1 July 2015

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 01.07.2015, 12:11

The
Greek Government has confirmed it has a new proposal for its international
creditors, which includes amendments to what they had proposed earlier. The
proposal is also accompanied by a letter addressed by Prime Minister Alexis
Tsipras to the EU, the IMF and the ECB, France Presse reports. Athens calls for
a new agreement, regulating the country’s financing on the basis of the
European stability mechanism. The Eurozone finance ministers gather today to
discuss Greece’s request for a fresh financial program. Starting July 1st,
Athens no longer has access to international funding. Greece also failed to pay the 1.6 billion Euro
instalment of its debt to the IMF, due on June 30th. For the first time in 5 years of crisis, the Greek
government no longer has access to international funding from the IMF or the
EU. Last night, thousands of people rallied in Athens in support for the call
to ‘yes’ at Sunday’s referendum, when the Greek citizens are asked to say their
opinion regarding the measures and reforms that Greece is supposed to
implement.

The Romanian government is
today discussing the rise in gas prices for citizens and thermal power plants.
Starting today, domestic consumers will have to pay 1.4 Euro more for a
megawatt/hour. The raise was stipulated in the liberalization calendar agreed
upon with the European Commission. The calendar has been extended to cover
another three years, and it provides for gradual increases of approx. 1.4 Euros
per year, until 2020. The Romanian
Energy Minister, Andrei Gerea, says that the initial provisions would have been
even harder for the population. Under the documents signed in 2011 with the IMF
and the EC, Romania pledged to gradually eliminate the regulated prices in the
natural gas sector.

In the first five months of
the year, some 3 million foreigners crossed the Romanian borders, which is 12%
more than in the same period last year, read data published by the National
Statistics Institute. Most of the foreign visitors have come from European
countries (93%), and 60% of these from EU member countries. As regards
Romanians going abroad, 5 million Romanian citizens were registered at the
border crossing points, 9% more than in the first five months of 2015.

A record number of 137,000
immigrants crossed the Mediterranean in dangerous conditions in the first half
of 2015, most of them fleeing from the conflicts in their countries. This
accounts for an increase of 83% as
compared to the first half of the year 2014, the UN announced on Wednesday. The
situation is very likely to worsen during summer. Europe is facing a crisis
that has reached a historic level, warns the Office of the UN High Commissioner
for Refugees. Most of the immigrants are running from wars, conflicts and
persecution. One third of the men, women and children who have come by sea to
Greece and Italy this year are from Syria, a country devastated by the war that
started in 2011. According to the UN, the number of those who’ve died this year
trying to cross the Mediterranean stands at 1,867 people, of which 1,308 in
April alone.

In the second round of the
Wimbledon tournament, the 29th ranked Romanian tennis player Irina
Begu takes on the Ukrainian Lesia Turenko, no.68 in the WTA classification.
Another Romanian tennis player, Monica Niculescu, has too qualified for the
second round, after beating Monica Puig of Puerto Rico. In the second round
Monica will play against the Slovak Iana Cepelova, no. 106, who’s been the
surprise of the tournament, as she managed to defeat Romanian Simona Halep.
Begu and Niculescu are the only Romanian athletes still competing in the
Wimbledon tournament.

Romania will participate with
a delegation of 58 athletes at the summer university games starting today in the South-Korean city of Gwangiu. They
will participate in the running, handball, judo, table tennis, target shooting
and taekwondo competitions. At the European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan, which
ended on Sunday, Romania won 12 medals: 3 gold, 5 silver and 4 bronze,
occupying the 17th position in the European hierarchy.