Son of Romania's 'King of the Gipsies' set to marry his fiancée

The son of Romania's 'King of Gipsies' is getting ready to marry his fiancée as she turns 18 later this year - and the couple already have twins together. Dorin Cioaba, 44 has announced that his son Bogdan, 20, will marry girlfriend Andreea as soon as she comes of age. According to Romanian media, 500 guests have already been told to expect an invitation to the ceremony, despite no firm date being set. It is anticipated that the wedding will take place in the Transylvanian city of Sibiu in central Romania sometime in the autumn. The ceremony will likely be timed mark the one year anniversary of the death of the former 'King of Gipsies' Florin Cioaba, who is Bogdan's grandfather. Florin, who proclaimed himself 'King of Roma Everywhere', died on 18 August 2013 of cardiac arrest at the Akdeniz University in Antalya in Turkey.

It is expected that his two great-grandchildren, Bogdan and Andreea's twins, will also be officially baptised at the autumn ceremony. A spokesman for the family confirmed: 'She is still under 18, and therefore we want to protect her privacy until after the wedding. 'When the wedding happens then all the questions of the curious will be answered.' The spokesman also confirmed that all of Bogdan's family had fallen in love with Andreea as she was 'beautiful and kind' but also an 'obedient and dutiful daughter-in-law'. The marriage will make the couple's two twin children the next in line to the Roma crown. Roma have often clashed with officials in Romania over their beliefs, especially the controversial tradition of marrying their children off young.

Many engagements in Roma communities are arranged by parents when the youngsters are still under ten years old. Confirmation ceremonies, which are held to formalise the union, have been known to take place with children as young as eight do. Although the Gipsy King's family have stated in the past that they are not in favour of under-aged marriages, Dorin's sister Ana Maria Cioab was at the centre of an international row after she was married aged 12. The huge and highly controversial public ceremony saw her married to 15-year-old Mihai Birita. The affair caused outcry, and was even raised in the European Parliament after Romania came under fire for not taking action against the Roma. Dorin's father Florin eventually apologised for the decision and agreed to work with Romanian officials to make sure the age of consent was raised within Roma communities.

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Basescu slams EU for soft Putin stance

Romania's President Traian Basescu on Monday accused the European Union of being weak and too slow in imposing sanctions on Russia to deter it from encroaching further into Europe after its annexation of Ukraine's Crimea. An ex-communist state on the Black Sea, Romania joined the EU in 2007 and has been among the most vehement advocates of Western sanctions against Moscow after neighbouring Ukraine lost control of its peninsula and some of its eastern territories. "We're now facing a reality because we didn't discourage Putin, because in Eastern Europe there's a conflict fuelled by the Russian Federation, with military equipment, politically, with personnel, so that 192 Dutch citizens died on Monday," Basescu told a news briefing.

He was referring to the downing of a Malaysian airliner with nearly 300 people on board in separatist-held territory in Ukraine last week. One of the victims was a Romanian. Basescu said it was a mistake to handle sanctions against Russia "with kid gloves". The more delay in implementing them the higher the price will be paid to stop Putin's plans to rebuild the former Soviet Union's empire, he said. Romania has said NATO must reposition its resources in the wake of Moscow's maneuver and plans a gradual increase in its defence budget over the next two years.

It is especially concerned that Moldova, a small state bordering Romania with a Russian-speaking minority - could be next in Moscow's sights given the risk of separatist unrest there. Basescu attributed the EU's stance towards Russia to various economic interests by member states: "There's always an argument: one country has a big investment, other has to deliver sophisticated equipment, and another is natural gas dependant." "Today is Ukraine, then the Baltics borders are reached, then Poland and then Romania," he said. "Aren't we at risk by making economic considerations weighing more than solidarity with states in the EU's eastern flank?"

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Romania's president asks parliament to reassess tax cut

Romania's President Traian Basescu sent back to parliament a planned social security tax cut by the government on Wednesday which he says will hurt budget revenue. The cut was approved by Prime Minister Victor Ponta's leftist government in June and endorsed by parliament earlier this month, going against a recommendation from the IMF which leads a 4-billion euro aid deal for Romania. The president, who can veto bills approved by parliament only once, has warned that such a move could put the country's macro-economic stability at risk and inevitably trigger higher taxes elsewhere.

Romania is the European Union's second poorest member and Ponta's government had said the move was intended to boost economic growth. "I have reservations regarding its sustainability," Basescu told reporters. He pointed out that a 0.9 percentage point reduction in the fiscal deficit would be required next year at a time when Romania has already committed to increase its defence budget. The 5 percentage point cut in employers' tax to 15.8 percent from Oct. 1 will create a revenue shortfall of 850 million in government finances in the fourth quarter of this year. The government had said it planned to cover that with higher-than-expected returns from a tax on special buildings.

Ponta has offered assurances that the budget deficit will not rise above this year's target of 2.2 percent of gross domestic product. In 2015, the social security tax change will cost 4.8 billion lei, just under 1 percent of GDP. The International Monetary Fund has postponed a review of the aid deal pending a Nov. 2 presidential election. Concerns about fiscal discipline have been raised in the run-up to the vote.