June 14, 2015

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Newsroom, 14.06.2015, 12:00

ANNIVERSARY – Romania and the United States mark on June 14, 2015, 135 years of diplomatic relations. Over the last 25 years both countries made efforts to build, maintain and consolidate relations that are now flourishing under the Strategic Partnership, reads a US embassy press release. The US wants to further cooperate with Romania to build a world-class economy and to ensure the rule of law means equal justice for all. The US also wants to preserve one of the best military partnerships in the world at present, in order to defend freedom against regional and global threats. In turn, PM Victor Ponta said Romania stands by its commitment to consolidate its privileged alliance with the US, and that the partnership is a sign of mutual trust and a guarantee of the security, development and prosperity of both countries.

POLITICAL CHANGES – Gabriel Oprea, the leader of the National Union for the Progress of Romania in the ruling coalition has warned that his party might leave the Cabinet unless the Social-Democrats and Prime Minister Victor Ponta modify the provisions of the Criminal and Criminal Procedure Codes. The announcement follows Fridays motion of no-confidence the Liberal opposition filed against the Government coalition. The vote failed, with only 194 votes in favour, as compared to the 278 the motion required to pass. Earlier last week the National Anti-Corruption Directorate announced that Prime Minister Victor Ponta was being investigated for forgery of deeds, tax evasion, money laundering as a lawyer and for conflict of interest as acting Prime Minister.

ELECTION – Local elections are today taking place in the Republic of Moldova. Analysts say the vote is of great geopolitical interest, given that voters are split in terms of their pro-European and pro-Russian sympathies. In the capital city Chisinau, home to a third of the countrys population and accounting for half of its GDP, polls reveal a tight score between acting Mayor Liberal Dorin Chirtoaca, an outspoken advocate of close relations with Romania and the West, and former Communist Prime Minister Zinaida Greceanîi, running now for the pro-Russian Socialist Party. Elections are being held against growing public discontent with the power, accused of being corrupt and ineffective. On Friday, Prime Minister Chiril Gaburici resigned in the wake of a nationwide scandal involving accusations of having forged his Baccalaureate diploma.

MINERS RAIDS – Romania on Saturday marked 25 years since the so-called “miners raids of June 13-15, 1990, which ended a large-scale violent protest against the leftist government that came to power after the demise of the communist dictatorship in December 1989. Against the backdrop of violent incidents in Bucharest, that the Army had already quashed, the then president of the country, Ion Iliescu, claimed the right was planning a coup and urged the people to protect the countrys democratic institutions. The raids of the Jiu Valley area miners, who came to Bucharest and attacked the University building, the offices of opposition parties and independent newspapers, resulted in six deaths, hundreds of people wounded and more than a thousand abusive arrests. Last year the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Romania continue investigations into the 1990 miners raids.

FOOTBALL – Romanias national football team on Saturday held Northern Ireland to a blank draw away from home, in a match counting towards preliminaries of the 2016 European Championship in France. With four wins and two draws in six matches, Romania is the leader of Group F with 14 points, followed by Northern Ireland with 13 and Hungary with 11. The next fixtures will see Romania take on Hungary and the Faeroes Islands away from home and Finland and Greece at home. Romania last qualified to the European Championship in 2008.

MILITARY – The US is ready to deploy heavy weaponry including tanks and up to 5,000 military in Romania, Baltic states and other East-European countries to counter Russias future aggressions, the New York Times reports. If the US executive approves Pentagons proposal, this will be the first time since the end of the Cold War for the US to deploy heavy weaponry to these countries. Washington is to greenlight the deployment of troops and military equipment ahead of the Summit of NATO Defense Ministers scheduled this month in Brussels.

SEMINAR – On Monday and Tuesday Bucharest is playing host to the regional seminar “Objectives for Sustainable Development for Parliaments in Central and Eastern Europe. The event is organized by the Chamber of Deputies in agreement with the Inter-Parliamentary Union and brings together MPs from Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Georgia, Serbia and Hungary and is aimed at highlighted the role of national parliaments in the effective implementation of sustainable development objectives.

CANDIDACY – Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, aged 67, formally announced her candidacy in the 2016 presidential elections on behalf of the Democratic Party. In a speech held in New York, Clinton referred to current president Barack Obama, during whose term she acted as Secretary of State, her husband Bill Clinton, two-time president of the US, but also former president Franklin Roosevelt, who promoted equal rights, job security and the elimination of privileges. Hillary Clinton ran for office in 2008, but lost the nomination bid to Barack Obama.

GREECE – Negotiations continued on Sunday in Brussels between the Government in Athens and the European Central Bank, the IMF and the European Union regarding Greeces external debt. Greece needs to pay 1.6 billion euros to the IMF by June 30. The Greek Government announced its readiness to introduce reforms, although it opposes slashing pensions and increasing VAT, as required by its international lenders. Eurogroup president Jeroen Dijsselbloem said Greece had no other option but to comply with the decisions of its lenders it wants to continue receiving credit and avoid defaulting on its payments.

REFUGEES – Some 100 refugees tried to forcibly cross the French border after several days ago France shut down the border, denying access to refugees from the Italian town of Ventimiglia. Italian PM Matteo Renzi announced he would meet with his British counterpart David Cameron on June 17 in Milan and on June 21 with French president Francois Hollande to find a solution to support the refugees. Some 57,000 illegal immigrants from Africa and the Middle East landed in southern Italy this year after crossing the Mediterranean. Many on them currently live in improvised shelters around Rome and Milan, spreading fear among the local population and tourists.

HANDBALL – The Romanian mens handball team is today playing Italy on home turf as part of the 2018 European Championship preliminaries. On Wednesday, Romania defeated Italy 28-22 and is currently top of the groups table. On Saturday in Cluj, the Romanian womens team lost 24-28 to Serbia, the defending world vice-champion, but nevertheless qualified to the World Cup of December. In the first leg played last week, Romania defeated Serbia 32-26. Romania is the only womens team to qualify to every edition of the World Cup.