May 26, 2015
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 26.05.2015, 12:01
Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta is attending the summit of the South-East European Cooperation Process hosted by the Albanian capital Tirana. The main topics on the agenda of talks are regional developments and the European prospects of the Western Balkan countries. According to a communiqué issued by the Romanian Government, Victor Ponta will stress how important the consolidation of the regional cooperation process is to Romania and will reassert this country’s support for the continuation of the EU’s enlargement process, on the basis of the fulfillment of the accession criteria. The Prime Minister is accompanied by the Foreign Affairs Minister Bogdan Aurescu. Albania is currently holding the presidency of the process. The participating countries are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Macedonia, the Republic of Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey and Kosovo.
IMF and EC representatives are today concluding their technical assessment mission to Bucharest. The current financial program under assessment is due to end this autumn. The talks have mainly focused on the changes brought to the Fiscal Code and the economic measures to be implemented starting January 1st, 2016. On Monday, the experts held talks with Prime Minister Victor Ponta and Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici, on the impact that the reduction of fees and taxes would have on the state budget. The government insists that Romania needs fiscal relaxation, which was also acknowledged by the international financiers. The latter, however, want guarantees that the budget deficit targets set by the Romanian Government are maintained. The delegation will return to Bucharest in late June, for a full assessment of the running agreement.
750 Romanian, Bulgarian and American soldiers are participating in south-eastern Romania in the annual training module part of an international training exercise. In parallel, by May 28th, over 1,500 soldiers from Canada, Great Britain, Romania and the US are taking part in the ‘Trident Poseidon 2015’ exercise, held in Romania’s territorial waters and the international waters of the Black Sea. The exercise is aimed at strengthening interoperability among the NATO forces, as well as at boosting cooperation among agencies in Romania, against the current difficult security background. As part of this exercise, on May 27th the port of Constanta will play host to an evacuation simulation targeting non-combatants from a conflict area.
According to a release issued by the Romanian Cultural Institute, Brussels is today hosting a debate on the Republic of Moldova’s European prospects. The event has brought together experts from research institutes, members of the European Parliament, European diplomats and representatives of the Moldovan mission with the EU, in the aftermath of the recent Eastern Partnership Summit in Riga, whose aim was to bring Europe closer to the six former members of the USSR. We recall that last year Chisinau concluded association and free-trade agreements with the EU, whose member it hopes to become in 2020.
The performance staged by the Odeon Theatre in Bucharest, “For Sale”, directed by Gianina Carbunariu, has got the award for best performance in 2014, granted by the Theatre Union in Romania, UNITER. In the best director category, the award went to Victor Ioan Frunza for the performance “Furniture and Pain”, staged at the ‘Nicolae Balcescu’ UNESCO Cultural Center in Bucharest. The best leading actor award went to Vlad Ivanov for his role in “The Good Person of Szechwan”, after Brecht, by the Bulandra Theatre in Bucharest, and the award for best leading actress went to Anca Hanu, for her part of Amalia in the show “Breathe Deep, Amalia”, staged at the National Theatre in Cluj-Napoca.
Romanian tennis player Andreea Mitu, who is participating in the Roland Garros tournament for the first time, will play against the 12th WTA ranked Czech Karolina Pliskova in the second round of the Grand Slam tournament. The other three Romanians who made it to the second round also know who they will be playing against. Simona Halep, ranking 3rd in the WTA classification, will take on the Croat Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, Irina Begu will play against another Croat, Ana Konjuh, and Alexandra Dulgheru will take on the French Alize Cornet. Monica Niculescu did not manage to get to the second round, as she was defeated by the Spanish Carla Suarez Navarro.
