Download Turkish foreign minister has said that Turkey would

CYPRUS/SYRIA
Syria and Cyprus sign nine agreements
15:12:53
Syria and Cyprus have signed nine agreements and memorandums of understanding as well
as cooperation programmes in all domains.
The signed four agreements are on air services, social insurance, coordination in fields of
search and rescue and cooperation in field of ICT.
While the two memos are signed in the fields of protecting environment and sport.
The two states also sealed an executive program on cultural cooperation for the years 20092010-2011, and another program in the field of agriculture for the year 2009-2010, as well as
the 7th protocol for implementing tourist cooperation agreement from 2009 to 2011.
The above mentioned agreements, memos and programs are sealed by Ministers of Tourism,
Agriculture, Labour and Social Affairs, Culture, Transport, Telecommunication and Local
Administration, and Chairman of the General Sport Federation (GSF)'s Temporary
Committee from the Syrian side.
The Cypriot side who signed the documents are: Telecommunication Minister and Secretary
General of the Cypriot National Olympic Committee.
Earlier, the Cypriot businessmen expressed will to carry out investment projects in Syria and
to increase commercial exchange between the two states.
In a meeting with Deputy Premier for Economic Affairs and Ministers of Tourism, Economy
and Industry, the Cypriot businessmen stressed their country's interest in investment in the
fields of textile, building, tourism and alternative power.
It is worth noting that the joint Syrian-Cypriot Businessmen committee works to strengthen
the joint economic relations.
http://sns.sy/sns/?path=news/read/4473
CYPRUS/TURKEY
Cyprus irrevocable principle of Turkey's foreign policy: FM
Turkish foreign minister has said that Turkey would always be together with Turkish
Cypriots.
Tuesday, 01 September 2009 14:24
Turkish foreign minister, who is currently paying an official visit to the Turkish Republic of
Northern Cyprus (TRNC), has said that Turkey would always be together with Turkish
Cypriots.
Speaking prior to his gathering with Turkish Cypriot Foreign Minister Huseyin Ozgurgun in
Lefkosa on Tuesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that he would have
comprehensive meetings in TRNC before the second round of the peace talks in the island
started.
Expressing Turkey's support to TRNC, Davutoglu said, "this is an irrevocable principle of
Turkey's foreign policy and it will continue to be so".
Davutoglu said Turkey supported the ongoing negotiation process in the island and added
that the latest situation in the peace talks would be discussed in a detailed way during his
meetings with Turkish Cypriot officials.
Delivering a speech before the meeting, Ozgurgun said that TRNC was proud with Turkey's
policy regarding Cyprus and its region.
Prior to his talks with Ozgurgun, Davutoglu also got together with Cyprus Turkish Peace
Forces Gen. Hilmi Akin Zorlu. The meeting was closed to press.
http://www.worldbulletin.net/news_detail.php?id=46672
GREECE
Greece: Deputy quits, conservatives in poll slump
2009-09-01 02:01 AM
A prominent conservative lawmaker is resigning his seat in the Greed Parliament in
the latest setback for the ruling party.
Veteran trade unionist Yiannis Manolis quit Monday, saying he's disappointed with
the party's performance and a string of recent financial scandals.
Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis' conservatives have 151 seats in the 300-member
parliament. Manolis will be replaced by another conservative without a new
election.
Two weekend opinion polls showed a six percentage point lead for the opposition
Socialists, who won European Parliament elections in June.
The surveys were conducted after massive wildfires that razed 80 square miles (210
square kilometers) outside Athens, which prompted widespread criticism of the
government.
http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1045757&lang=eng_news
Farmers ring alarm bells for government
Tuesday September 1, 2009
Livestock farmers ring a variety of different-sized bells to draw attention to their demands
during a protest yesterday at the junction at the Vale of Tempe on the Athens-Thessaloniki
national highway. The breeders called off their action after the government promised them a
40-million-euro support package.
http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_0_01/09/2009_110315
GREECE/MACEDONIA
Greek veto on Macedonia’s EU membership becomes more real, says Antonio Milososki
1 September 2009 | 14:35 | FOCUS News Agency
Skopje. Greece’s position on the name dispute with Macedonia gets firmer. This means that
chances for Greece to block Macedonia’s membership in the European Union become more
credible, Macedonian Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki said, cited by the Vecer
newspaper.
In a commentary for Reuters news agency, Milososki remarked that the only shift in Greece’s
attitude is to the worse.
“They have toughened their position. We are concerned of a possibility of a second Greek
blockade related to our opening EU accession talks,” Milososki said.
http://www.focus-fen.net/?id=n192871
ROMANIA
IMF earmarks Romania 1.4bln dlrs in SDR programmes
1 Septembrie 2009
Romania will get 908.8 million SDR (roughly 1.4 billion dollars) to supplement its forex
reserves, as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) decided on Friday, Aug. 28 to boost the
member states’ reserves by allocating Special Drawing Rights worth the equivalent of about
250 billion dollars, the international lender said on its Web site.
The SDR is an international reserve asset, created by the IMF in 1969 to supplement its
member countries’ official reserves. Its value is based on a basket of four key international
currencies (the dollar, British pound, Japanese yen and euro), and SDRs can be exchanged for
freely usable currencies.
The IMF will implement on Sept. 9 a special allocation of about 33 billion dollars, with the
total amount to go up to 283 billion dollars.
The SDR allocation will boost the IMF member states’ reserves as it can be changed into
various currencies such as the dollar, euro, yen or British pound by voluntary commercial
agreements with other IMF members.
The equivalent of nearly 100 billion dollars of the money allocated by the IMF on Friday will
go to emerging markets and developing countries, and over 20 billion dollars to low-income
countries.
For these countries, the SDR allocation gives them potential access to the unconditional
financial resources that can limit the need of adjustments by contracting policies and allow a
greater freedom for the stabilization policies amid the recession and rising unemployment,
the IMF said.
The SDR allocation is a key part of our response to the global crisis and it is a prime example
of the quick multilateral response to the financial crisis.
The low-income IMF countries will significantly benefit from the SDR allocation, said
Caroline Atkinson, Director of the External Relations Department at the IMF.
Romania has agreed a two-year loan with the IMF worth 12.95 billion euros, with the total
outside financing package including the money from the IMF, the European Union, the
World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development totalling 19.95
billion euros.
http://www.financiarul.ro/2009/09/01/imf-earmarks-romania-14bln-dlrs-in-sdr-programmes/
Romanian GDP, consumption contract in Q2
09.01.09, 04:30 AM EDT
BUCHAREST, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Romania's domestic consumption shrivelled by 12 percent
in the second quarter, while investment dropped by a quarter as the impact of the global crisis
deepened, statistics office data showed on Tuesday. The office has also revised the economic
contraction figure for April-June to 8.7 percent from 8.8 percent.
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/afx/2009/09/01/afx6835124.html
Romania to lobby for agriculture commissioner
Published: Tuesday 1 September 2009
Despite uncertainty over the number of commissioners in the next EU executive, which stems
from the as yet unfinished ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, Romania has announced that it
will propose a former agriculture minister as its next commissioner. EurActiv Romania
reports.
Dacian Cioloş (pronounced Dachian Chiolosh) is Romania's candidate for the post of
agriculture commissioner, the country's foreign minister, Cristian Diaconescu, announced in a
radio interview yesterday (31 August).
"We had a meeting today of the government coalition […] and the decision was taken that we
can make official the candidacy of Mr. Dacian Cioloş, former agriculture minister, for
commissioner responsible for agriculture," Diaconescu stated.
Diaconescu admitted it would be difficult to obtain the agriculture portfolio, seen as one of
the EU's most important, but said Romania would mobilise all its political and diplomatic
resources to achieve the goal.
The present agriculture commissioner, Danish liberal Mariann Fischer Boel, is expected to
stand down (see EurActiv LinksDossier on the new European Commission).
The Romanian foreign minister added that as soon as the next Commission president had
been elected - by the second half of September - Romania would send him or her an official
letter proposing Cioloş for the position. He said the Swedish EU Presidency had told him that
the full list of commissioners, to be approved by the European Parliament, should be ready by
25-26 October.
Forty-year-old Dacian Cioloş served as minister of agriculture between October 2007 and
December 2008 in the government of Calin Popescu Tariceanu. Having studied agriculture in
Romania and in France, he has worked for the Commission representation in Bucharest for
several years as an agriculture expert. At present, Cioloş chairs the agriculture commission, a
consultative body, under the president of Romania. He speaks French and English.
Asked if Cioloş was sufficiently well-known in Brussels to take up such a position,
Diaconescu said only that "it is important that the Romanian candidate obtains the support of
major political groups in the European Parliament". Cioloş has no party affiliation.
http://www.euractiv.com/en/future-eu/romania-lobby-agriculture-commissioner/article185006
ROMANIA/MOLDOVA
Romania is waiting for a sign of normal diplomatic relations from the authorities in
Moldova before designating a new ambassador
de Anne-Marie Blajan, transl/adapt. C.B. HotNews.ro
Marţi, 1 septembrie 2009, 13:51 English | Regional Europe
"Despite the tensions created artificially in the relationship with the Republic of
Moldova, Romania's policy of cooperation and support for this country's European
integration remains unchanged", Romanian Foreign Affairs minister Cristian
Diaconescu declared during the Romanian diplomats’ assembly. Romania is waiting for
a new signal from Chisinau, Moldova's capital, for a normal direction of the bi-lateral
relations before it designates a new ambassador.
The Romanian Foreign Affairs minister added that "the positive evolutions from the last days
from Chisinau indicate significant progress for democratic stability that Moldova's citizens
need". The new Romanian ambassador in Chisinau will be chosen after a dialog with the
diplomats from Chisinau. A normal relationship unfolds on the "European cooperation
platform" and sees the national interests of both countries Diaconescu said.
The minister insisted on Romania's supporting Moldova into the EU and mentioned a bigger
involvement from Brussels in Moldova through financial assistance. Diaconescu believes that
Moldova's development can be supported both by Moscow and Brussels.
A new border treaty could possibly be requested by the new Moldavian authorities and
Romania would not refuse it, but like any other document, it is negotiable. "Romania never
rejected a governmental document meant to better a very good relationship. Our hope is that
the Government in Chisinau will understand this", minister Diaconescu concluded.
http://english.hotnews.ro/stiri-regional_europe-6100003-romania-waiting-for-sign-normaldiplomatic-relations-from-the-authorities-moldova-before-designating-new-ambassador.htm
SLOVENIA
Slovenian Recovery Hinges on Spending, Krizanic Says (Update2)
Sept. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Slovenian government spending and demand from western Europe
will aid economic recovery next year after the Balkan state tumbled into the deepest
contraction in the euro region, Finance Minister Franc Krizanic said.
Gross domestic product in the first eastern European country to adopt the euro slumped 9.3
percent last quarter from a year earlier, after an 8.3 percent decline in the first. Grounds for
optimism appeared in 0.7 percent quarterly growth in the period, compared with 0.3 percent
in Germany and France.
“As conditions improve in our trading partners they will also improve in Slovenia and at a
faster pace,” Krizanic, 54, said in an Aug. 30 interview at a conference in the resort of Bled.
“The government has taken so many measures, so state spending will boost growth as we
have secured more investment.”
Prime Minister Borut Pahor will spend about 15 percent of GDP this year to bolster growth,
anticipating a full-year contraction of 4 percent. His administration also announced the sale of
about $5.7 billion in Eurobonds and a 1.2 billion-euro ($1.7 billion) guarantee to help
exporters such as appliance maker Gorenje Group d.d. and Renault SA’s Slovenian unit.
Exports from Slovenia, like other countries that joined the European Union since 2004, are
key to recovery, with sales abroad accounting for two-thirds of the nation’s output.
Slumping Output
The global economic crisis hurt the region because lack of demand for eastern goods dried
up. Industrial production in Slovenia declined in 11 out of the last 13 months, plunging an
annual 22.3 percent in June.
“Investments and exports have suffered the most during the crisis,” Krizanic said. “And
exports will be pretty quick to recover and then we will see a pick-up in investment activity.”
The economy may expand 1 percent next year, the government forecasting institute says.
The institute will lower its previous forecast for a 4 percent contraction this year, Director
Bostjan Vasle said yesterdays.
“Slovenia is among the countries that have most forcefully acted with steps against the crisis
and this will definitely have an impact,” Krizanic said.
Germany, the destination of a fifth of Slovenia’s exports, unexpectedly emerged from its
worst post-war recession after four quarters of contraction because of government measures
amounting to about 85 billion euros, including subsidies to consumers to scrap their old cars
with new ones.
Incentives
The incentives helped Revoz d.d., Renault’s Slovenian unit and the country’s biggest
exporter, to hire people and retain orders for smaller cars such as the Clio II and Twingo
models.
Orders at Gorenje Group d.d., the second-largest exporter, will also increase in the coming
months, Chief Executive Office Franjo Bobinac said on Aug. 25.
Krizanic said he doesn’t think the government will sell more debt beyond three sales already
announced. The state will raise 1.5 billion euros in Eurobonds with a maturity of 15 years, a
banker involved in the transaction told Bloomberg today. The notes will be priced to yield 80
basis points more than the benchmark mid-swap rate with initial guidance of 85 basis points,
the banker said. Slovenia completed two sales of a combined 2.5 billion euros in January and
March.
“The money raised this time won’t be spent to cover this year’s deficit, but will be allocated
to strengthen financial markets,” Krizanic said. “With the third issue, we will break another
wall in getting capital markets back to normal and this trend will be followed by banks and
bigger companies.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Boris Cerni in Ljubljana, Slovenia, at
[email protected]
Last Updated: September 1, 2009 05:48 EDT
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=a6DRoaBoIjZo
SLOVENIA/CROATIA/AUSTRIA
Spindelegger criticizes Slovenia´s blockade of Croatia´s EU accession negotiations
Tuesday, 1st September, 2009
Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger has criticized Slovenia for blocking
Croatia’s EU accession negotiations.
Spindelegger sees it as an illogical move in regard to a neighbouring country and one that
will have negative consequences.
In an interview in the Vienna daily Die Presse yesterday (Mon), Spindelegger said: "It seems
to me illogical that one EU member state would block negotiations with a potential EU
member state that is also a neighbouring country.
"Placing a bilateral border dispute on the European level is very problematic because it
delays Croatia’s admission to the European Union and harms the European perspective of the
region," he said.
He also noted Austria had often demonstrated its readiness to help Croatia accede to the
European Union.
http://www.hic.hr/english/