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| THE WEEK IN REVIEW 09/07/2010 |
| (2010-07-09) |
| Last updated: 2010-07-12 16:14 EET |
For close to three weeks now, weather experts and hydrologists have repeatedly issued alerts for heavy rainfall, storms and flooding. The most affected area is the southern part of the country, where waters killed 25 people, destroyed thousands of homes and caused massive damage. These days, all eyes are set on the Danube. Several parts of the river on Romanian territory, have been under high alert this week, after the Danube flow rate has already exceeded historic highs. Authorities and experts have taken measures to control the damage, which included the controlled flooding of certain areas and the construction of additional protection dams. Military personnel, gendarmes and volunteers have taken part in the works. European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, Kristalina Georgieva, on Friday visited the disaster-stricken areas in Galati County. She discussed with prime minister Emil Boc and interior minister Vasile Blaga about the losses caused by the devastating floods and about Romania's request for aid from the European Union Solidarity Fund. Belgium, Austria, Estonia, France, Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria have already offered aid to Romania.
July 5th was a dark day for the Romanian Army. 12 sailors and airmen were killed and two seriously injured in a plane crash, which occurred on the Tuzla airfield, on the Romanian Black Sea coast. An Antonov 2 aircraft caught fire minutes after takeoff. There were 4 crew and 10 members of the navy and air force on board, taking part in a training mission. This is the worst plane crash in Romania, after the crash of an Airbus which killed 61 people, in a town near Bucharest, in 1995.
The IMF has released this week the 5th payment, worth 913 million euros, of the loan that Romania contracted last spring. The IMF said that authorities in Bucharest have made important steps in reestablishing macroeconomic stability and adjusting imbalances. The release of the new payment came after the executive in Bucharest adopted a severe austerity plan, in a bid to reduce the budget deficit to 6.85%. This includes a 25% decrease of state salaries, the increase of the VAT from 19 to 24%, a tax rate of 16% on food stamps and holiday vouchers, as well as that of redundancy payments, copyright payments and interest rates for bank deposits. More than 900 million euros entered the National Bank treasury, in order to boost currency reserves. We recall that Romania has signed a stand-by agreement with the IMF, the EU and the World Bank for a 20-billion Euro loan, in order to fight the economic crisis it faces. The IMF has also approved the revision of the inflation target for this year, from 3.5 to 8%, after the rise in the VAT.
Over Monday and Tuesday, Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Baconschi paid a formal visit to Seoul for discussions with his South-Korean counterpart, Yu Myung-hwan. High on the agenda were the development of trade relations, cooperation in the field of energy and infrastructure and within international organizations, as well as the latest developments in the Korean peninsula. The two officials have signed a joint action plan for the implementation of the Strategic Partnership Declaration. In September 2008, during the formal visit paid to Seoul by president Traian Basescu, Korea became Romania’s first strategic partner in Asia-Pacific.
On Friday, Romania inaugurated two new consulates in the Republic of Moldova, in the towns of Balti and Cahul. The investment stood at two million euros, of which 90% out of non-reimbursable European funds. Foreign minister, Teodor Baconschi jointly with his Moldovan counterpart, Iurie Leanca participated in the opening of the consulate in Balti. Romania politically supports the liberalization of the visa regime for the Moldovan citizens in the EU, Baconschi said. The Romanian official underlined the opening of new consulates became a necessity; particularly after the small cross-border trade accord had come into effect. Bucharest introduced visas for the Moldovan citizens, after Romania’s EU accession in 2007.
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