July 2, 2015 UPDATE
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România Internațional, 02.07.2015, 12:15
The Greek prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, on Thursday asked the Greek citizens to show solidarity and be united to be able to cope with the temporary difficulties which the country is facing at present, as it is unable to pay its debts. The appeal comes ahead of the referendum to be held on Sunday upon the initiative of the Greek government on the issue of the new austerity measures proposed by the international creditors- the EU and the IMF. If Greeks say “YES” in the referendum they will remain in the Euro zone, while a “NO” would imply the country’s coming out of the Euro zone. However, the PM Tsipras believes that a majority of “NO” votes will allow the Greek government to obtain better conditions for an agreement. The Euro zone finance ministers decided to continue negotiations with the Greek government after Sunday’s referendum.
NATO is strong with Romania as a member, and Romania is strong within NATO- said Thursday the NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg, who pointed out that the Alliance would continue to develop alongside the European Union. The NATO official inaugurated in Bucharest the headquarters of the first of the two allied command and control centers to operate in Romania. According to the Romanian president, Klaus Iohannis, the unit will be officially activated in the month of September. This structure will host 42 NATO officers and will be headed by a Romanian commander. Similar centers will be made operational by the end of the year also in Bulgaria, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The setting up of these command centers is part of the effort to consolidate the Alliance’s eastern flank, against the backdrop of Russia’s aggression. Jens Stoltenberg pointed out in Bucharest that these measures are meant for defense not for confrontation, underlining that NATO would do its best to maintain the safety of its allies and defend them against any threat. During his visit to Bucharest, besides the talks with the Romanian President, Klaus Iohannis, the NATO secretary general met with the interim prime minister, Gabriel Oprea, the defense minister Mircea Dusa and the foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu.
Dacian Ciolos of Romania was appointed by EC President Jean-Claude Juncker special adviser on international food security. Ciolos was EU commissioner for agriculture and rural development between 2010-2014, and according to the head of the EU executive, he has a great deal of experience in this area, and is the right man for the job. The new adviser will be working closely with members of the Commission to establish the EU contribution to finding solutions to the global crises and others, such as the food crises, the pressure on natural resources, a booming population, and climate change. In Romania Dacian Ciolos was minister of agriculture between 2007-2008.
The Vice-President of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies, Dan Motreanu, member of the opposition National Liberal Party, is being prosecuted by the National Anticorruption Directorate for influence peddling and money laundering. He is involved in the same case in which the former presidential advisor George Scutaru is also prosecuted, being accused of accessory to money laundering and bribe taking. According to a press release issued on Thursday by the Anticorruption Directorate, both Motreanu and Scutaru got hundreds of thousands of Euros, given for the National Liberal Party’s 2008 election campaign by a top figure in the local administration, who in turn got one million Euros to help the briber purchase land in Buzau, south-eastern Romania. In another development, the former president of the biggest local producer of software applications- Siveco Romania, Irina Socol, was sentenced on Thursday by the Bucharest Court to 3 years and 6 months in prison for tax evasion. The damage caused to the state budget exceeds three million euros. The verdict is not final.
The file regarding the alleged forgery of the Baccalaureate diploma of the former Moldovan prime minister, Chiril Gaburici, was closed, the prosecutors announcing the end of his prosecution in the case, the Moldovan press reports. The general prosecutor’s office pointed out that the crime Gaburici was accused of is one of the minor offences, with a 2-year statute of limitations, the offence having been committed 20 years ago. The Baccalaureate diploma of Chiril Gaburici came to the attention of the police in March, after an investigation by the Moldovan journalists. Experts of the Interior Ministry showed that the document was false. On June 12th, one day after he was heard by prosecutors, Chiril Gaburici resigned his position of prime minister.
Romanian students have won 3 gold medals and one silver medal at the first Balkan Geography Olympiad that took place between June 24th and 30th in Belgrade. 28 students from 6 countries participated in the Olympiad, the Romanian Education Ministry announced on Thursday. In another development, Romanian cellist Andrei Ionita, aged 21, obtained the 1st prize alongside a Russian pianist, a Russian opera singer and a vocalist from Mongolia, at the 15th edition of the International Tchaikovsky Competition, one of the most prestigious such competitions of the world. The competition gathers, every four years, as many as 120 candidates in four categories: piano, violin, cello and singing. The winners of each category were announced as part of a ceremony held in Moscow.
