January 13, 2015 UPDATE
For a roundup of domestic and international events, click here.
Roxana Vasile, 13.01.2015, 12:15
VISIT — Romanian president Klaus Iohannis on Wednesday is receiving US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland in Bucharest. According to a presidency release, talks will focus on consolidating the Strategic Partnership, stepping up economic cooperation and security in Europe. Nuland’s previous visit to Bucharest was in January 2014, as part of her tour of Europe. Also on Wednesday, British Foreign Secretary Phillip Hammond will meet with president Iohannis and his counterpart Bogdan Aurescu. This year Romania marks 135 years of British-Romanian diplomatic relations. Aurescu and Hammond will discuss the strategic partnership between the two countries, intensifying and diversifying economic cooperation, energy security, free movement, EU Enlargement policies and relations with the Western Balkans.
THREAT – The authorities in France say the terrorist threat is still extremely present and in order to defuse that threat they ordered the deployment of nearly 18 thousand army and police troops to guard sensitive sites across the country in the wake of last week’s terrorist attacks. Security forces were sent on Monday to guard more than 700 Jewish schools in France. The country’s Prime Minister Manuel Valls said that a phone tapping system should be developed, while radical Islamists suspected of recruiting attackers should be sent to prisons. Manuel Valls explained that 1,400 French Jihadists are part of the networks that sent recruits to Syria and Iraq, including the perpetrators of last week’s attack against satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
AGREEMENT – Romanian president Klaus Iohannis and representatives of the political groups in the Romanian Parliament on Tuesday signed a national agreement for increasing the country’s defence budget. In the wake of yesterday’s talks, the participants agreed that for the following 10 years beginning 2017, at least 2% of the GDP be earmarked to national defence projects. Iohannis explained the necessity of such an agreement as Europe and NATO are currently facing a major security challenge in the wake of Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
SECURITY — One of the consequences of the tragic events in Paris is the need to strengthen international cooperation with a view to combating terrorism, Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu told Radio Romania on Tuesday. On January 19, Aurescu will attend the Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Brussels, where EU foreign ministers are to discuss the best was to respond to terrorist threats. In addition, in February Washington will host an international summit aimed at identifying means to fight violent extremism at global level. Bogdan Aurescu also expressed hope that terrorist treats should not lead to a cap on freedom of movement for EU citizens, in the context that some European Interior Ministers have called for harsher border controls in Schengen border crossings. We recall that 17 people were killed last week in Paris, journalists with the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine, police officers and civilians. The three perpetrators have been killed.
INVESTMENT – Foreign direct investment in Romania stood at 2.1 billion euros in the first 11 months of 2014, 11% lower than in the same period last year, data released by Romania’s central bank have revealed. According to the bank, November saw the biggest monthly increase in FDI, which was 531 million euros, while the lowest investment was registered in January, only 38 million euros. The same central bank communiqué says that the current account deficit of Romania’s balance of payments dropped by 62% in 2014 down to 302 million euros.
CONSULTATIONS — Socialist MPs in the Republic of Moldova have called on president Nicolae Timofti to dissolve Parliament and call for snap elections, given that the three pro-European parties, the Liberal Party, the Democratic Part and the Liberal-Democratic Party have failed to reach an agreement with respect to setting up a governing coalition after the parliamentary elections of November 30. The Socialists made their request during consultations president Timofti kicked off on Tuesday with parliamentary factions with a view to appointing a new Prime Minister. Consultations will continue over the course of this week. Once appointed, the new Prime Minister has 15 days to assemble his Cabinet. If the new Cabinet fails to obtain Parliament’s vote of confidence twice, the President will dissolve Parliament and call snap elections.
TENNIS — Romanian tennis player Horia Teacu and his Dutch teammate Jean Julien Rojer have today made it into the men’s double semifinals of the Sydney ATP tournament, an event with nearly 440 thousand dollars prize money up for grabs. Tecau and Rojer secured a 6-2, 7-6 win against the all-Australian pair made of James Duckworth and Chris Guccione. The tournament’s number two favorites, Tecau and Rojer will next be taking on German-American pair made up of Benjamin Becker and Nicholas Monroe, respectively. In a separate development, the main favorite to winning the ATP tournament in Sydney Simona Halep, announced he withdrew from competition, because of a stomach flu. In the eighth final on Tuesday Halep was supposed to be taking on Karolina Pliskova of the Czech republic. The Romanian tennis player gets ready for the year’s first Grand Slam event, the Australian Open in Melbourne, due to kick off on January 19th. We recall that last year in Melbourne Halep had to leave the competition as early as the quarterfinals.
