September 10, 2014 UPDATE
For a roundup of domestic and international news, click here.
Florentin Căpitănescu, 10.09.2014, 12:05
EUROPEAN COMMISSION — European Commission president Elect Jean-Claude Junker on Wednesday released the list of new commissioners and their jobs for the next five years. One member of the new team is Romanian Social-Democrat MEP Corina Cretu, who got the regional policy portfolio. Former French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici got the Economic Affairs portfolio, British Jonathan Hill took over as EU Commissioner for Financial Services, while Gunther Oettinger is the new EU Commissioner for Digital Economy. The new European executive will include seven vice-presidents in order to coordinate EU priorities. According to France Press news agency, the agenda of Junker’s new executive will focus on five major points: economic growth and combating unemployment, the Ukrainian crisis and international conflicts, relations with the UK, the trade agreement with the US, which is currently being negotiated, and finally energy and climate issues. Following Wednesday’s official announcement, the European Parliament’s relevant committees will be hearing the candidates and cast their votes. Heads of state and government are also expected to give their opinion, while the new executive will become operational as of November 1.
UKRAINE — The situation in southeastern Ukraine has changed radically after the enforcement of the cease-fire agreement concluded on Friday, the Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has stated. He has said that the separatist region will remain part of Ukraine, which has made no concession with regard to its territorial integrity. A rebel spokesman, was quoted by France Press as saying though that the separatists want their territory to be independent, not part of Ukraine. In Moscow, the president of the upper chamber of Parliament, Valentina Matvienko, has said that peace will settle in Ukraine only when the claims of the south-eastern region have been incorporated into the country’s legislation. In another development, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has announced that as of next month it will use drones to monitor the ceasefire in Eastern Ukraine.
SANCTIONS — The EU is going to decide whether fresh sanctions will be imposed on Russia. The 28 EU ambassadors are supposed to analyse an assessment of the implementation of the cease-fire agreement concluded on Friday between Kiev and the pro-Russian rebels. Sanctions should have been enforced starting on Monday, when they were officially adopted, but, according to France Press the member states, many of which are worried about the negative effects of such sanctions on their own economies, may need more time to think about it. Austria, Sweden, Cyprus and Germany are among the countries that have stood against an immediate enforcement of the sanctions.
VISIT — US Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday praised the new Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi’s plans of reconstructing the army and starting large-scale political reforms. During his visit to Baghdad, aimed at supporting Abadi’s Cabinet in its fight against Islamic State terrorists, at least 19 people were killed in the Iraqi capital in a double car bomb attack. Baghdad was the first stop of Kerry’s tour of the Middle East, aimed at consolidating a coalition made up of 30 nations whose purpose is to combat radical jihadists, currently in control of large areas in Iraq and Syria. The new government in Iraq was also hailed by the Romanian Foreign Ministry.
