July 10, 2015 UPDATE

For a roundup of domestic and international events, click here.

Newsroom, 10.07.2015, 12:15

POLITICS – Romanias president Klaus Iohannis on Friday criticized what he has termed a lack of governance coherence. It is the presidents view that this raises the question of whether the country has a functional government. The presidents statements come after Prime Minister Victor Ponta said he disagreed with the ordinance on increasing the salaries of officials and that this ordinance will be reviewed so that the increase applies to all in the public sector. In turn, Deputy Prime Minister Gabriel Oprea, who acted as interim Prime Minister when the bill was adopted, said the idea behind the ordinance belonged to the Government, while Ponta himself agreed with president Iohannis on this mater. Seen as terribly confusing by most political pundits, the situation follows after Ponta regained office on Thursday after three weeks of absence. The Prime Minister underwent a knee surgery in Turkey, on June 15, the same day he was called by the National Anti-Corruption Directorate for a deposition in an investigation where he is accused of forgery of deeds under private signature, accessory to recurrent tax evasion and money laundering.

INFRASTRUCTURE – Nine and a half billion euros worth of EU funds will be earmarked to Romania for the construction and modernization of freeways, airports, water and energy grids. The money will be made available until 2020, after EU Commissioner for Regional Policies Corina Cretu and Prime Minister Victor Ponta on Friday signed the Large Infrastructure Operational Programme in Bucharest. This is the most important programme in Romania and the second at EU level, after that in Poland. Commissioner Cretu said that with this programme, the Government in Bucharest commits to bring drinkable water to Romanians homes within five years. In turn, the Prime Minister said that with the Governments co-funding, investment in infrastructure would reach 12 billion euros. The European Commission has given priority to a series of highway constructions: Sibiu-Pitesti in the south, Bacau-Pascani in the east and Targu Neamt-Ungheni in the east, linking Romania to the Republic of Moldova.

UNION – Some one thousand young people from the Republic of Moldova set out from Chisinau to Bucharest, in an attempt to cross the border on Saturday morning, where they will meet with one thousand Romanians, advocating the unification of the two states. On Sunday, they will reach Bucharest and will hand president Klaus Iohannis the declaration of unification adopted on July 5 signed by 30,000 citizens of Moldova as part of the great national assembly. The rally was called by NGOs from the two states, according to which “only if we stand united can we face future challenges, live well in our own country and enjoy a larger country, without internal borders and setbacks, with a common and prosperous destiny for all Romanians. The event was held in the public square which hosted the great anti-Soviet protests of 1989-1990 and where in August 1991 the Great National Assembly hailed Moldovas independence from Moscow. We recall the Moldova emerged as an independent state on part of Romanias eastern territories annexed by the USSR in 1940.

GREECE – Eurozone Finance Ministers will advance new reform proposals to the Greek Government. Eurogroup president Jeroen Dijsselbloem said everything would be closely analysed, since the decision would have long-term effects. According to some Eurozone officials, Greece wants a three-year financing package, and commits to adopting a new pension law by this autumn and to come up with a new fiscal legislation. Athens also intends to cut military expenses, increase the VAT and to eliminate tax breaks for Greek islands by the end of 2016. Greeces debt currently amounts to 320 billion euros, of which 65% to Eurozone countries and the IMF, and 8.7% to the European Central Bank. Starting July 1, Greece has technically defaulted on its payments and needs a third financial rescue package to avoid leaving the Eurozone.

TENNIS – Romanian Horia Tecau and his partner Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands on Saturday will play the mens doubles final at the Wimbledon tennis tournament, the third Grand Slam tournament of the year. Tecau and Rojer will play Jamie Murray of the UK and John Peers of Australia. In the semi-finals, Tecau and Rojer grabbed a close win over Florin Mergea of Romania and Rohan Bopanna of India, after five sets. Horia Tecau is playing his fourth final in Wimbledon. He qualified three times to the finals, alongside Robert Lindstedt of Sweden in 2010, 2011 and 2012, losing every time. The only Romanian to win the Wimbledon doubles competition is Ilie Nastase, who won with Jimmy Connors of the United States the 1973 finals against John Cooper and Neale Fraser of Australia.

FOOTBALL – Romanias football team has gone up four positions in FIFA standings, now ranking 8th. This is the best ranking for Romania since March 2000, when our team had the same ranking. Romanias all-time best ranking in FIFA standings was in 1997, when it was 3rd ranked. Of Romanias adversaries in the EURO 2016 preliminaries, Hungary is 31st placed, after skipping 11 positions, Northern Ireland is in 37th place, Greece is now in 44th place, the Faeroe Islands is the 74th place while Finland is ranked 90th. With four wins and two draws in six matches, Romania is leader in Group F with 14 points, followed by Northern Ireland with 13 points and Hungary with 11 points. Romania will next play Hungary and the Faeroe Islands away from home and Finland and Greece on home turf. Romania last qualified to a European Championship in 2008.