28 June, 2017 UPDATE

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 28.06.2017, 19:37

Government. The National Executive Committee of the Social
Democratic Party has approved the membership of Romania’s new government
proposed by the prime minister designate Mihai Tudose. The junior partner in
the ruling coalition, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, said earlier it
wished to maintain its previous portfolios, namely the foreign ministry, the
environment, energy and the relationship with Parliament, as well as its
occupants. The list announced by the Social Democrat Mihai Tudose includes many
of the ministers serving under Sorin Grindeanu, who was removed from office
last week following a no-confidence vote initiated by the ruling coalition
itself. The Social Democrats’ leader Liviu Dragnea said Parliament may vote on
the new government on Thursday.

Law. Romania’s president
Klaus Iohannis has signed into law a bill on the salaries of public employees.
He says he is in favour of increasing salaries in a sustainable manner to raise
people’s living standards and eliminate salary inequality and
dysfunctionalities. In his opinion, the ruling coalition has to make sure that
the new law does not generate an economic imbalance and does not have negative
implications for the public budget. He says the law must be correlated with
Romania’s commitments under the Stability and Growth Pact to maintain the
budget deficit under 3% of the GDP. The president has also warned that the more
problematic aspects of the law will have to be addressed by the government and
Parliament at a later date.

Romania-Bulgaria. Romania is ready to share with Bulgaria its
experience with regard to the fight against corruption, president Klaus Iohannis said during
a meeting with his Bulgarian counterpart Rumen Radev in Bucharest. He said he talked with president
Radev about his recent visit to Washington, the two countries’ common interest
in having a strong transatlantic relationship as well as about the security
challenges in the Black Sea region. The two leaders also discussed the issue of
their countries’ Schengen accession. On
Thursday, the two presidents will attend the opening of the Romania-Bulgaria
Business Forum. During his visit to Bucharest, the Bulgarian president Rumen
Radev is also expected to meet ethnic Bulgarians living in Romania.

Russia sanctions. The European Union has
officially extended the economic sanctions against Russia by another six
months, saying Moscow has failed to comply with its commitments with respect to
the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine. The EU leaders approved the move last week,
saying Russia continued to support the rebels in eastern Ukraine. The decision
came after the presentation of a report by the French president Emmanuel Macron
and the German chancellor Angela Merkel at the EU summit held on the 22nd
and the 23rd of June related to the implementation of the Minsk
agreements.

Tennis. Three Romanian
tennis players were in action on Wednesday in the second round of the grass
tournament in Eastbourne, worth 750,000 dollars in prize money. World no. 2
Simona Halep defeated the Chinese player Ying-Ying Duan in
three sets and will next face the Bulgarian player Tsvetana Pironkova. The
latter defeated Romania’s Monica Niculescu, ranked 51st in the
world, in straight sets. Sorana Cirstea, world no. 62, was herself defeated by
the British player Johanna Konta, also in straight sets. The tournament in
Eastbourne precedes the Grand Slam tournament at Wimbledon.