January 7, 2015
A roundup of Romanian and international news
România Internațional, 07.01.2015, 00:00
Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis has invited parliamentary parties to consultations on defence funding on January 12th. According to the presidency, talks will focus on the conclusion of a political agreement on a minimum 2% of the GDP to be allocated to the Defence Ministry in 2017. The Romanian president has called on all leading politicians, both in the ruling coalition and in opposition, to assume that goal for at least 10 years. Iohannis believes that predictability in military spending will thus be ensured, mainly in terms of training and strategic equipping programmes. Romania must be a regional security provider, not only a beneficiary of the alliance system we are part of, the president said.
The National Bank of Romania has today decided to reduce the monetary policy interest rate from 2.75% to 2.5% as from January 8th. The National Bank has also decided to maintain the current level of compulsory minimum reserves applicable to bank liabilities in hard currency and lei at 14% and 10% respectively. The Central Bank has also decided on an adequate management of liquidities in the banking system. In November 2014, the National Bank reduced the annual monetary policy interest rate by 0.25 percentage points to 2.75%.
Christians today celebrate St. John the Baptist, the last prophet of the Old Testament. He baptized Jesus Christ in the River Jordan and introduced him as the expected Messiah. Nearly two million people celebrate their name day on St. John’s Day. Also today, Old Rite Orthodox Christians, Russians, Ukrainians, Armenians and Serbs, and all those observing the Julian calendar, celebrate Christmas, 13 days after Christmas in the Gregorian calendar. The Old Rite Orthodox Church broke away in the early 20th century, when the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople decided to shift from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian one.
Latvia, one of the first Baltic states to join the EU after the break up of the USSR, has taken over the EU half yearly presidency. Its priorities include economic growth and the creation of new jobs in the EU, the management of the Greek economic crisis and issues related to energy security. In terms of foreign policy, Latvia has announced that its objective is the normalization of relations with Russia. Furthermore, the Latvian presidency recognizes the importance of the EU enlargement process and will try to make progress in the ongoing negotiations with Serbia, Montenegro and Turkey.
In London, German chancellor Angela Merkel today has talks with British Prime Minister David Cameron on the latter’s plan to renegotiate Britain’s relationship with the EU, FP reports. Mrs. Merkel’s visit comes four months before the parliamentary elections in Great Britain. If he wins the elections, Cameron has promised to hold a referendum on the country’s EU membership, by the end of 2017. The two officials will also address bilateral issues and issues pertaining to European policies and to the preparation for the G7 summit scheduled in Bavaria, southern Germany on June 7th and 8th.
The USA on Tuesday condemned a strike by Libyan aircraft that on Sunday bombed an oil tanker off the Islamist-held port of Derna, killing two crew members, including a Romanian. According to the Libyan army, quoted by FP, the crew of Araevo refused to stop for checks on its cargo. Romania has asked for the clarification of the incident. In another development, Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu and Federica Mogherini, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, had a phone talk agreeing on the need for the EU to get actively involved in the international efforts for the stabilization and normalization of the situation in Libya, where chaos has been reported since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in 2011. The country is at the discretion of rival militias that the central authorities fail to disarm.
At least 30 people have today been killed and 50 injured by a car bomb blast outside the Police Academy in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, security officials say. Another bloody attack was reported in Sanaa on October 9th 2014, when an Al Qaeda suicide bomber detonated a bomb during a meeting of the Houthi Shiite group, killing at least 47 people. The situation in Yemen remains unsettled after a number of anti-government protests triggered the ousting of president Ali Abdallah Saleh in 2011.
No 3 in the world standings, Romanian Simona Halep has today qualified for the quarterfinals of the WTA tournament in Shenzhen, China, with prize money of 500,000 dollars. In the eighth finals, Halep defeated 584-seeded Russian Natalia Vihlianteva. Halep already has got a cheque of 8,934 dollars and 60 WTA points. In the quarterfinals, she will meet Serbian Aleksandra Krunic, who beat Slovak Anna Schmiedlova.
