July 1, 2015 UPDATE
A roundup of local and international news
Newsroom, 01.07.2015, 17:00
The European Commission said on Wednesday that whatever
happens in Greece, the eurozone can weather it, while also confirming that it
received a new proposal from Athens that will form the basis of negotiations. The
Greek government, which defaulted on Tuesday on its 1.5 billion euro repayment,
sent a letter to its international creditors, requesting a new funding
agreement under the European Stability Mechanism. The request was analysed by
the eurozone finance ministers, who decided to wait for the result of the
referendum before holding new talks with Athens. As of July 1st,
Greece no longer has access to international funds after five months of failed
negotiations. Greece’s prime minister Alexis Tsipras again called on the Greek
people to vote NO in Sunday’s referendum on the bailout terms.
The Romanian government on Wednesday
approved the new timetable for the liberalisation of the price of natural gas
produced domestically for individual consumers and thermal energy producers.
The fees for private consumers rose by 6.5 lei (the equivalent of 1.4 euros) as
of July 1st, to reach 60 lei megawatt/hour. This price rise was part
of a calendar agreed with the European Commission. Under a new timetable spread
out over three years, gas prices are to grow by 60 lei per year by 2020. Energy
minister Andrei Gerea says the initial timeframe was much tougher on the
population. As part of its 2011 agreements with the International Monetary Fund
and the European Commission, Romania committed to gradually deregulate its
natural gas prices. In another development, the minimum gross wage in Romania
stands at around 233 euros (1,050 lei).
For two days, Bucharest played host to the Media 2020-
Bringing Media to the Future Conference organised by Radio Romania together
with the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union. This was the first major encounter
between broadcasters in the Asia-Pacific region and Europe. The participants,
important players in the media industry, experts, presidents of public
broadcasters, presenters of digital platforms and important media figures in
the European and Asia-Pacific broadcasting, focused on the way in which the
media, in particular radio broadcasting, will develop in the next five years.
Romania’s foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu, who attended the conference, said
the media is often called the watch
dog of democracy and in the present geopolitical context, especially in our
close neighbourhoods, with security crises in many places but also with
extremist tendencies rising, it is crucial that the press is aware of this
important role.
In the first
five months of the year, 3.1 million foreign nationals entered Romania, 12%
more compared with the same period last year, according to a report by the
National Statistics Institute published on Wednesday based on data provided by
border check points. 93% of the foreign visitors came from Europe, 60% of whom
from EU member countries. As regards the number of Romanian nationals
travelling abroad, 5 million Romanian citizens were registered at border
crossing points, 9% more than in the first five months of the year.
US president Barack Obama
announced the formal restoration of diplomatic ties with Cuba after more than
50 years of tension, heralding a new chapter in US-Cuban relations. The two
states severed diplomatic ties in 1961. Last December, US president Barack
Obama and the Cuban leader Raul Castro announced the start of a historic
process aimed at normalising ties between their countries. In May this year,
the US formally dropped Cuba from a list of states sponsor of terrorism.
A record number of 137,000 immigrants crossed the
Mediterranean in dangerous conditions in the first half of 2015, most of them
fleeing from conflict in their countries. This accounts for an increase of 83%
compared with the first half of 2014, the United Nations announced on
Wednesday. Europe is facing an unprecedented crisis, warns the Office of the UN
High Commissioner for Refugees. Most of the immigrants are escaping war,
conflict and persecution. One third of the men, women and children who arrived
in Greece and Italy by sea this year come from Syria, a country devastated by
war since 2011. According to the United Nations, the number of people who died
this year trying to cross the Mediterranean stands at 1,867, of whom 1,308 in
April alone.
29th
seed Irina Begu of Romania qualified to the third round at Wimbledon, after a
three set victory against Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine. Another Romanian tennis
player, Monica Niculescu, has made it to the second round, after winning
against Monica Puig of Puerto Rico. There, she will meet the Slovakian player
Iana Cepelova, no. 106 in the world, who pulled a surprising win against Romania’s
Simona Halep, the third seed at Wimbledon this year. Begu and Niculescu are the
only Romanian players still in the single’s competition. In the men’s doubles,
the Romanian-Dutch pair Horia Tecau and Jean-Julien Rojer, seeded fourth,
qualified for the second round after 9 minutes of play as their rivals, Martin
Klizan and Lukas Rosol withdrew from the tournament.
58 Romanian athletes are taking part in the World
University Games that got under way on Wednesday in Gwangju City, South Korea. They compete in the following sports:
athletics, handball, judo, table tennis, shooting and taekwondo. More than
20,000 athletes from 170 different countries are taking part in the Summer
Universiade. Last Sunday saw the closing of the European Games in Baku, where
Romania won three gold, five silver and four bronze medals to occupy the 17th
position in the team ranking.
