June 3, 2014, UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

România Internațional, 03.06.2014, 19:59

The US President Barack Obama has proposed the allocation of an amount of up to one billion dollars for the deployment of new US ground, sea and air forces in the East of Europe and has made an appeal to the European allies to also increase their military expenses. Obama has attended in Warsaw the ceremonies marking 25 years since democracy was restored in post-Communist Poland, an opportunity for the US president to assure the east – European allies that the US will protect their security within NATO. The White House leader has urged NATO to cooperate with Moscow, but has also explained that the alliance will maintain its position if Moscow breaks the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity, which have until now secured peace in Europe. The events in Poland’s capital have also been attended by Romanian President Traian Basescu. In another development, the long term implications of Russia’s actions in Ukraine have also been analyzed in Brussels by the NATO defense ministers, including the Romanian Minister Mircea Dusa. The NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has called on Moscow to stop supporting the armed groups in Ukraine and has warned that NATO will not recognize Crimea’s annexation by Russia.

Leaders from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Great Britain, the US, the European Council President Herman van Rompui and the European Commission President, Jose Manuel Barroso will on Wednesday and Thursday meet in Brussels at the G7 summit. The agenda of talks includes issues such as the situation in Ukraine and the relations with Russia, as well as global economy, trade, energy security, climate change and development. The meeting is held after Russia’s exclusion from the G8 and the cancellation of the summit in Soci, following the annexation of Crimea.

Pro-Russian militants and Ukraine’s security forces exchanged fire on Tuesday in the city of Slavyansk in eastern Ukraine, the country’s Interior Minister Arsen Avakov has announced. Avakov strongly advised people from Slavyansk as well as those from the neighboring towns of Kramatorsk and Krasny Liman not to leave their homes. On Monday at least five people were killed and 15 other wounded in Lugansk, where hundreds of insurgents stormed a border checkpoint, but Ukrainian border police repelled the attack. Joining separatists in their fight are volunteers from Russia and Chechnya, which for Kiev stand as yet another proof of the fact that Moscow is backing rebels. In turn, Russia has denounced what it called crimes perpetrated by the authorities in Kiev against their own people and submitted a resolution to the UN Security Council demanding a ceasefire in Ukraine.

Talks are underway in Bucharest between the Romanian authorities and a joint IMF, European Commission and World Bank mission which has been in Romania since Monday, for a fresh assessment of the precautionary loan agreement signed in the autumn of 2013. The two-week talks will mainly revolve around ways to finding a solution for a 5 per cent reduction as of July the 1st of the social contributions paid by employers. In the wake of Monday’s fact-finding discussions with Prime Minister Victor Ponta, IMF officials held meetings with representatives of Romania’s Finance Ministry, where emphasis was laid on the level of cashed budget sums in the first months of 2014, which account for less than the initial predictions. The delegation also held talks at the Transport Ministry, revolving around the railway sector, where privatizations attempts so far have failed.

The USS Vela Gulf Cruiser, will be in the Romanian Black Sea port of Constanta between June 3 and 6, to take part in joint exercises with the NATO allies, as part of the security cooperation program. The presence in the Black Sea of the military vessel stands proof of the US’s commitment to establishing a close cooperation with its allies in order to enhance maritime security and stability, a Pentagon spokesperson has announced. We recall that since the escalation of the Ukraine crisis, Washington has sent several military vessels to the Black Sea for joint exercises with its NATO allies. On June 5, the ship will be visited by the US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and the Romanian Defense Minister Mircea Dusa. On the occasion, the two high-ranking officials will be holding talks on the Strategic Partnership between the two states, laying emphasis on the support the US will give Romania, and the stage of implementation of US projects in Romania.

The new Palestinian government, which also includes members of the Hamas Islamist movement, has been sworn in. The Israeli cabinet has announced it will have no dialogue whatsoever with the Palestinian one and has decided to enforce new sanctions against the Palestinian Authority. The US has voiced its intention to cooperate with the new government. After years of negotiations, Fatah and Hamas have managed to form a national union government. The relations between them have been tense since 2006, when Hamas won the legislative elections, to one year later take control over the Gaza Strip, leaving Fatah with the West Bank only.

In an extraordinary session on Tuesday, the Spanish Government passed the organic law needed for the implementation of King Juan Carlos’s decision to abdicate. On Monday, the Spanish King announced that after four decades he was renouncing the crown in favor of his son Crown Prince Felipe of Asturias. According to Romania’s former King, Mihai I, King Juan Carlos, whom he called his “admirable cousin”, is one of Europe’s leading personalities of the last 50 years. In another move, thousands of people in Madrid gathered in an anti-Monarchic rally on Monday, calling for a referendum to reinstate the republic.

In the Roland Garros tennis tournament’s quarterfinals on Wednesday Romania’s best tennis player at the moment, WTA 4th-ranked Simona Halep will be taking on number 27 seed, Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova. In the eighth finals of the competition, which is the year’s second Grand Slam tournament, Halep defeated the American Sloane Stephens, while Kuznetsova defeated Lucie Safarova from the Czech Republic. Simona has already secured 360 WTA points and 220 thousand Euros, and this is her first qualification for the French Open’s quarterfinals. This year Halep also reached as far as the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. In the men’s doubles, the pair made of the Rumanian Florin Mergea and Marin Draganja from Croatia will be playing in the semifinals, against the all-Spanish pair made of Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez.