The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a new 2-year Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) with Romania based on the cover letter sent by the Romanian authorities. According to them, the arrangement of approximately EUR2 billion will be treated as precautionary, therefore there's no plan to draw under it, unless there is an extraordinary situation. Romania has also requested a precautionary support from the European Union of EUR2 billion as per an IFM press release....more »

Italy faces a governmental crisis upon five ministers, all members of PdL (the Liberty Party), resigned last Saturday, the 28th of September....more »

Victor Ponta paid an official visit in Ankara yesterday in order to ensure a sustained high-level bilateral dialogue as per the Strategic Partnership Romania and Turkey signed in December  2011.The Romanian Prime Minister was received by his Turkish Counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan whom he assured of Romania's absolute support in the EU integration process....more »

Romanian Prime Minister, Victor Ponta, met several Turkish investors, representatives of companies already operating in the Romanian market, during an official visit in Ankara. Ponta has been asked to support them in receiving state aid under EU regulations that would be helpful in expanding their businesses here in Romania....more »

EU might reintroduce visas for US and Canadian citizens willing to enter EU, in case US and Canada keep the visa-system for citizens of certain Member States, including Romania.EU Parliament has recently voted for changing the EU Regulation regarding visas, setting a reciprocity clause in order to determine US and Canada to waive visas for citizens of Bulgaria, Cyprus, Poland, Czech Republic and Romania....more »

Romania maintains its position towards the issue, considering prudence to be the best approach since there are many Romanian citizens living in Syria. Although there have been registered several consular requests for repatriation, most of Romanians in Syria refuse to leave the country despite the warnings the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has sent. 'Why prudence? Because there have been about 20 consular operations requests today (September 2nd) at our Embassy in Damascus. There were 18 consular assistance requests on Sunday. Right now a repatriation for 19 Romanian citizens is being prepared. We have a problem related to the Romanian citizens' presence there in Syria.' explains President Traian Basescu....more »

European Parliament adopted a resolution on September 12 asking Russia to respect the policy options of former USSR countries, including Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. The pressure Russia has put against these countries by recently threatening them with coercive measures results from the efforts the former Soviet states made to get closer to EU by joining the ‘Eastern Partnership’....more »

Romanian Prime Minister, Victor Ponta asked for the Parliament's agreement in order for the Government to conclude another arrangement with IMF (International Monetary Fund) and European Commission for EUR4 billion. Ponta expects this arrangement to be the last one: 'I wish that this arrangement would be the last one to be concluded by Romania. I believe that after the 2009 crisis, Romania is in a fiscal recovery period and I wish that in about 2 years we can really say that Romania has no need of any arrangement with international financial institutions.'...more »