Foreign Minister Comanescu: Romania stays resolutely engaged in Nabucco project

Romania is and stays resolutely engaged in turning to reality the project of the Nabucco gas pipeline, which is Europe's most important project for gas supply from alternative sources, Romanian Foreign Minister Lazar Comanescu declared on Friday (Nov 14) at the Energy Summit in Baku, Azerbaijan.

"We have positive signals about Nabucco, from partners interested in the project, which strengthen our confidence in its robustness and economic viability," remarked Minister Comanescu, cited in a release of the Romanian Foreign Ministry (MAE).

Lazar Comanescu headed the Romanian delegation to the Energy Summit in Baku, an event attended by the Presidents of Poland, Lithuania, Georgia, Ukraine and Turkey, the Prime Ministers of Estonia and Hungary, European Commissioner Energy Andris Piebalgs and the US Secretary of Energy, other EU ministers and government officials from the Pontic and Caspian regions.

Talks focused on the development of regional cooperation and the energy transit corridor linking the Caspian Sea to Europe, by the promotion of projects for the diversification of hydrocarbon sources and transport routes.

The Nabucco gas pipeline, which is supposed to run from the Caspian Sea to Europe, crossing Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria, is a project aimed at reducing European dependence on Russian giant Gazprom.
Nabucco is planned to be 3,300-kilometre (2,050-mile) long and transport 31 billion cubic metres of gas to the energy-hungry EU from the Middle East and Asia so as to reduce the bloc's reliance on Russian supplies.

The construction is scheduled to begin in 2009, with the completion date set for 2013, yet the final decision on the construction of the pipeline is due this year and provided that works begin in 2008/2009, gas might start flowing through the pipeline in 2012.

The Nabucco project was initiated by five energy companies: OMV (Austria), MOL (Hungary), Botas (Turkey), Bulgargaz (Bulgaria) and Transgaz (Romania). Germany"s RWE joined later as the sixth partner to the project that should supply gas from alternative sources in Azerbaijan, Iran, Iraq, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan.

Romania to facilitate Armenia-EU action plan implementation

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said the whole scope of the Armenian-Romanian relations was discussed during the meeting with his visiting Romanian counterpart Lazar Comanescu.

“We discussed bilateral relations, specifically economic cooperation, regional issues and the ways to resolve of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict,” he told a news conference today.

For his part, Minister Comanescu said that Romania, as a member of EU and NATO, can facilitate implementation of the Armenia-EU action plan.

“To date, Armenia and Romania are developing bilateral economic cooperation within the BSEC,” he said.

EU woman of the year hailed by parliament president

Parliament´s president has hailed the winner of the 2008 "European Woman of the Year" competition as a "great symbol for women everywhere".

Romanian anti-corruption campaigner Monica Macovei saw off competition from 11 other women to land the award, the aim of which is to encourage the involvement of women in European affairs.

Macovei, an ex-minister of justice in Romania, currently works for the UK government as a consultant on justice reforms in EU candidate countries.

But it was her efforts in rooting out political corruption in her own country which won her the plaudits of an international jury, including MEPs Andrew Duff and Gerard Onesta.

Presenting her with the award, a gold broche, Pottering said she and the other candidates were a "symbol and model for women everywhere" and that she could be proud of her achievements.

He said the EU was making efforts to promote gender equality but more was needed, particularly by the EU institutions.

Macovei described the award as a "great honour" and praised the other candidates who came from 11 different countries.

Dedicating the prize to "all Romanians who believe in the rule of law", she said, "Tackling corruption has been the most challenging thing in my life but I will continue because I believe in zero corruption."

Each of the 12 shortlisted candidates was given five minutes to make a presentation to the jury in parliament on Wednesday.

This list was reduced to three candidates, who included Macovei, Lithuanian journalist Zuokiene Agne, who has campaigned for children´s rights, and academic Saulle Maria Rita, a judge on Italy´s constitutional court,who was listed for her work in promoting human rights.

Macovei told the jury that tackling corruption in Romania had been a "very, very challenging and difficult" task, not least because the country's politicians and top officials used to enjoy "virtual" immunity from prosecution.

French politician Nicole Fontaine, a former president of parliament, praised the "high quality" of the candidates, saying, "They are all outstanding and amazing women and picking a winner has been very difficult."

Her comments were echoed by Duff, who said,"It was an interesting selection and a fair reflection of the contribution made by talented women across Europe."

He pointed out that the plans he has put forward for transnational lists for next year's European elections emphasise the importance of gender equality.

Onesta, a vice president of parliament, said, "The fact that one of the candidates is the only female among the 15 judges on Italy's constitutional court illustrates the scale of the gender problem."

The award has been given each year since 1987 by the International Association for the Promotion of Women in Europe. The jury consisted of MEPs, journalists, NGO representatives and academics.

Romania's trade deficit after Q3 increased by 12.5 percent to €16.93 billion

During the first nine months of 2008, Romania's trade deficit increased by 12.5 percent y.o.y. to reach €16.93 billion even though the exports dynamic exceeded the imports, Romania's National Statistics Institute reports. The exports' advance was 18.3% up to €25.58 billion while imports increased by 15.9 percent to €42.51 billion.

Fitch downgraded Romania's country rating

The financial rating company, Fitch, downgraded Romania's country rating for the long term foreign currency credits from BBB to BB+ and for the long term national currency credits from BBB+ to BBB-, a press release shows.

According to the document, the decision reflects the fears of the agency regarding the local macro-economic policies and the ability of the government to avoid a severe financial and economic crisis. Moreover, Fitch downgraded the rating for short term foreign currency credits from F3 to B and decreased Romania's ceiling from A minus to BBB.

Romania's rating was BBB which was two steps over the junk category and the country's rating was negative. Critics against Romania's economic policies were rejected by local authorities who declared that Romania does not need help from IMF.