January 19, 2016

Extreme cold hits Romania; PM Ciolos makes official visit to France; tensions between EU and Poland

Newsroom, 19.01.2016, 12:00

WEATHER – After snowstorms over the weekend, Romania is facing a cold stint until Thursday. Last night temperatures dropped to minus 21 degrees in the centre and south of the country, while in the capital city Bucharest they reached minus 17 degrees. Temperatures will fall even more in the days to come in most parts of the country. On the other hand, road and railway transport is still disrupted in the south and south east, the areas the most affected by the heavy snowfalls and the blizzards of the past weekend. Several roads are still closed, including part of the motorway connecting the capital city to the Black Sea. Eight villages have reported power outings, and schools and kindergartens in several counties in the south-east remain closed down today.

DIPLOMACY – The Romanian PM, Dacian Cioloş, will be on an official visit to Paris on Wednesday and Thursday. He will have meetings with President François Hollande, with PM Manuel Valls and with the speakers of the two Chambers of the French Parliament, Gérard Larcher and Claude Bartolone. The talks will focus on the privileged relations between Romania and France, on stepping up the projects in the Roadmap of the bilateral strategic partnership, on improving economic relations and strengthening contacts between the business communities, as well as important topics on the European and international agenda, such as terrorism, migration and the EU security policy. Other topics will also be approached, such as Romanias Schengen accession, the forthcoming report of the European Commission under the Cooperation and Verification mechanism, as well as cooperation as part of Bucharests preparations to take over the presidency of the EU Council. Ciolos will also meet with representatives of the Romanian community and with managers of important French companies. France is the fifth largest foreign investor in Romania.

EU – The PM of Poland, Beata Szydlo, will be in Strasbourg today for talks in the European Parliament regarding Warsaws observance of the rule of law. The controversial measures of the ruling Conservative Party, which strengthened its control over the judiciary and the mass media, generated tensions between Poland and the EU. The European Commission initiated an unprecedented inquiry to establish whether Poland still complies with the European democracy standards. Yesterday in Brussels, the President of Poland, Andrzej Duda, discussed the matter with the head of the European Council, his former political opponent, Donald Tusk, and with the NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, in an attempt to ease tensions. Whereas Donald Tusk said an aggressive tone in the dialogue between Brussels and Warsaw should be avoided, the head of the Polish State said his country would never turn its back on Poland, but emphasised that the EU must respect Poland in its turn.

ECONOMY – The growth rate of the Chinese economy in 2015 slowed down to 6.9%, the lowest since the 3.9% rate of 1990, Beijing announced today. China confirmed the slow-down of the worlds second-largest economy in spite of the growth in services, which last year, for the first time, accounted for more than a half of Chinas GDP of nearly 10,300 billion US dollars. The figures announced by the National Statistics Bureau in China for last year are significantly below the 7.3% reported for 2014. The authorities emphasized that the growth rate in 2015 was a “hard-won one, and added that the structural adjustment of the economy has reached a critical stage. Most indicators dropped in 2015, from the industrial output, undermined by over-capacities, to the real estate sector and to foreign trade, previously a traditional growth engine for the Chinese economy.

SPORTS – The Romanian player Alexandra Dulgheru (no. 61 WTA) has qualified in Melbourne today to the second round of the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament of the year, after defeating the Australian Storm Sanders (no. 355 WTA) 6-4, 6-2. Also today, three other Romanian players lost their games in the first round. World no. 2 Simona Halep was surprisingly defeated by Chinas Shuai Zhang (133 WTA), Irina Begu (31 WTA) was outperformed by the Swedish Johanna Larsson (50 WTA), and Andreea Mitu (96 WTA) was defeated by the German Julia Gorges (45 WTA). Another Romanian player, Monica Niculescu (no 40 WTA), qualified on Monday to the second round of the tournament, and is to play against the Russian Elizaveta Kulicikova (no 109 WTA).