The Week in Review 29.06- 05.07.2015
Click here for the past week's highlights
România Internațional, 04.07.2015, 14:03
NATO Centre in Bucharest
NATO is strong with Romania and Romania is strong within NATO, said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday. The NATO official attended in Bucharest the opening of the headquarters of the first of two allied command and control centres to operate in Bucharest. According to Romanias president Klaus Iohannis, the unit will officially become operational in September. The structure will accommodate 42 NATO officers and will be led by a Romanian commander. By the end of the year, similar centres will also become operational in Bulgaria, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. These command centres are part of efforts to consolidate the Alliances eastern flank, following Russias aggressive actions. Jens Stoltenberg said in Bucharest that these are defensive, not confrontational structures, adding that NATO will do whatever is necessary to maintain the security of and defend all its allies against possible threats. During his visit to Bucharest, apart from talks with president Klaus Iohannis, Jens Stoltenberg also met the interim prime minister Gabriel Oprea and the countrys defence and foreign ministers, Mircea Dusa and Bogdan Aurescu, respectively.
The new director of the Romanian Foreign Intelligence Service
Mihai Razvan Ungureanu is again the head of Romanias Foreign Intelligence Service, following the resignation last winter of Teodor Melescanu, who stepped down to be able to run for president. A historian and diplomat, Ungureanu also acted as foreign minister between 2004 and 2007 and as director of the Foreign Intelligence Service between 2007 and 2012, as well as serving a short stint as prime minister for three months, in 2012. All these posts, which he held while Traian Basescu was still president, earned him the antipathy of the Social Democrats, who saw him as an ally of their number one political adversary. This explains why the Social Democrats and their allies, the Alliance of the Liberals and Democrats for Europe, boycotted Parliaments vote to approve his appointment. With 278 yes and 6 no votes, Ungureanu still secured enough votes to win the nomination. He was supported by the National Liberal Party, the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania and, much to the Social Democrats surprise, by their junior partner in the ruling coalition, the National Union for the Progress of Romania. Romanians expect the institutions with security responsibilities to work together to combat corruption and consolidate the rule of law and democracy, said Mihai Razvan Ungureanu.
Romania and the economic and financial crisis in Greece
Ahead of Sundays referendum in Greece, Romanias president Klaus Iohannis said ways should be sought to find a solution to the crisis. He said that unless a solution was found, the difficult situation facing Greece would also affect Romania, the European Union and NATO. The National Bank governor Mugur Isarescu again called for calm and urged people who have deposited money in banks with Greek capital in Romania not to respond emotionally and withdraw their deposits. He explained that the banks in question are safe, well-capitalised and subject to National Bank regulations, not Greeces decisions. In case of panic, he said the National Bank was ready to step in and make use of all available instruments. On the other hand, while there is no comparison between Romania and Greece, as the former stands on solid financial and banking ground, the Greek crisis calls for a serious consideration of Romanias relationship with the International Monetary Fund and the European Union, which, in Isarescus opinion, should continue in different forms.
While some prices rise, others go down as of July 1st
The price of natural gas for individual consumers went up on July 1st by around 11% to reach 60 lei per megawatt per hour. The National Agency for Energy Regulation approved the rise in keeping with a government decision and the new timetable for price deregulation agreed with the European Commission. The Agency says the gas delivered to individual consumers will not rise again this year, because there will be no additional costs to meet demand during the cold season as compared with the previous years. On the other hand, starting on July 1st, the minimum gross wage in Romania stands at 1,050 lei, the equivalent of 233 euros. Also, subsidised medicine became cheaper as of July 1st.
The 2015 baccalaureate exam
Almost 169,000 high school graduates entered the summer sitting of the baccalaureate examination in Romania, 7,000 more than last year. The preliminary results will be released on July 6th. After all applications for a formal recheck are solved, the final examination results will be published on 10th of July. For the first time this year, written tests given as part of the baccalaureate exam are scored in other counties than where the exam was taken. While some say this will eliminate favouritism, others have criticised the measure as a waste of time and money.
