June 4, 2014

For a roundup of domestic and international news, click here.

Ştefan Stoica, 04.06.2014, 12:00

ARREST — National Anti-corruption Prosecutors have detained the director of the Agency for Payments and Intervention in Agriculture Dorel Benu and the head of the Suceava Police Department as part of a corruption case involving the misuse of EU funds. Benu faces corruption allegations in some 240 court cases, referring to illegal subsidies granted to natural and legal persons, as well as to certain parishes and monasteries. A total of 20 people are currently being investigated.

MEETING — US president Barack Obama on Wednesday is meeting in Warsaw with his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko. On Tuesday Obama expressed his country’s support for Ukraine, particularly at economic level, and has called on Moscow to use its influence to pacify pro-Russian separatists in Eastern Ukraine. The White House leader also expressed his country’s commitment to guaranteeing the security of its allies in Eastern Europe. Obama said he would ask Congress to disburse 1 billion dollars to deploy new troops in the region. The developments in Ukraine will also rank high on the agenda of the G7 summit, which is due to start on Wednesday evening in Brussels. This will be the first summit after Russia was excluded from G8 and the G8 summit in Sochi was cancelled.

UKRAINE — Kiev authorities are considering the possibility of declaring martial law in the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, where the army has mounted a strong counter-offensive against pro-Russian separatists. Two Ukrainian military were killed and another 45 wounded in clashes over the last 24 hours, a Ukrainian official involved in the operation has announced. The offensive continues on Wednesday near Slaviansk, a hotbed of pro-Russian separatism. In another development, forces loyal to the self-proclaimed Republic of Luhansk have occupied a military base in this city.

IMF MISSION TO BUCHAREST — Talks continue in Bucharest between Romanian authorities and the joint delegation of the IMF, the European Commission and the World Bank, which is in Bucharest on a new mission to assess Romania’s standby agreement concluded with these institutions last autumn. IMF representatives yesterday discussed technicalities at the Finance Ministry and met with National Bank officials. Talks focused on monetary policy, inflation and the stability of the banking sector. IMF officials also met with the members of the joint parliamentary budget and finance committees. The main topic of interest was the Government’s intention to cut back 5% on employers’ social security contributions, as well as means of implementing this measure without increasing the budget deficit.

ELECTIONS — The presidential elections in Damascus came to a close on Tuesday, with the final results expected to be made public on Thursday. Current president Bashar al-Assad is expected to win by a large margin, despite the three years of ongoing civil war, the BBC reports. Described as a hoax by the opposition, the election was harshly criticized by Western powers. Syria has entered its fourth year of civil war, which has so far killed over 160,000 people and forced nearly 10 million people, tantamount to half of the country’s population, into exile.

REPORT — Romania reported a 3.8% economic growth in the first three months of the year, up by 0.1% as compared to the last quarter of 2013, recent data made public by the National Institute of Statistics read. Industry had the largest contribution to the increase of the country’s GDP, accounting to 2.3%. According to the report, constructions, financial mediation services, insurance brokerage, professional activities and administrative services have had a negative impact on the evolution of the gross domestic product.

TENNIS — Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, ranked 4th in WTA standings, is today playing Svetlana Kuznetsova in the quarterfinals of the Roland Garros tournament in Paris. Halep has two wins and two losses against the Russian player. In the event of a victory, the Romanian player will play either Sara Errani of Italy or Andrea Petkovich of Germany in the semi-finals. In the doubles event, the pair made up of Florin Mergea and Marin Draganja of Croatia will play Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez of Spain.

FOOTBALL MATCH — Romania’s football team is tonight playing Algeria in a friendly match in Geneva, Switzerland. Algeria will play at the forthcoming World Cup to be held in Brazil. This will be the last friendly match played by Romania ahead of the 2016 European Championship qualifiers. In a friendly match on Friday, Romania outperformed Albania 1-nil.