July 6, 2017

Romanias president Klaus Iohannis is today attending a summit of the Three Seas Initiative.

Newsroom, 06.07.2017, 13:45

STRASBOURG — Negotiations for Turkey’s accession to the EU might be suspended today, with MEPs having to decide on a resolution in this respect. MEPs are concerned about Turkey backsliding in the rule of law, human rights, media freedom, and the fight against corruption. They condemn the repeatedly declared support for the reintroduction of the death penalty by the Turkish President. At the same time, the draft resolution also recognises the importance of good EU-Turkey relations and maintaining a constructive and open dialogue, which is key to addressing common challenges, such as migration, security or terrorism.

RUSSIA – Sanctions imposed against Moscow are a “covert form” of protectionism Russian President Vladimir Putin was quoted as saying on Thursday ahead of a G20 summit in Germany. Putin said that protectionism was becoming widespread and also contradict the G20 principles for interacting in the interests of all countries of the world. At the end of June, the EU has extended by six months the sanctions against Russia, in the absence of the latters observance of the Minsk accords, aimed at putting an end to the conflict in eastern Ukraine. The sanctions and the drop in the price of oil have generated the longest recession that the country has had to deal with since 2000 when Vladimir Putin came to the Kremlin.

BACCALAUREATE – The results of the summer Baccalaureate exam are slightly higher than last year’s in most counties across Romania. 71.4% was this year’s pass rate for the summer Baccalaureate exam, 5% more than last year, according to the pre-appeal list of results. This is the highest pass rate in the last eight years. Moreover, 97 high-school students all over the country grabbed a perfect score. A recurrent problem is the high number of high-schools with zero pass rate. Education Minister Liviu Pop, said that with the amendment of the education law that stipulated a single Baccalaureate exam for all, the pass rate in technical high-schools has dropped and has gone up in philology-oriented high-schools. The National Liberal Party have expressed their support for two separate exams, addressing students of technical and philological high-schools, so as to make sure students can access the labor market as well as higher-education.

SUMMIT –Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis is today attending a summit of the Three Seas Initiative, namely the Baltic Sea, the Adriatic Sea and the Black Sea, hosted by Warsaw. The heads of state and representatives from 11 other Central and Eastern European countries, namely Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary, are taking part. The US president Donald Trump will also attend the summit as a special guest. The purpose of the Initiative is to provide political support for the cooperation and interconnection between the economies of the countries in the geographical area bordered by the three seas in fields such as energy, transport, telecommunications and environmental protection. At the same time, Donald Trump is expected to reconfirm his commitment to observing Article 5 of the NATO Pact, according to which an attack against any of the allies is seen as an attack against all.

FESTIVAL — The 21st edition of the Garana International Jazz festival in held between July 6th and 9th in the small village of Garana, in south-western Romania. The festival is known as the most complex open-air jazz festival in central and Eastern Europe. As many as 18 jazz bands will take the stage. Over the past 20 years, more than one 100 thousand spectators attended the festival.

WIMBLEDON — Romanian tennis player Sorana Cirstea is today playing against American Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the second round of Wimbledon tennis tournament. On Wednesday, World no. 2 Simona Halep qualified to the third round after a defeating Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia in two sets 7-5, 6-3. Halep’s next mach will be against Chinese Shuai Peng. Romanian players Ana Bogdan and Irina Begu stopped in the second round.

(Translated by Elena Enache)