May 25, 2017 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 25.05.2017, 19:50

NATO SUMMIT – Romania stands for a strong, yet well balanced eastern flank of NATO, said Romanias President Klaus Iohannis at the summit of the North Atlantic Alliance in Brussels. He also stressed the fact that Romania believes that transatlantic cooperation and, in particular, the ties between the US and Europe must become stronger. The Romanian head of state also pointed out that Romania is interested in a unitary approach to the relation with Russia. On the sidelines of the summit, Klaus Iohannis talked on Thursday with his Polish counterpart Andrezj Duda about the strategic partnership between Romania and Poland and cooperation within NATO.

TRUMP – On Thursday in Brussels, the US President Donald Trump called on the NATO member countries to focus on terrorism, migration and Russias threats. Attending for the first time a NATO Summit, after having been rather critical of the Alliance in the past, the US leader reiterated his call for all the member countries to observe their financial committments. The US has repeatedly called on the NATO members to raise their defence budgets to 2% of the GDP. Also on Thursday, the NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced that the Alliance would join the international coalition fighting the Islamic State jihadist group, without taking part in combat operations. Belgium is the last but one leg of Trumps first international tour as president, after Saudi Arabia, Israel and the Palestinian territories, Italy and the Vatican. The US President will next attend the G7 summit in Sicily.

GLOBSEC – The Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu will attend in Bratislava, on Friday and Saturday, the 12th Global Security Forum. According to the Romanian Foreign Ministry, Melescanu will talk about European security developments, as part of the panel titled “European Force Awakens”. On the occasion, the Romanian Foreign Minister will present Romanias vision with regard to consolidating the EUs role in the field of security and defence and boosting cooperation with NATO.

MANCHESTER ATTACK – On Thursday, the Manchester Police arrested two suspects in connection with Mondays night terror attack, taking the number of arrests to 8. Another woman suspected of having been involved in the attack was released without being indicted. We recall that a blast on Manchester Arena on Monday killed 22 people and injured more than 110, being claimed by the Islamic State terrorist organization. On Tuesday, British authorities identified the suspect as being 22-year-old Salman Abedi, a Lybian-born British national born in Manchester. According to Home Secretary Amber Rudd, Abedi was on the British intelligence services list of suspects and most likely did not act alone.

EXERCISE – Four thousand military, heavy equipment and helicopter gunships will be deployed to the Cincu shooting range in central Romania, to take part in one of the biggest NATO military exercises in recent years. The troops are part of NATOs Very High Readiness Joint Task Force. The main aim is defending Romania as part of emergency interventions on the Alliances eastern flank. Joining Romanian troops will be military from Great Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Poland, Norway, Albania and Bulgaria.

IMF – Romanian economy will report a 4.2% growth rate in 2017, with fiscal relaxation likely to affect market trust, reads an IMF report made public on Thursday. The international lender has hailed the progress Romania has made in reducing economic imbalances, after the financial global crisis, mentioning however that Romania should reorient its policies from boosting consumption towards supporting investors. IMF believes that fiscal relaxation, doubled by growing political tension in Romania, might affect consumption and investment. On the other hand, the unified pay scale bill, currently under debate in Parliament, as well as the latest tax cuts, pose certain risks to the budget deficit, which the IMF expects to stand at 3,7% this year. The report is based on the talks IMF officials had with Bucharest authorities in March.

STRIKE – On May 30th, air traffic controllers in Romania will start an indefinite all-out strike, the president of the Air Traffic Services Trade Union Gabriel Tudorache announced on Thursday. He said that during the strike, at least one third of the planes transiting Romanias air space will be guided, which is some 3,000 planes per day. On May 12th, air traffic controllers held a 2 hour warning strike, and dozens of planes were delayed upon taking off from and landing on the Henri Coanda airport in Bucharest. They are unhappy with the lack of a new collective employment agreement and that employment has been frozen, particularly since, after the conflict in Ukraine, the number of planes flying through Romanias airspace has increased significantly.

ASCENSION DAY – Orthodox, Greek-Catholic and Roman-Catholic believers in Romania on Thursday celebrated the Ascension of Christ. According to Christian beliefs, 40 days after Resurrection, Lord Jesus departed from Earth into the presence of God from the Mount of Olives, telling his disciples to remain in Jerusalem until the coming of the Holy Spirit. Since 1920, when, after WWI, all Romanian historical provinces united under Bucharests authority, Ascension Day has been celebrated alongside Heroes Day. On Thursday at noon, church bells were rung in all Orthodox churches across Romania to honour the memory of those who gave their lives for the Romanian people, their faith and country, and the names of the soldiers killed in WWI were solemnly read out in most garrisons which also hosted military and religious ceremonies.

FOOTBALL – English giants Manchester United have for the first time won the Europa League Trophy. Wednesday night, in the final hosted by the city of Stockholm in Sweden, Manchester United grabbed a 2-nil win against their Dutch challengers Ajax Amsterdam. The Europa League final was played ahead of the Champions League final, scheduled for June 3 in Cardiff, where Spanish giants Real Madrid will take on the no less famous Italian contenders Juventus FC. This coming Saturday in the town of Ploiesti, southern Romanian team Astra Giurgiu for the first time ever is pitted against FC Voluntari, in Romanian Cup Final. Also as an absolute first, the domestic championship title went to FC Viitorul, a team from south-eastern Romanias Constanta. The team was founded in 2009 by the former great Romanian footballer Gheorghe Hagi. The League Cup, a competition exclusively created for first-tier teams, went to Dinamo Bucharest. In the final, Dinamo defeated Poli Timisoara 2-nil.