 9 former ministers are suspected of influence peddling, bribery, money laundering or abuse of office in purchasing IT licenses. The value of contracts signed by Microsoft, Siveco and EADS with the Romanian state is over one billion Euros. According to anti-corruption prosecutors, bribes offered to officials total over 60 million Euros.
Two crew members of an oil tanker, a Romanian and a Greek, were killed Sunday in an air strike launched by the Libyan armed forces in the east of Libya. The Libyan command explained that the oil tanker crew did not respect the order to stop in order to be checked before entering the port of Derna, a fief of the Islamists. According to the Greek coast guard the attack also left behind two people injured. The Romanian Foreign Ministry announced it would monitor the developments in this case, especially the circumstances in which this serious incident occurred. Libya has been facing chaos since the fall of the Muamar Kadafi regime in 2011. The country is in the hands of rival militias, which the central authorities have not managed to disarm. At present Libya has 2 governments, one recognized internationally and exiled in Tobruk (in the east) and a pro-Islamist government, located in the capital Tripoli.
The Euro on Monday dropped to its lowest exchange rate against the dollar since 2006, 1.18605 dollars per Euro. The head of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, said that the bank risks not being able to reach its aim of stabilizing Eurozone prices. It may have to implement additional monetary policy measures, as studies indicate an economic slowdown in Europe and Asia. In this context, many energy companies have been affected by the drop in oil prices, which in December was 50% lower than in June 2014.
The Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, third WTA seed and number one favorite, on Monday, made headway into the eighth finals of the Shenzhen tournament in China, with 500, 000 USD prize money at stake. Halep defeated the 55th seed, German Annika Beck, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. In the eighth finals, Halep will be taking on Russia’s Natalia Vihliantseva. Another Romanian tennis player taking part in the Shenzhen tournament, Monica Niculescu, was defeated by Polona Hercog from Slovenia, 6-1, 7-5.
Euro zone membership is irrevocable, said Monday a spokesperson for the European Commission, thus answering a question regarding Greece’s possible coming out of the Euro zone. The statement was made following the information carried by the German press according to which the German government considered Greece’s coming out of the Euro zone as unavoidable if the leftist party Syriza won the legislative elections of January 25th. The European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs, Pierre Moscovici, had launched at the end of last year, an appeal to the Greek citizens asking them to support in the upcoming legislative elections the reforms favoring economic growth, which are considered essential for Greece to be able to thrive again in the Euro zone. In turn, the French President Francois Hollande said that it was Greece alone that could make a decision regarding its membership to the Euro zone.
The oil price on Monday reached its lowest value of the past 5 years and a half, which puts more and more pressure on the currency of some oil producing states. The oil barrel has dropped down to 55.25 dollars, mainly due to surplus oil production and low demand. The Reuters news agency writes that the budgets of Iran, Ecuador and Venezuela have been seriously affected just like the Russian ruble. According to analysts the drop in the oil price is affecting the Russian economy more that the sanctions imposed by the West. It is estimated that world oil producers will lose annually more than 1,500 billion dollars. In exchange the US, China and Japan, big oil importers, win billions of dollars, which they invest in the economy.
