May 13, 2015 UPDATE
A look at some of the main stories in Romania today
Newsroom, 13.05.2015, 12:15
Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis will visit the Universal Exhibition hosted by Milan on Thursday before meeting Pope Francis at the Vatican on Friday. In Milan, the president will visit the pavilions of Romania, the Holy See and Italy. Also on Thursday, he will meet representatives of the Romanian community in Milan. On Saturday, the president will meet the leaders of the Sant’Egidio community and will visit the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere. President Iohannis was on an official visit to Italy on the 27th and 28th of April.
According to the preliminary Eurostat estimates made public on Wednesday, Romania and Cyprus had, at 1.6%, the highest economic growth rate in the European Union in the first quarter of 2015 compared with the previous quarter. Romania and Cyprus are followed by Spain, Bulgaria, Slovakia, France and Hungary. According to Eurostat, the quarterly economic growth rate is lower in Lithuania, Estonia, Greece and Finland. The annual growth rate across the eurozone saw an increase in the January-March period of 1%, while the European Union’s GDP went up by 1.4% The highest annual growth rates were reported in Romania, with 4.2%, and Hungary, with 3.1%. Finland was the only country to see a decrease in the annual growth rate.
The European Commission on Wednesday recommended Romania to take all necessary measures to finalise the precautionary financial assistance programme. The European Union and the International Monetary Fund will each make available to Romania 2 billion euros by the end of September 2015, but these funds are made conditional on the implementation of comprehensive economic policies. The Commission also advises Bucharest to take measures with regard to its labour market, aiming in particular at unregistered youth and long-term unemployed people and to continue efforts to equalise the pension age for men and women. Other recommendations made by the European Commission refer to the adoption by Romania of a national strategy to reduce school drop-out and the continuation of the national health strategy to solve the problems resulting from a low rate of access to health care services, low funding and inefficient resources. Each spring, the Commission publishes a series of specific recommendations for each EU member state as part of a timetable for economic policy coordination. EU ministers will discuss these recommendations in June, before approval by the EU heads of state and government on the 25th and 26th of June.
As of Wednesday, Romania has a new Centre for Innovation in Cyber Security, a pilot project which benefited from an 800,000 dollar grant from the US Administration. The project was launched at the Regional Cyber Security Summit in Bucharest that came to an end on Wednesday. The Regional Cyber Security Summit was held by the Romanian government jointly with the US Department of Commerce. Companies and government officials and experts in cyber security from the public and private sectors from 17 European countries, including Romania, as well as the USA discussed ways to defend against cyber attacks targeting both citizens and institutions.
NATO’s military presence in Afghanistan will be smaller and under civilian leadership, while also maintaining a military component, said NATO’s secretary general Jens Stoltenberg at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Antalya, south-western Turkey. He said the main goal is to bolster Afghan security forces to cope with security challenges on their own. In his address, Romania’s foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu emphasised his country’s contribution as part of the current Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan. On the sidelines of the meeting, Aurescu also had a series of talks with counterparts from NATO member and partner states.
The Chargé dAffaires of the US Embassy in Bucharest Dean Thomson, the British ambassador Paul Brummel and the Dutch ambassador Mattheus van Bonzel, as well the deputy head of the diplomatic mission of the German Embassy in Bucharest, Achim Troster had talks in Bucharest with the speakers of the two chambers of Parliament. After the talks, the British ambassador said both he and the other diplomats recognise the sovereign role of Parliament but that they wished to make sure that Parliament’s talks regarding the rule of law acknowldge the importance of the fight against corruption for Romania’s development. The speaker of the Romanian Senate, Calin Popescu Tariceanu, said the four diplomats wished to inquire about current amendments in the judicial area.
The independent Romanian short film “Ramona” directed by Andrei Cretulescu has been selected for the Semaine de la Critique programme of the Cannes International Film Festival. “One Floor Below” by Radu Muntean and “The Treasure” by Corneliu Porumboiu have been selected for the festival’s Un certain regard category. “One Floor Below” is about the psychological dilemma of a crime witness, while “The Treasure” follows two men in a search of a treasure.
World no. 2 Simona Halep has reached the third round of the Rome tennis tournament after defeating the American player Alison Riske in two sets. Also on Wednesday, Romania’s Alexandar Dulgheru defeated the Czech player Lucie Safarofa in a dramatic match to qualify for the third round in Rome. Irina Begu is the third Romanian player to qualify for the third round after a sensational win against 9th seed Angelique Kerber of Germany. Halep also plays in the doubles, where she forms a pair with Italy’s Francesca Schiavone. Also in Rome, the Romanian-Indian pair Florin Mergea and Rohan Bopanna reached the third round where they will face the Romanian-Dutch pair Horia Tecau and Jean-Julien Rojer.
