May 28, 2015

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România Internațional, 28.05.2015, 12:00

Romanian Energy Minister Andrei Gerea will today be holding a meeting with the miners who as of yesterday have been staging a protest rally in front of the Hunedoara Energy Compound, as well as with the company’s management. Miners bemoan the government’s intention to split the compound into a mining and a power division. Miners have also called on the authorities to come up with a feasible plan for the recovery of the Compound. The government yesterday greenlighted a state aid for the Hunedoara Energy Compound, accounting for almost 40 mn Euro. Prime Minister Victor Ponta has stated a solution must be found for the company to be rescued and for the required restructuring to be implemented.

One person has died in the flooding caused by the last two days’ heavy downpours which have affected seven of Romania’s counties. In the country’s northern, north-western and central regions, rainfalls reached 50-60 liters per square meter and flooded hundreds of households, thousands of hectares of farmland, communal roads, bridges and footbridges. Dozens of people have been evacuated and several schools have been closed. Weather forecast services have extended until tomorrow afternoon the code red alert for flooding, for a river crossing two counties in the north. Countrywide, it is unseasonably cold with overcast skies and rainfalls reported for most of the regions. The highs of the day range from 13 to 22 degrees Celsius, with a noon reading in Bucharest standing at 15 degrees.

Romanian tennis players Irina Begu and Andreea Mitu will today be playing their games in the second round of the Grand Slam tournament in Roland Garros. WTA 30th-placed Begu will be taking on Croatia’s 94-th ranked Ana Konjuh, while Andreea Mitu, ranking 100th will be facing WTA 12-th-placed Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic. We recall that surprisingly enough the third favorite to winning the tournament Simona Halep was edged out of the competition, and so was another Romanian, Alexandra Dulgheru. In the men’s doubles, favorites number five to winning the tournament, the Romanian-Dutch pair made of Horia Tecau and Jean Julien Rojer will be facing the all-American couple made of Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey. In the first round of the women’s doubles, the Romanian-Slovakian pair made of Alexandra Dulgheru and Magdalena Rybarikova are pitted against Mona Barthel and Mandy Minella of Germany and Luxembourg, respectively, while the Romanian-Czech pair made of Elena Bogdan and Vladimira Uhlirova will be taking on the all-French pair made of Stephanie Foretz and Amandine Hesse. In the mixed doubles’ version of the Roland Garros tournament, the Romanian–Dutch pair made of Florin Mergea and Michaella Krajicek in the inaugural round, will be facing favourites number three to winning the competition, the Russian-Serbian pair made of Elena Vesnina and Nenad Zimonjici.

Romania’s Foreign Affairs Minister Bogdan Aurescu in Strasbourg will be taking part in the Council of Europe meeting. High on the Romanian Foreign Minster’s agenda are meetings with the Council of Europe’s’ Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland, with Council of Europe’s Human Rights Commissioner Nils Muiznieks and with the Venice Commission Secretary Thomas Merkert. At the World Meeting of the National Societies for International Law, Bogdan Aurescu promoted Romania’s initiative regarding the foundation of an International Court against Terrorism. Aurescu emphasized that the rule of law and international justice were universal values requiring appropriate tools, such as international courts and tribunals. Aurescu also pointed to the fact that terrorism was a challenge requiring global-level action, with the law and the judicial system to be used accordingly.

Romania has retained its 47th place among the world’s most competitive economies rankings, according to the annual report released by Lausanne’s Management and Development Institute. Romania is ahead of Slovenia, Greece and Bulgaria, but has been outclassed by Slovakia, Russia, Turkey and Poland, The USA boast the world’s most competitive economy, outclassing Hong Kong, Singapore, Switzerland, Canada, Luxembourg, Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Germany. The aforementioned survey has been released each year beginning 1989 and uses almost 350 criteria to place under scrutiny the competitiveness of economies worldwide. This year, the survey includes 61 countries. Economic indicators are broken down into four categories, economic performance, government efficiency, infrastructure, as well as business efficiency.