February 14
A roundup of domestic and international news.
România Internațional, 13.02.2015, 19:45
The Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta, currently on a visit to the United States, participated in a seminar on economic issues staged in New York by an association made up of 150 major American and international companies. Victor Ponta talked about the current situation and the Romanian economy’s perspectives, while the members of his delegation made a presentation of the capital market and the process of international listing of some important Romanian companies. On Wednesday, PM Ponta met with the US Secretary of Commerce, Penny Pritzker. According to data supplied by the National Bank of Romania, in 2013 the United States was Romania’s 3rd most important foreign investor.
Nicolae Timofti, the President of the Republic of Moldova, a former Soviet republic with a mostly Romanian-speaking population, continues talks with parliamentary parties over forming a new government. The minority coalition made up of the Liberal Democrats and the Democrats has made another proposal for the position of prime minister. This time they nominated Chiril Gaburici, former head of one of the country’s major telephony companies. On Thursday, the incumbent Prime Minister Iurie Leanca, proposed by the same coalition, failed to win Parliament’s vote of confidence. Only 42 members of the minority coalition made up of the Liberal Democratic Party and the Democratic Party in the 101-seat parliament voted for the new coalition government, though the votes of at least 51 MPs were needed for the new government to be sworn in. The two parties need the support of either the pro-European Liberals or of the pro-Russian Communists. The Parliament elected on November 30th has only 45 days to endorse a new Cabinet.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has admitted there are no guarantees that the ceasefire agreement with the pro-Russian separatists in the East of the country, signed on Thursday in Minsk, will be enforced. Poroshenko has said he does not want to give anyone false hope or to seem naïve. The Minsk peace deal will be difficult to enforce, the Ukrainian President said. In Moscow, the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigori Karasin said that the Kiev authorities’ regaining full control over the Russian-Ukrainian border in the Donbas region depends on the observance of the Minsk peace deal. Over 5,300 people have been killed since the beginning of the conflict last year.
Over 250 million euros from community funds will be made available under a Romanian — Bulgarian cross border investment program, signed on Friday by the European Commissioner for Regional Policy, Corina Cretu. Commissioner Cretu told the Radio Romania correspondent in Brussels that the program would improve the living, education and labor standards in the two countries’ border area and would render it more attractive for both tourists and investors. According to Corina Cretu, the area has great potential, given its proximity to the Danube and the Black Sea.
Romania’s national rugby team is today playing in Cluj, in north-western Romania, the second match of the season in the Rugby Europe Championship against Spain. The Oak Leaves Knights started on the right foot in the competition last Saturday, when they beat Portugal in an away game 37-10, while Spain defeated Russia at home 43-20. The new league counts as European rugby’s second-tier echelon in the Northern hemisphere, second only to the Six Nations Tournament, and includes the teams of Georgia, Germany and Russia. We remind you that The European Cup of Nations has become the Rugby European Championship, as part of a re-branding process.
Romania’s soccer team, manned by players in the domestic championship, end this weekend their training bout in Turkey. On Saturday, in the last game of their training trip they play the neighbouring Moldova. In the other games played in Antalya, the Romanian team tied to a blank score against Bulgaria’s division top team, and barely managed to get past Georgian team 1-0.
