May 20, 2015

Click here for a round-up of news from Romania.

Newsroom, 20.05.2015, 12:01

A technical mission of the IMF and the European Commission is currently in Bucharest, in the context in which Romania wants to terminate the current financial program with the Fund in September. Until May the 26th, talks will focus on the Fiscal Code and the stage of implementing the measures included in the program with the IMF and the EC. Pundits say the talks will not be easy and the result is difficult to estimate, in the context in which the government insists that Romania needs fiscal relaxation. Finance minister, Eugen Teodorovici, has said he would like to see a successful termination of the current agreement, adding that a decision on going ahead with the partnership with the IMF is to be made later. The current agreement, which is being unfolding, the third one requested to the IMF since the start of the economic crisis in 2009, is a stand-by loan agreement and comes to a close in autumn. It was agreed upon in September 2013, for a two-year period and it stands at some 2 billion Euros.

The Romanian Air Forces, together with four F-16 Portuguese fighter jets are carrying out patrol missions in the Romanian air space, under the coordination of the NATO Allied Air Command, based in Ramstein, Germany. By the end of June, Romanian MIG 21 Lancer fighters, alongside the Portuguese jets are taking part in patrol missions, also above the Black Sea. These missions are part of NATOs measures to guarantee the security of states on the eastern flank of the alliance. In another move, the Romanian army is today testing, in a shooting range based in the port of Constanta, a new ground-air, air-air and ship- air identification and aiming system. As a first, targeting equipment is also tested on an unmanned recon jet, built by Romanian military experts.

The crisis cell at the Romanian Foreign Ministry has called for the support of international partners to manage the crisis generated by the kidnapping of a Romanian national in Burkina Faso, one and a half month ago, a press release issued by the ministry writes. The Romanian Foreign Ministry also underlines that the crisis cell continues to check the authenticity of the information and of the audio footage send by the Jihad group which claims responsibility for the kidnapping. The leader of the group has recently announced the affiliation to the Islamic State terrorist movement, which bears responsibility for the bloodiest attacks in recent times. The Romanian citizen was part of a patrol team which assured security on the perimeter of a mining exploitation site. The authorities in Burkina Faso have dispatched a large military contingent to the area, with a view to identifying the kidnappers.

The Chamber of Deputies in the Romanian Parliament is today discussing the draft insolvency law, after the document received a favourable opinion from the legal committee yesterday. The draft law includes provisions regarding well-intended debtors, who have a permanent domicile, goods and incomes in Romania, and pay utmost importance to the plan of reimbursing their debts during a period of up to five years and do not resort to the execution of properties. After the insolvency procedure is initiated, the accumulation of interests or penalties for default of payment is suspended. In the same line, the Chamber will also vote on a request by president Klaud Iohannis, for a re-assessment of the Forest Code. The Romanian president called for a reassessment of the document, which, in his opinion, includes provisions which might limit the activity of entrepreneurs and companies and creates the prerequisites for a discriminatory treatment. The Senate rejected the required amendments, with the votes of the MPs of the ruling coalition and of the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, but the Chamber of Deputies is the decision maker in this case.

The economy ministers from over 50 countries are today participating in the Hague, for two days, in the Ministerial Conference on the Energy Charter. The participants will sign the 2015 International Charter for Energy, a document which has been updated annually since 1991, when the first version was signed. It was meant to integrate energy markets in the former communist countries with those in Western Europe. Romania is represented at the event by energy minister, Andrei Gerea. The focal point on the agenda of the conference is the urgent need to make investments in the energy sector by 2035, and their total value is estimated by the National Energy Agency at 48 trillion dollars. This sum of money is needed to replace obsolete networks and installations and the exploitation of new gas and oil deposits, to make investments in green energy and to enhance efficiency in the energy sector.

Romanias representative in the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest, the band Voltaj, on Tuesday qualified for the Grand Final of the contest held in Vienna. Alongside Voltaj, the representatives of Albania, Armenia, Russia, Hungary, Serbia, Belgium, Estonia, Greece and Georgia have qualified for the Grand Final. The final classification was established in equal parts by the publics vote and the specialised jurys vote. The second semi-finals of the EUROVISION Song Contest is due on Thursday, and the Grand Final is scheduled for Saturday.

Romanian tennis players Victor Hanescu and Marius Copil have gone past the inaugural round of the main draw qualifiers for the Roland Garros tournament, which is the years second Grand Slam event. In the second round, ATP 187th-ranked Hanescu will be facing Brit Edmund Kyle, 121st tennis player according to ATP rankings, while Marius Copils upcoming contender will be Australias John Patrick Smith, currently 162nd-placed according to ATP rankings. In the womens version of the tournament, a string of tennis players will be representing Romania, among whom Simona Halep, who last year reached as far as the Roland Garros finals, where she conceded defeat to Russias Maria Sharapova.