A look at the headline-grabbing events this past week
IMF recommendations for Romania
The International Monetary Fund recommends a balanced mix of monetary and fiscal policies and support for investment, so that Romania may be able to uphold the growth pace reported last year. An IMF mission visited Bucharest this week. Fund officials met with Prime Minister Viorica Dancila, highlighting the need to step up tax collection and maintain public spending within sustainable limits. The Prime Minister said the economic and fiscal measures adopted by the Government are viable, estimating an economic growth of 6.1%, mostly based on investments made with EU funds. For nearly two weeks the IMF made a comprehensive analysis of Romania's economy, a process that must be seen through every year in every EU Member State that has no ongoing agreement with the IMF. Fund officials met with authorities, representatives of political parties, trade unions, business associations, academia and banks.
Fickle weather across the country
The heavy rainfall and the massive snow meltdown triggered by the unexpectedly soaring temperatures across the country have caused a rise in the flow of several rivers in Romania. According to the Interior Ministry, floods affected dozens of villages in various areas, the most serious of which were reported in central Romania. Line Minister Carmen Dan went to personally ascertain the damages, trying to convince the locals to leave their homes until the danger has passed.
Regional meetings in Bucharest
Romania's Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu received his Bulgarian and Greek counterparts in Bucharest, Ekaterina Zaharieva and Nikos Kotzias, respectively. The three held talks during the "Romania-Bulgaria-Greece" trilateral meeting and discussed issues of strategic regional relevance, such as the developments in the Western Balkans, the eastern neighbourhood, the Black Sea area, the Danube Strategy and the prospects of the Middle East peace process . The three ministers agreed that community funds are grounded on the principle of European solidarity, and that the future EU budget should be balanced and not sacrifice subsidies to agriculture and cohesion. Also this week Bucharest hosted a meeting of NATO Defense Ministers from nine former communist states. The Ministers agreed that NATO's eastern flank must be consolidated. Romania's Defense Minister Mihai Fifor said allied presence is robust alongside NATO's entire eastern flank, both in the northeast, in the Baltic States, as well as in the southeast, in Romania and the Black Sea region. Bucharest and Warsaw are the engine of the so-called B9 Initiative, which also comprises Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Hungary. The Foreign Ministers of the nine countries wanted to reach a common approach ahead of the NATO Summit scheduled to take place in Brussels in July.
Solidarity with the United Kingdom
In a message launched on Wednesday, the Romanian Foreign Ministry has expressed solidarity with the United Kingdom and firmly condemns the use of a military-grade nerve agent on the territory of an Allied state. The reaction comes after British Prime Minister Theresa May has said Moscow was guilty of the poisoning, in south-western Great Britain, of the former Russian double agent Serghei Skripal, of his daughter and of a British police officer. Many voices of the international community have deemed Skripal's poisoning as a severe breach of international norms and agreements on chemical weapons.
A unionist wave is sweeping the Republic of Moldova
The number of communes and towns in the Republic of Moldova (a former Soviet state with a predominantly Romanian speaking population) where mayors and local councils have adopted symbolical declarations stating their wish to reunite with Romania has reached 120. These local leaders as well as all those supporting the reunification idea are expected in Chishinau this month, to attend a big people's assembly to mark 100 years since Bessarabia united with Romania. Initiated by the Alliance for the Centennial Anniversary, made up of civic organisations from the Republic of Moldova, Romania and the diaspora, the meeting is meant to reiterate their confidence that the Union is the only solution to restoring historical truth, joining the EU and NATO, to ensuring welfare and freedom. A province with a majority Romanian-speaking population and part of the Tsarist Empire, Bessarabia united with Romania in the wake of WW I, on March 27, 1918. The Soviet Union re-annexed it, in 1940, following an ultimatum, and on part of its territory, the current Republic of Moldova was set up.
Romanian books in Germany
20 years on, since it was honorary guest of the International Book Fair in Leipzig, in eastern Germany, Romania has again enjoyed this status, this week. One of the oldest events of its kind in the world, which promotes reading, has brought together over 2,500 exhibitors from 48 countries. Visitors had the chance to meet Romanian writers who are already well known in the German-speaking area such as Nora Iuga, Mircea Cărtărescu, Norman Manea and Filip Florian, as well as budding writers like Lavinia Branişte and Bogdan-Alexandru Stănescu.Over 40 translations from Romanian literature, most of them supported by the National Book Centre with the Romanian Cultural Institute have been promoted.
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