Ponta

Prime Minister Victor Ponta on Friday said the plane crash in Ukraine is a terrible tragedy and the culprits will have to be found as soon as possible and punished.

AGERPRES special correspondent Daniel Florea reports: Romania will offer all the possible support so that the Serbian administrative apparatus can learn as fast as possible European procedures, however it is more important that the two neighboring countries develop as quickly as possible joint infrastructure projects, such as the development of a freeway or highway between Timisoa

Prime Minister Victor Ponta on Wednesday called on privately owned companies in Romania to enter partnerships with the Romanian educational system, underscoring that Romania's vocational training has been restarted by modifying the relevant legislation.

In relation to his talks on Monday with President Traian Basescu on cuts in social security contributions (CAS), Prime Minister Victor Ponta on Tuesday said that what generated an understanding problem there was not the term MTO mentioned by Basescu, but the English accent of the President, adding that he knows precisely what Romania's obligations are.

Prime Minister Victor Ponta on Monday said that he does not want the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR), minor at rule, to pull out of the Government, and that he talked with UDMR national leader Kelemen Hunor and Foreign Minister Titus Corlatean to find a solution.

Prime Minister Victor Ponta on Sunday wrote on his wall on the social networking site Facebook that it was very hard for him two years ago, when President Basescu was suspended by the Parliament, to accept that the vote given by the Romanians in the 2012 referendum was ignored.

Prime Minister Victor Ponta on Wednesday said that data released by the National Statistics Institute (INS) attest to Romania's economic growth of nearly 4 per cent, and the negative impact for the last quarter of the year following cuts in the social security contributions (CAS) is fully covered.

U.S. Charge D'Affaires ad interim in Bucharest Duane Butcher on Monday thanked Romania and the Romanian troops for a job well done in Afghanistan.

Premier Victor Ponta said on Sunday in Kandahar, where he attended the ceremony marking the start of the withdrawal of Romanian troops from Afghanistan, that Romania is now a safer country and a partner well-respected by NATO allies thanks to the sacrifice and bravery of the Romanian troops who went on missions in this theater of operations.

The Prime Minister and national leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) Victor Ponta on Wednesday evening stated that the new political entity to result form a merger of the National Liberal Party (PNL) and the Democratic Liberal Party (PDL) will have Traian Basescu as its new leader, after this autumn's presidential election.