May 30, 2014 UPDATE

A look at some of the main stories in Romania today

România Internațional, 30.05.2014, 12:15

An International Monetary Fund delegation travels to Bucharest on Monday for a third evaluation of an ongoing stand-by agreement with Romania. Talks focus on eliminating state monopoly in two key economic sectors, namely energy and infrastructure. Also under debate will be a possible 5% reduction in social security contributions paid by employers, as well as stimulus measures for the labour market and tax cuts planned by the finance ministry. Under the present stand-by agreement, the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission are ready to provide Romania 4 billion euros in case of need.

The Foreign Ministry in Bucharest maintains its recommendation for Romanian citizens, including members of the media, to leave Crimea and the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Lugansk as soon as possible. This comes against a dramatic deterioration of the security situation in the area. At the same time, Romanians are discouraged from travelling to these areas, as well as a few more in the north-east, south and south-east.

The Romanian state secretary for European affairs with the foreign ministry George Ciamba has attended an informal meeting of EU ministers and state secretaries for European affairs in Athens. Held on the 29th and 30th of May, the meeting was hosted by the EU Greek presidency. According to a press release by the Romanian foreign ministry, Ciamba emphasised that the European elections in Romania demonstrated the clear pro-European orientation of its citizens, a good foundation for Romania’s active and dynamic participation in the European decision making process and finding a solution to the major European issues.

Romania’s foreign minister Titus Corlatean on Friday met the ambassadors of Asian states in Bucharest. The talks stressed the importance of developing closer ties with Romania’s Asian partners in the political and diplomatic areas, economic trade and interhuman exchange. Special focus was placed on the cooperation between European and Asian states in the Asia-Europe format, where Romania plays an active role in areas such as regional development and water management.

In 2019, Romania will be able to produce more electricity than its internal demand, becoming the second country in the European Union after Denmark to achieve this, said the Romanian minister delegate for energy, Razvan Nicolescu. At the moment, a number of specialists from a number of state institutions are working on a new energy strategy for the period 2014-2020, the first draft of which will be launched for public debate in October. Today, Romania is the third most independent country in the European Union in terms of energy.

In an interview with Radio Romania, Moldova’s foreign minister, Natalia Gherman, said Romania is the most honest and effective partner her country has. She mentioned the assistance granted by Romania for the reform of Moldova’s justice and internal affairs systems, which Moldova needs to join the EU. Natalia Gherman also talked about the 20 million euro loan granted by Romania to its neighbour country for education reform and for building the Iasi-Ungheni gas pipeline, connecting Moldova to the European energy network.

Bucharest plays host until 1 June to the 6th edition of an International Street Theatre Festival entitled B-FIT in the Street, featuring dozens of performances, from giant puppet shows, concerts and light and water shows. Participating are over 200 artists from Romania, Spain, France, Holland, the UK, Slovakia, Belgium, Italy and Australia. At the same time, the western city of Cluj Napoca is hosting the 13th Transylvania International Film festival. Held until the 8th of June, the event brings together 217 films from 55 countries, as well as concerts, exhibitions, master classes, debates and outdoor events.

Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, no. 4 in the world, qualified for the third round at the Roland Garros tennis tournament, after defeating British player Heather Watson. Her next opponent is Spain’s Maria Teresa Torro Flor in the future. Sorana Carstea of Romania, seeded 26th, plays against 6th seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia. In the men’s doubles, the Romanian-Dutch pair Horia Teacau and Jean-Julien Rojer faces the Serbian-Canadian pair Nenad Zimonjic and Daniel Nestor, while the Romanian-Croat pair Florin Mergea and Marin Draganja play against the Russian-Kazakh pair Teimuraz Gabashvili and Mikhail Kukushkin in the 8th finals.

A yellow code alert for heavy rain, gales and hail is in place in Bucharest and almost all counties in Romania until Saturday night, with rainfall expected to reach between 30 and 60 litres per squared metre. A code orange alert has been issued for rivers in 14 counties, mostly in the eastern part of the country. In the rest of the country, several more rivers are under code yellow warning. Several section of the Danube are also under flood warning, such as Braila and Galati, where the river rose above flooding level, but poses no dangers as of yet.