May 31, 2014 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news
România Internațional, 31.05.2014, 19:41
Romanian President Traian Basescu on Saturday received his Royal Highness Prince Charles of Wales, whom he thanked for the friendship that benefited Romania and the Romanian people for years now. Prince Charles was awarded the title of Doctor Honoris Causa of Bucharest University. On the occasion he underlined the importance of maintaining and preserving traditional values. The heir to the British throne has just ended his private visit to Romania, where he owns several houses in several villages in Transylvania. During his visit Prince Charles has met with villagers from Valea Zalanului, an isolated village in Covasna, Transylvania, where he owns a mansion, and also visited the city of Brasov. The mansion was refurbished and Prince Charles goes there on a regular basis. Very much interested in the preservation of historical monuments, in particular those in Transylvania, Prince Charles is involved in a program for the rehabilitation of several Saxon villages established in the 12th century, some of which are on UNESCO’s heritage list.
An IMF delegation is expected in Bucharest on Monday for the third assessment of the stand-by agreement with Romania. The international experts will meet authorities as well as representatives of political parties, trade unions and banks. The agenda of talks includes topics such as a potential 5% reduction of the employers’ contribution to the social security fund, as well as means to boost employment and reduce taxation. We recall that the current precautionary agreement that Romania has concluded with the IMF and the European Commission is worth 4 billion Euros.
Crin Antonescu, the interim president of the National Liberal Party, the main center — right opposition party in Romania, announced on Saturday he would not run for the presidential elections due this autumn. Antonescu also said he gave up the office of interim party president as well, following the poor results scored by liberals at the European Parliament elections. After the elections, the National Liberal Party and the Liberal democratic Party decided to merge and have just one candidate for the presidential race.
On Saturday, Ukraine accused Russia of launching a propaganda campaign to justify the “aggression” in the east of the country, an area devastated by a pro-Russian separatist insurrection, and to undermine the legitimacy of the new pro-West president Petro Porosenko. This past week the government forces have intensified their offensive against the pro-Russian separatists in the east of Ukraina. Ukrainian military forces have rejected an attack by the pro-Russian militias at a border check point in the region of Lugansk. In another move, NATO has stated that Russia has pulled out almost two thirds of its troops deployed on the border with Ukraine. The NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has announced that a NATO — Russia council will be held in Brussels on Monday.
The US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Saturday accused Beijing of carrying out unilateral and destabilizing actions in the East China Sea and has warned that the US will not stay aside if world peace is threatened. Attending in Singapore a forum on security in the Asia-Pacific region, he called on China to play a more active and constructive role in the conflict in the Korean Peninsula, in order to protect the region from Pyong Yang’s destabilizing provocations. Washington has recently warned Beijing over the tensions in the international air space after Chinese fighters threatened Japanese warplanes above the East China Sea, a region that is being disputed by the two Asian countries.
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, continues in Romania’s capital Bucharest. Participating are over 200 artists from Romania, Spain, France, Holland, the UK, Slovakia, Belgium, Italy and Australia. Among the special performances to be hosted by the festival is the light and water show staged by Aquatique Show International and a special rendering of “Hamlet”, by the famous London based theatre Shakespeare’s Globe, which is on a world tour, celebrating 450 years since the birth of the great British playwright William Shakespeare.
Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, ranked 4th in the WTA classification, on Saturday defeated 6-3, 6-love the Spanish player Maria Teresa Torro Floor, in the third round of the Roland Gaross open, the second Grand Slam tournament this year. In the next game Halep will meet the American Sloane Stephens.
