October 7, 2015 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news ...
Bogdan Matei, 07.10.2015, 12:15
The Romanian Government on Wednesday approved the bill on the ratification of the agreement under which Romania grants the neighboring Republic of Moldova, the former Soviet republic with a predominantly Romanian-speaking population, a reimbursable loan of 150 million Euros. Prime Minister Victor Ponta voiced hope that Chisinau authorities would speed up the reform process, thus keeping Moldova close to Romania and the EU. He added that, given the scandal triggered by the disappearance of 1 billion dollars from the republics banking system, the IMF had announced it would not negotiate a fresh loan agreement with Chisinau. Romania will disburse the first installment of the loan after the Chisinau Government has informed the Romanian Government about the stage of consultations and negotiations with the Fund.
Romania can help find a political solution to the crisis in Syria, because its embassy in Damascus is still open, said on Wednesday the US Ambassador to NATO, Douglas Lute. He stressed Bucharests role in the armed coalition against the Islamic State terrorist organization, but also said that the situation in Syria would not be settled by the military. For a peaceful resolution of the conflict, countries like Romania are needed, which have complex ties with the Syrian domestic policy-makers, Lute also said. He also urged Romania to keep helping the international effort to mitigate the effects of the humanitarian crisis in Syria.
The French president, Francois Hollande, said in Strasbourg on Wednesday that Europe was late in correctly estimating the scale of the tragedy in the Middle East and Africa, which triggered the most dramatic migration crisis in Europe after 1945. Addressing the European Parliament, Hollande drew attention to the risks posed by what he called a total war, unless Europe took action in Syria and in the region. The German Chancellor Angela Merkel too pleaded for the modification of the current asylum-granting procedures in the EU members states, calling them obsolete. That was the first joint French-German speech since November 1989, when president Francois Mitterrand and chancellor Helmut Kohl addressed the MEPs on the end of the Cold War.
The Knesset Speaker Yuli-Yoel Edelstein stated before the Romanian Chamber of Deputies on Wednesday that he was proud Romania was such a strong ally in his countrys fight against anti-Semitism. He voiced worries about Europes starting to forget about the lessons of the Holocaust. 70 years after the fall of Hitler, 70% of the Jews are still afraid to reveal their religious orientation in public, Edelstein said. The Speaker of the Israeli Parliament is in Bucharest on a visit that will last until the 9th of October. His agenda includes meetings with Romanias president Klaus Iohannis and Senate Speaker Calin Popescu-Tariceanu, as well as with the Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu. On October 8th, he will participate in ceremonies on Holocaust Day.
The former Agriculture Minister Stelian Fuia, member of the Democratic Party which merged with the National Liberal Party, in the opposition, on Wednesday was sentenced by the Bucharest Court of Appeal to 4 years in prison for corruption. He was charged with office peddling while heading an agricultural research facility in the south of the country. The ruling is not final. Also on Wednesday, the French citizen Bruno Roche, the former director of Apa Nova Bucharest water utility, was placed under legal restrictions for influence buying. He is suspected of having authorized millions of Euro worth of payments to companies owned by Romanian politicians and business people. Moreover, Roche allegedly ordered the tapping of the Apa Nova employees phones, under a contract signed with a specialized company. In this way he made sure the employees would not reveal information that would bring to light the illegalities committed in that company.
On Tuesday in Leicester, Romanias national rugby team snatched a 17-15 win over Canada in a Pool D confrontation counting towards the 2015 edition of the Rugby World Cup, jointly hosted by England and Wales. The Oak Leaf Knights came from behind and overturned a 15-point deficit, which is the biggest comeback in the World Cup history, according to the competitions official site. Romanias national rugby team has thus secured a chance to seize the third position, should they win this coming Sundays fixture against Italy, which actually means securing a straight qualification for the 2019 edition of the World Cup. We recall Romania has sustained two defeats in Pool D, against Ireland and France.
The match pitting Romanias national football team against the similar team of Finland is scheduled in Bucharest on Thursday. It is the national teams last-but-one fixture counting towards EURO 2016 preliminaries. In its group, Romania is the runner-up team, one point behind Northern Ireland, while 3rd-placed is Hungary. On Sunday, Romania will be taking on the team of Faeroe Islands, away from home, the last Group D game counting towards the EURO 2016 qualifying campaign.
