16 July, 2015

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 16.07.2015, 12:01

Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis is
currently on a formal visit to Serbia, where he will hold talks with his
counterpart Tomislav Nikolici, Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucici and Parliament
Speaker Maja Gojkovici. According to the Romanian head of state, the main
topics of discussion are regional stability, Serbia’s European prospects -
strongly supported by Romania – and
means of strengthening bilateral ties, including with regard to national
minorities. Iohannis has also stated that, to Bucharest, Serbia is a key
partner in the region. Klaus Iohannis will also meet with representatives of
the Romanian minority in Serbia.

On
Thursday, president Klaus Iohannis signed the decree appointing Iulian Matache
Transport Minister, the Presidential Administration has announced. A former
state secretary in the same ministry, Matache was prime minister Ponta’s second
choice, after the president rejected the nomination of Mihai-Viorel Fifor for
this office, saying that he did not have the necessary managerial experience.
Iulian Matache will thus take over the office previously held by Ioan Rus, who
resigned following some offending statements he made about the Romanians
working abroad.

The
Minister Delegate for Relations with Romanians Abroad, Angel Tilvar, is, until Sunday,
on a formal visit to Austria. The agenda of the visit includes meetings with
members of some of the Romanian communities living in Austria, as well as with
representatives of the local and central administration, the Romanian Foreign
Ministry has announced. Minister Angel Tilvar will also meet with Stefan
Steiner, General Director in rank of State Secretary for Integration in the
Austrian Foreign Ministry, as well as officials from Graz.

In
Bucharest, negotiations between management and trade unionists representing air
traffic controllers ended last night, when the parties reached an agreement on
some of the protesters’ claims. The talks were held after Wednesday’s warning
strike, which affected dozens of flights at the ‘Henri Coanda’ International
Airport in Bucharest. By Tuesday, July 21st, both the employer and
the trade union must come up with clarifications and solutions to protesters’
professional demands. The most important one is the one regarding the
retirement age, but the traffic controllers also demand a collective employment
contract, salary protection and measures to ensure air traffic safety.

The Eurozone finance ministers have today resumed, over a
conference call, the talks regarding the Greek issue, after the Greek MPs
adopted, last night, the tough economic measures requested by international
lenders in exchange for an aid plan worth 86 billion Euros. The measures
include, among other things, higher taxes and a higher retirement age. Prime
Minister Alexis Tsipras got the support of the opposition to have the bill
adopted. Before the voting in Parliament, during an anti-austerity rally,
protesters threw Molotov cocktails at the police, who in turn used tear gas.
Several policemen and two photo-reporters were slightly inured in the clash,
and dozens of young people were arrested. In another move, the European
Commission has introduced an investment plan for Greece, worth 35 billon Euros,
by 2020. The plan is aimed at helping Greece relaunch its economy, provided the
measures agreed upon at the Eurozone summit are implemented.

The
annual inflation rate in the Eurozone dropped to 0.2% in June, from 0.3% the
previous month, and in the EU dropped to 0.1% from 0.3% in May, according to
data published on Thursday by Eurostat. The countries with the highest rates of
inflation were Malta (1.1%), Austria (1%), Belgium and the Czech Republic
(0.9%). On the other hand, eight EU member countries registered negative rates
in May. Topping the list was Cyprus (minus 2.1%), Greece (minus 1.1%), Romania and
Slovenia (both minus 0.9%). In March, the European Central Bank started a
program of quantitative relaxation, worth 1,100 billion Euros, aimed at helping
the Eurozone economy recover and avoiding deflationary spirals.

Two
Romanian football squads are today playing, away from home, matches part of the
first leg of Europa League’s second preliminary round. Astra Giurgu will take
on the Scottish team Inverness CT, and FC Botosani will play against the Polish
Legia Warsaw. The third Romanian team playing in the Europa League, ASA Tg.
Mures, has qualified for the third round. We recall that on Tuesday, Romania’s
champions Steaua Bucharest defeated away from home the Slovaks from AS Trencin,
2-0, in the first leg of the Champions League’s second preliminary round.