August 3, 2015 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news.

Newsroom, 03.08.2015, 12:15

Romanian prosecutors took legal action against Petrotel Lukoil Ploiesti, in southern Romania, and Lukoil Europe Holdings, based in the Netherlands, on grounds of money laundering. The damage to the Romanian state is around 1.7 billion euros. In relation to this case, prosecutors have also initiated legal proceedings against six people from the Petrotel Lukoil’s leadership, among whom three Russian citizens. One of them is the general manager of Petrotel Lukoil Ploiesti and member of the company’s board, Andrey Bogdanov, accused of money laundering and of having abusively used the company’s money. The Russian company Lukoil holds 20% of Romania’s oil market and 300 gas stations.

At least a quarter of crops in Romania have already been damaged by draught, according to estimates by the farmers’ representatives. They have called for financial aid from the authorities to be able to continue their activity. They say they cannot protect their crops from draught or frost and that aid is provided too late for crops to be saved.

The Athens Stock Market plummeted on Monday. It finished 16% lower on its first day of trading in five weeks. Greek bank stocks went immediately limit down 30% with the rest of the market not faring much better, down as much as 23% on the open. On June 29th the Greek government closed down banks and imposed capital controls before ultimately accepting a deal for bridge financing to avoid defaulting. Banks reopened on July 20 with limited services and restrictions on cash withdrawals still in place while officials worked on rules to resume trading on the stock market after what was its longest halt since the 1970s. At present, the international creditors’ representatives are negotiating with the Greek authorities the conditions for granting a 3rd financial aid package worth up to 86 billion euros. The technical negotiations are expected to end by August 12th and a final agreement to be reached by August 18th.

As many as 1,700 intrusion attempts by clandestine migrants have been reported Sunday night near Calais, in northern France, in the Channel Tunnel area. A policeman was wounded by the stone thrown by a Sudanese migrant who was eventually apprehended. The tunnel linking France to Great Britain has been for several weeks the place through which more migrants have been trying to reach the UK, which they see as their “eldorado” in terms of social protection. Last week the French interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, announced the number of policemen deployed in the area was increased. Also Paris ald London have shown willingness to put an end together to this issue.

Romania has obtained alongside Ukraine and Turkey 4 seats in the board of the World Tartar Forum Council whose congress unfolded last weekend in Ankara. The president of the Democratic Union of Turkic-Muslim Tatars in Romania, Gelil Ezerghep, said the participants in the congress were impressed by the level and quality of the rights enjoyed by this ethnic minority in Romania at national level. Most of the almost 25 thousand Tatar Romanians are located in Dobrogea, a province in south eastern Romania, that for hundreds of years had been under Ottoman rule.

The hard currency reserves of the National Bank of Romania have dropped by almost 1 billion euros in July as compared to June, to 29.1 billion euros, a Central Bank release says. The decrease was mainly triggered by the return of a euro bond issue to the Finance Ministry, falling due on July 29th. Romania’s gold reserve stands at 103.7 tons, worth a total of 3.3 billion euros.

The Liberal opposition in Romania has proposed the parliamentary parties the date of August 17 for consultations on the country’s macro-stability, the co-president of the National Liberal Party, Alina Gorghiu, announced. According to Gorghiu, also discussed will be the Fiscal Code and its sustainability, the salary law for civil servants, Romania’s accord with the IMF, the European Commission and the World Bank, which will expire in September, as well as European funds absorption, infrastructure development, public investment and Schengen membership.

As many as 3.9 million foreign tourists visited Romania in the first half of the year, up 10.1% as against the same period of 2014, accoridng to data made public by the National Statistics Institute. Most of them came from Germany, Italy, Israel, France, the US, Britain and Hungary. At the same time, the number of Romania tourists who travelled abroad in the first six months of the year is 6.2 million, up 11.1% as compared with the same period of 2014.

The Romanian tennis player Simona Halep is still 3rd ranked in the WTA classification that was published on Monday. First ranked is American Serena Williams while second-placed is Russian Maria Sharapova. Other Romanian women tennis players are also included in the top 100. Irina Begu went up one place and is now on the best position of her entire career, 29th, Monica Niculescu went down one place to 39th position, Alexandra Dulgheru dropped 2 places to 49th position like Andreea Mitu who reach the 74th position. Another up-and-coming Romanian woman tennis player Irina Ţig has made a spectacular leap of 39 places climbing on 115th position in the WTA ranking although she lost the final of the WTA tournament hosted by Baku Azerbaijan, Sunday, to Russian Margarita Gasparian.