February 1, 2016

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Newsroom, 01.02.2016, 12:00

The Romanian PM Dacian Ciolos is having talks today with the representatives of parliamentary parties on the request of the National Liberal Party regarding the return to the system of electing mayors in two rounds. The Liberals believe this system will enlarge the powers of voters, the current one-round system being to the advantage of big parties. The representatives of the People’s Movement Party and the Romanian Socialist Party also support the Liberals’ proposal. On the other hand, the Social Democratic Party, the National Union for the Progress of Romania, the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats do not want elections in 2 rounds, as they say the measure runs counter to a Constitutional Court decision banning the modification of electoral legislation less than one year before the elections. Also on Monday a new parliamentary session started. The senators and deputies’ priorities are related to the organization of elections as well as to social projects.

The president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Suma Chakrabarti, is on a visit to Romania on Monday and Tuesday for talks with the Romanian officials and the business partners. The EBRD is one of the biggest institutional investors in Romania. So far, the Bank has invested over 7 billion euros and channeled over 14 billion euros in other financing sources. Last year the bank passed a new strategy for Romania, which sets the country’s investment priorities for the next 4 years. They are related to enlarging access to funding, improving the infrastructure and boosting competitiveness in the private sector.

The Moldovan Parliament resumes activity on Monday as part of the so-called spring session. The agenda of the talks is dominated by the measures to be adopted urgently to disburse a loan worth 150 million euros granted by neighboring Romania and by the resumption of negotiations with international financiers. Some of the measures refer to the implementation of the EU Association Agreement, the reform of the judiciary and the fight against corruption. Chisinau is faced with an economic and financial crisis that has generated serious political tension.

The Romanian tennis player Simona Halep has dropped from 2nd to 3rd position in the WTA classification of best professional tennis players of the world, after Angelique Kerber won the Australian Open tournament, the first Grand Slam tournament of 2016. American Serena Williams is WTA leader with 3,500 points more than Kerber. Irina Begu is the 2nd Romanian in the classification being ranked 34th, while Monica Niculescu is on 37th position and Alexandra Dulgheru on 54th position. Halep and Niculescu alongside Andreea Mitu and Raluca Olaru make up Romania’s team that will take on, on February 6th and 7th, in Cluj Napoca (central Romania), the Czech team, in the first round of Fed Cup’s World Group.

The representatives of Bashar al-Assad’s regime and of the Syrian opposition are having talks, separately, in Geneva with the UN special envoy Staffan de Mistura, in an attempt to put an end to 5 years of armed conflict. Negotiations could last for 6 months, a deadline given by the UN to the two sides to set up a transitional authority meant to organize general elections in mid 2017. Talks started on Friday but observers say their evolution is uncertain against the backdrop of continued fighting in Syria. The international community is in turn looking for a negotiated solution to overcoming the Syrian crisis, which has so far killed more than 260 thousand people.

(news translated by Lacramioara Simion)