December 2, 2015

Montenegro invited to join NATO / Unemployment rate in the EU goes down

Newsroom, 02.12.2015, 12:00

The American House of Representatives has passed a resolution that celebrates 135 years since the establishment of the diplomatic relations between Romania and the US. The document emphasises the significant role of the bilateral strategic partnership in promoting transatlantic and regional security, in encouraging commercial and cultural exchanges and in developing opportunities for trade and investment. According to the Romanian Embassy in Washington DC, the resolution adopted in the House of Representatives is an official recognition of the key-role that Romania plays within NATO, the international community and the whole region.

NATO foreign ministers, convened in Brussels, have today invited Montenegro to join the military alliance. This is NATO’s first expansion since 2009, defying Russian warnings that enlargement of the U.S.-led bloc further into the Balkans would be a provocation, Reuters reports. Montenegro’s deputy PM, Igor Luksici said that the invitation extended to his country is a positive signal for all other countries in the Western Balkans. Igor Luksici promised that the authorities in Podgorica would further implement reforms in the military and judicial fields. On Tuesday, on the first day of the meeting, NATO also decided on additional measures aimed at tightening Turkey’s security given the military tensions at its borders in the context of the conflict in Syria. Representing Romania at the NATO meeting was Foreign Minister Lazar Comanescu.

British MPs are today deciding whether to back UK air strikes in Syria against militants from so-called Islamic State, at the request of its ally, France, following the terrorist attacks in Paris, France Press reports. Around 4 thousand people took to the streets of London on Tuesday evening to protest against bombing. British military experts say that the country’s military intervention in Syria will not change the course of war. On the other hand, the American Defense Secretary, Ashton Carter said the US will send special operations intelligence and strike force to Iraq to conduct raids on Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria, the BBC reports. For over a year, the US has been leading a coalition made up of 60 states, including Britain, which has been carrying out air strikes against terrorists in Syria and Iraq. Russia began carrying out air strikes in Syria in September 2015, saying it targets exclusively the Islamic State militants. However, NATO and the US are accusing Moscow of targeting positions of the insurgents supported by the West.

The unemployment rate in the eurozone dropped to 10.7% in October this year from 11.5% in October 2014, according to data made public by Eurostat. In the European Union, the unemployment rate stood at 9.3% in October 2015, down from 10.1% in the same month last year. Greece and Spain have reported the highest unemployment rates in the EU, while Germany, the Czech Republic and Malta stand best in this respect. Romania is below the EU average, with 6.8%. According to Eurostat, around 22.5 million people were jobless in the EU in October 2015, of whom 17.2 million in the Eurozone alone.

The Moldovan Parliament is today convening in a special meeting devoted to banking system fraud. Tackled will be the disappearance of 1 billion dollars, the equivalent of 12% of the country’s GDP, at the end of 2014, which destabilised the country and led to the current political crisis.

The World Bank is today initiating a project on secondary education in Romania, for which the financial institution grants the Government a 200-million euro loan. The Romanian Education Ministry will implement the project until 2022, to benefit over one million and a half Romanian pupils and students from over 1 thousand high schools and 300 public universities in Romania. The project aims at improving the Romanian students’ chances to graduate from university.

31 people injured in the fire at Bucharest’s Colectiv club on October 30 are still being treated in hospitals in Romania’s capital. Of them, 6 are in a critical and serious condition. According to the Romanian Health Ministry, another 30 patients are receiving treatment in hospitals abroad. The death toll stands at 60.

(Translated by: Elena Enache)