Radio România Internațional

Tag: loan agreement

  • October 12, 2015

    October 12, 2015

    The National Executive Committee of the largest party in the ruling coalition in Romania, the Social Democratic Party, is analysing today the results of yesterdays vote in which Liviu Dragnea was elected party president. This is for the first time that the Social Democrats have not elected their leader in a congress, but through an internal vote in which all the roughly 530,000 party members were invited to take part. The Committee will also decide today on the partys leadership structure, whose members will be elected in a special congress scheduled for Sunday, October 18. Also today, registrations begin for executive president, vice-president, secretary general and other positions in the party.



    The Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu takes part today in Luxemburg in a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council. According to a news release issued by the Romanian Foreign Ministry, the participants will exchange opinions on a political agreement concerning the formation of a national union government in Libya and its implications for the future of that country, and will analyse the situation in Syria. The topic of migration will also be approached, ahead of the Summit in Valletta (Malta), which will take place in November 2015.



    A technical mission of the International Monetary Fund is expected to arrive this week in Romania. Next years public budgets as well as a possible new agreement with the Fund will be the main topics on the agenda of talks. The visit comes after the IMF recently upgraded its estimates on the Romanian economy. The GDP is expected to go up 3.4% this year and 3.9% in 2016. Last month, Romanias fourth consecutive agreement with the IMF came to an end. The stand-by loan deal amounted to 2 billion euros, but Bucharest has not used the funds. The Finance Minister Eugen Teordorovici said recently that Romania will officially apply for a new loan agreement with the IMF.



    Romanian, American, Bulgarian and Ukrainian troops are taking part, between October 12 and 15, in military exercises in the Black Sea international waters. Romania takes part with a frigate, a corvette and two MiG 21 LanceR aircraft. The American forces consist in the USS Porter destroyer and a maritime patrol aircraft, while Ukraine and Bulgaria contributed one frigate each. The troops will practice anti-submarine warfare strategies, to test the joint operation capacity at the Black Sea. According to American officials, participation in exercises together with NATO allies, Romania included, is a permanent mission of the US Sixth Fleet.



    The Nobel in Economic Sciences, to be awarded today in Stockholm, concludes this years award ceremonies. The main highlights were the granting of the Nobel Prize in Literature to the Belarusian writer Svetlana Alexievich and of the Nobel Prize for Peace to several organisations having facilitated the democratic transition in Tunisia. Unlike in previous years, none of the economists on the list of nominees is seen as having bigger chances to win than the others. Last year Jean Tirole of France was awarded the Nobel for his analysis on market power and regulation.



    The twin blasts in Ankara, the bloodiest attack ever committed in Turkey, killed at least 97 people, according to a new report released by the authorities and quoted by France Presse. The blasts took place near the central railway station in the Turkish capital city, where people had gathered for a protest against the clashes between the Turkish government and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The two suicide attackers were men, and identification operations are underway. The attack came 3 weeks ahead of the early legislative elections of November 1. On Saturday and Sunday, demonstrations were held in several Turkish cities against violence and terrorism. The participants criticised the government for flawed security measures.



    Most of Romanias eastern part is subject to a code yellow alert for heavy rainfalls and strong wind, valid until tonight. The bad weather has already caused problems in the north-east of the country, where snowfalls have been reported and several towns and villages experienced power outings. Hydrologists warn that floods may be reported in several counties in the south and east. Meanwhile in Bucharest, the noon reading was 7 degrees Celsius.



    Romanias football team has qualified in the final tournament of the European Championship, due next year in France. In their last game in preliminary Group F, the Romanians beat the Faroe Islands 3-0, away from home, on Sunday night. The last time Romania took part in a European final tournament was in 2008. Group F also included Northern Ireland, which won the group stage and also qualified for the final tournament, Finland, Greece and Faroe Islands. So far 16 out of the 24 participants in the final tournament are known.

  • October 7, 2015 UPDATE

    October 7, 2015 UPDATE


    The Romanian Government on Wednesday approved the bill on the ratification of the agreement under which Romania grants the neighboring Republic of Moldova, the former Soviet republic with a predominantly Romanian-speaking population, a reimbursable loan of 150 million Euros. Prime Minister Victor Ponta voiced hope that Chisinau authorities would speed up the reform process, thus keeping Moldova close to Romania and the EU. He added that, given the scandal triggered by the disappearance of 1 billion dollars from the republics banking system, the IMF had announced it would not negotiate a fresh loan agreement with Chisinau. Romania will disburse the first installment of the loan after the Chisinau Government has informed the Romanian Government about the stage of consultations and negotiations with the Fund.



    Romania can help find a political solution to the crisis in Syria, because its embassy in Damascus is still open, said on Wednesday the US Ambassador to NATO, Douglas Lute. He stressed Bucharests role in the armed coalition against the Islamic State terrorist organization, but also said that the situation in Syria would not be settled by the military. For a peaceful resolution of the conflict, countries like Romania are needed, which have complex ties with the Syrian domestic policy-makers, Lute also said. He also urged Romania to keep helping the international effort to mitigate the effects of the humanitarian crisis in Syria.



    The French president, Francois Hollande, said in Strasbourg on Wednesday that Europe was late in correctly estimating the scale of the tragedy in the Middle East and Africa, which triggered the most dramatic migration crisis in Europe after 1945. Addressing the European Parliament, Hollande drew attention to the risks posed by what he called a total war, unless Europe took action in Syria and in the region. The German Chancellor Angela Merkel too pleaded for the modification of the current asylum-granting procedures in the EU members states, calling them obsolete. That was the first joint French-German speech since November 1989, when president Francois Mitterrand and chancellor Helmut Kohl addressed the MEPs on the end of the Cold War.



    The Knesset Speaker Yuli-Yoel Edelstein stated before the Romanian Chamber of Deputies on Wednesday that he was proud Romania was such a strong ally in his countrys fight against anti-Semitism. He voiced worries about Europes starting to forget about the lessons of the Holocaust. 70 years after the fall of Hitler, 70% of the Jews are still afraid to reveal their religious orientation in public, Edelstein said. The Speaker of the Israeli Parliament is in Bucharest on a visit that will last until the 9th of October. His agenda includes meetings with Romanias president Klaus Iohannis and Senate Speaker Calin Popescu-Tariceanu, as well as with the Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu. On October 8th, he will participate in ceremonies on Holocaust Day.



    The former Agriculture Minister Stelian Fuia, member of the Democratic Party which merged with the National Liberal Party, in the opposition, on Wednesday was sentenced by the Bucharest Court of Appeal to 4 years in prison for corruption. He was charged with office peddling while heading an agricultural research facility in the south of the country. The ruling is not final. Also on Wednesday, the French citizen Bruno Roche, the former director of Apa Nova Bucharest water utility, was placed under legal restrictions for influence buying. He is suspected of having authorized millions of Euro worth of payments to companies owned by Romanian politicians and business people. Moreover, Roche allegedly ordered the tapping of the Apa Nova employees phones, under a contract signed with a specialized company. In this way he made sure the employees would not reveal information that would bring to light the illegalities committed in that company.



    On Tuesday in Leicester, Romanias national rugby team snatched a 17-15 win over Canada in a Pool D confrontation counting towards the 2015 edition of the Rugby World Cup, jointly hosted by England and Wales. The Oak Leaf Knights came from behind and overturned a 15-point deficit, which is the biggest comeback in the World Cup history, according to the competitions official site. Romanias national rugby team has thus secured a chance to seize the third position, should they win this coming Sundays fixture against Italy, which actually means securing a straight qualification for the 2019 edition of the World Cup. We recall Romania has sustained two defeats in Pool D, against Ireland and France.



    The match pitting Romanias national football team against the similar team of Finland is scheduled in Bucharest on Thursday. It is the national teams last-but-one fixture counting towards EURO 2016 preliminaries. In its group, Romania is the runner-up team, one point behind Northern Ireland, while 3rd-placed is Hungary. On Sunday, Romania will be taking on the team of Faeroe Islands, away from home, the last Group D game counting towards the EURO 2016 qualifying campaign.