July 8, 2014 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

România Internațional, 08.07.2014, 20:13

Romania’s European Funds Ministry has officially submitted to the European Commission the updated draft of the 2014-2020 Partnership Agreement. Bucharest authorities say that the updated document complies with all the proposals and recommendations made by the European Commission in relation to the official draft issued in March. The Romanian European Funds Minister, Eugen Teodorovici, believes the agreement will be signed by autumn. The most important sums are earmarked for the Infrastructure Operational Program, 9.4 billion Euros, the Regional Operational Program, 6.7 billion Euros with 4.1 billion Euros going to the Human Resources Development Operational Program.

Lithuania is the second EU country, after Romania, to ratify the Association Agreement with the EU, signed by the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia. On the occasion, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite congratulated the three former Soviet states for their decision. The agreement, signed in Brussels on June 27th, was ratified by the Romanian Parliament last week. We recall that the document must be ratified by all 28 EU Member States.

The EU will provide Ukraine with financial support, depending on the reforms implemented by Kiev authorities, said in Brussels on Tuesday the Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy Stefan Fule. The aid promised by the EU stands at 11 billion Euros, the Commissioner also said. The statements were made at the first high-level meeting to coordinate international support for Ukraine. In another move, also on Tuesday, the Ukrainian Government once again stressed it would not cooperate with the pro-Russia rebels in ten east of the country unless they laid down weapons.

Russia has threatened the Republic of Moldova it will suspend a number of bilateral trade agreements, following the ratification by Chisinau of the Association Agreement with the European Union. Radio Romania’s correspondent to Moscow quoted Russia’s prime minister Dmitri Medvedev as saying that through the agreement, the Republic of Moldova has created a different legal framework for its relationship with Russia, and with the Russia-Kazahstan-Belarus customs union. The Republic of Moldova’s creation of the free trade agreement area with the European Union will force Russia to implement measures of protection for its own market, given the incompatibility of the technical standards between the two unions. Medvedev also warned that European products will penetrate the customs union as Moldovan products, so that they can benefit from the facilities granted for the latter. Moldova’s deputy economy minister Octavian Calmac replied that the Association Agreement with the European Union doesn’t run counter to Chisinau’s economic cooperation with its former Soviet partners from the Community of Independent States.

Constantin Istrate is the fifth name on the list of suspects of political crimes perpetrated during the communist regime in Romania. Istrate’s name was made public on Tuesday, by the Institute for the Investigation of the Communist Crimes and the Memory of Romanian Exile. The Institute announced it would file a complaint with the General Prosecutor’s office. Istrate was deputy commander of the Gherla penitentiary. He was also one of the best-known and most cruel officers of the communist penitentiary system. Istrate tortured and brutally punished convicts. He was also responsible for the implementation of a prison regime that claimed the lives of more than 200 political detainees.

The Romanian Foreign Ministry regrets the death the 16 people, including four NATO soldiers, who were killed in an suicide bomb attack in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, claimed by the Taliban. The Ministry also reiterates Romania’s support for the Kabul Government’s efforts to maintain domestic stability. The four NATO soldiers, all of them Check, were killed alongside two Afghan police officers and 10 civilians.

Romanian tennis player Simona Halep , ranked rd in the WTA classification, will on Wednesday play her first game at the BRD Bucharest Open, the first WTA competition organized in Romania, with 250.00 dollars in prize money. Halep, the Bucharest Open’s first seed, will meet in the inaugural round the Dutch player Indy de Vroome. For Halep, the BRD Bucharest Open is the first competition after the semifinal in Wimbledon.