30 April 2017, UPDATE

British PM Theresa May says Brexit talks will be difficult./ Romanian-Pakistani duo Mergea and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi win Barcelona doubles final.

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Newsroom, 30.04.2017, 18:27

Brexit. British prime minister Theresa May on Sunday told
the BBC that the Brexit talks would be difficult. She thus responded to the
tough position adopted by the EU leaders on Saturday. The latter warned the
British not to make illusions about obtaining quickly a new relationship with
the community bloc on the access to the single market. May said she is ready to
abandon talks and leave the EU without an agreement unless she agrees with the
terms proposed by Brussels. The EU’s number one priority in the Brexit
negotiations is guaranteeing the rights of the EU and British citizens affected
by this process. Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis said the guidelines
underlying the EU’s talks with London, which were adopted unanimously, are
aimed at ensuring these citizens’ right to residence, employment and pension.
Iohannis underlined that Romania wished the talks to take place quickly and to
clarify all aspects referring to the Romanian nationals living and working in
the UK.

Vaccination. European Immunisation Week aimed at raising
awareness about the importance of vaccination has ended on Sunday. Romania is faced
with a drop in vaccination rates against the main transmissible diseases, its
rate being considerably lower than that recommended by the World Health
Organisation. A consequence of this recent trend is a measles epidemic that has
caused 32 deaths in several months. 95% of the 5,000 cases confirmed so far
have affected people who have not been vaccinated. According to family
physicians with experience in the implementation of the vaccination programme,
the campaign initiated by the healthcare ministry at the end of 2016 to contain
the epidemic has not had the desired results.

Loan repayment. Romania must pay back 35.8
million euros in May to the European Union and the World Bank of its stand-by
loan made in 2009. The finance minister in Bucharest said the entire sum
represents interest rates and commissions. Most of the money, namely 33.8
million euros, will go to the European Union. In 2017, Romania must pay back a
total of 1.26 billion euros to the European Union and the World Bank, according
to the finance ministry.

Labour Day.
Around 40,000 tourists are spending the Labour Day holiday on the Romanian
Black Sea coast. May 1st officially marks the start of the summer
season in this country. Mamaia and Vama Veche are the busiest resorts.
Thousands of people have also travelled to the mountains. More than 26,000
interior ministry staff, mainly police and gendarmerie forces, have been
deployed to enforce law and order during this short holiday.

Tennis. The Romanian-Pakistani duo Florin Mergea and
Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi on Sunday defeated the German-Austrian duo Philipp
Petzschner and Alexander Peya in straight sets to win the men’s doubles finals
of the Barcelona tournament worth more than 2.3 million dollars. This is Mergea
and Qureshi’s first doubles final together and Mergea’s seventh ATP doubles
title.