June 25, 2014

A look at some of the main stories in Romania today.

România Internațional, 25.06.2014, 12:00

Romania’s Parliament has today passed a declaration calling on president Traian Basescu to resign, following his brother’s involvement in a file of influence peddling and corruption. The declaration passed with 344 votes for, in the absence of the MPs of the Liberal Democratic Party and the People’s Movement Party says that Traian Basescu is no longer entitled to ensure the presidency’s prestige, moral integrity and legitimacy. The MPs of the left majority made up of the Social-Democratic Party, the Conservative Party and the National Union for the Progress of Romania, as well as those of the populist Dan Diaconescu Party of the People have stood for the president’s resignation. The declaration passed by Parliament has no legal value. Prior to the parliamentary session, president Basescu said he would not resign since he had not intervened in his brother’s file and was not responsible for his deeds.

Bucharest today hosts the summit of the South-East European Cooperation Process states. Romania holds the rotating presidency of that structure. European Commissioner for Enlargement Stefan Fule and the secretary general of the Regional Cooperation Council, Goran Svilanovic are attending the summit along with delegates of the 12 member countries in the region. Bucharest aims to synchronize the actions carried out within that structure with the efforts of South-East European states for European and Euro-Atlantic integration.

Romanian Foreign Minister Titus Corlatean is attending the NATO foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels, the last of the kind before the summit due in Great Britain on September 4th and 5th 2014. A meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission and a meeting of NATO with non-NATO members contributing to the operations in Afghanistan are also held on that occasion. High on the agenda are the assessment of the latest security developments in Ukraine, the consolidation of collective defense, NATO’s relations with Ukraine, the deepening of transatlantic cooperation, NATO enlargement and its relations with Russia. The spokesperson for NATO on Tuesday said that Moscow’s decision to give up using its troops on Ukrainian territory was a first step forward towards settling the Ukrainian crisis.

NATO has called on Russia to withdraw its troops and military technology from its border with Ukraine and support the implementation of the peace plan initiated by Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko. In Moscow, the Federation Council has today cancelled its resolution of March 1st 2014 allowing president Vladimir Putin to use the armed forces of the Russian Federation on Ukrainian territory. The voting took place after president Putin had called on the Federation Council to do that so as to contribute to settling the conflict in Eastern Ukraine. The Russian leader has also called for the ceasefire enacted by Ukraine expiring on Friday morning to be extended and to be used for negotiations on the matter between the rulers in Kiev and representatives of Eastern Ukraine.

The first American military advisers of some 300 meant to aid the Iraqi government troops fight against Sunni insurgents have started their mission in Bagdad, the Pentagon has announced. Their main task is to assess the Iraqi troops, without however fighting with the rebels, who have mounted a quick offensive in the North in the last couple of weeks. According to the UN, over 1000 people were killed in Iraq over June 5th-22nd. Sunni insurgents led by the radical Islamic State group in Iraq and Levant have mounted a vast offensive seizing several cities, including the second largest city of Mosul and are now 100 km far from Baghdad.

Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, the no. 3 seed, has qualified for the second round of the singles contest at the Wimbledon tournament, the third Grand Slam tournament of the year, after defeating Brazilian Teliana Pereira 6-2, 6-2. The third favourite player of the tournament, Halep will meet Ukrainian Lesia Turenko. Romanian Irina Begu beat French Virginie Razzano 1-6, 6-4, 7-5 also qualifying for the second round. Another three Romanian players, Alexandra Cadantu, Sorana Carstea and Monica Niculescu have been eliminated in the first round. In the men’s singles, Victor Hanescu lost to Czech Tomas Berdych.