June 7, 2017 UPDATE

Romanian tennis player Simona Halep makes it to the French Open semi-finals

Newsroom, 07.06.2017, 18:59

DIPLOMACY – A meeting of the Romanian, Bulgarian and Greek foreign ministers will be held on June 21st in Bucharest, the Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu announced on Wednesday after holding talks with his Bulgarian counterpart, Ekaterina Zaharieva. The Bulgarian official has said that Romania and Bulgaria are meeting the technical criteria for joining the Schengen area and has voiced hope that the two countries will be part of it soon. The talks between Ekaterina Zaharieva and Teodor Melscanu focused on bilateral cooperation at European level, with the two countries being willing to contribute actively to the debates on the future of the EU.

DEFENCE — The European Commission on Wednesday launched a European Defence Fund to help Member States spend taxpayer money more efficiently, reduce duplications in spending and get better value for money. Announced by President Juncker in September 2016 and backed by the the European Coincil two months later, the Fund will coordinate, supplement and amplify national investments in defence research, in the development of prototypes and in the acquisition of defence equipment and technology. EU leaders will meet in Prague on June 9th to discuss how to use the potential of the Treaties for stepping up cooperation in defence. The Commission is contributing to that discussion and to the broader EU-wide debate on defence, by setting out three possible scenarios for the future of European defence. The new military research budget is to be worth 250 million euros in its first year in 2020, rising to up to 1 billion euros a year from the EU’s 150 billion euro budget.

SALARY BILL – The Chamber of Deputies has approved the new public sector salary bill. While the first stage of the proposed salary increase was to begin in July, the latest version of the bill provides for a 25% increase in all state sector gross salaries beginning on the 1st of January 2018. Teachers and doctors, who were promised further increases, will see their salaries go up again on the 1st of March next year.

VISIT – The Romanian Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu will meet on Thursday in Paris with his counterpart Edouard Philippe as part of his two-day working visit to France. Grindeanu is accompanied in Paris by his finance minister Viorel Stefan. A traditionally Francophone and Francophile country, Romania signed a strategic partnership with France in 2008.

ECONOMIC GROWTH – The National Institute for Statistics has confirmed that Romanias economy has grown by 5.7% in the first quarter of the year. The biggest contribution to the growth came from consumption, the IT sector, services, trade and industry. Statistical figures show that industry, which has become a key sector and contributed almost a quarter to the GDP, has grown by 6.7% compared with the same period last year. The construction sector and the financial system have seen a decrease. In 2017, the government is counting on a 5.2% economic growth rate, while international financial institutions put this figure at 4 to 4.5% of the GDP.

FRENCH OPEN – World no. 4 Simona Halep of Romania on Wednesday qualified to the semi-finals at Roland Garros, the second Grand Slam tournament of the year, after defeating world no. 6 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, 3-6, 7-6, 6-0. The Romanian looked out of the contest at 6-3 5-1 down but she rallied back and forced a tiebreak. After saving a match point, she regrouped and won the final set 6-0 to move one game away from her second French Open final. Halep will next play world no. 3 Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic in the last four.

(Translated by Elena Enache)