September 18, 2025 UPDATE
A roundup of local and world news
Newsroom, 18.09.2025, 20:00
VISIT The Romanian Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan will be paying a short visit to Brussels on Monday. According to the government spokeswoman, Ioana Dogioiu, the Prime Minister’s agenda does not include a meeting with the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. The head of the government in Bucharest will be meeting the European Commissioner for Economy and Productivity, Valdis Dombrovskis, a meeting and a working lunch with the European Commissioner for Defence and Space, Andrius Kubilius and a working meeting with Roxana Mînzatu, Vice-President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Social Rights and Skills, Quality, Jobs and Preparedness. Earlier the Prime Minister announced he would also be tackling the loans taken by Romania and its budget deficit with the European officials. Romania is among the 19 EU members, which submitted to the European Commission a list with military projects by means of the financial instrument known as SAFE, Security Action for Europe. According to provisional allotment Romania is going to benefit from 16.68 billion EUROS through the aforementioned instrument, the second largest allotment for military purchases and rising defence capabilities in the EU.
WORKS Construction works have registered only a slight increase both in the EU and the Eurozone in July 2025 as compared to the previous month, but Romania proved to be the country with the highest increase in this segment of over 20%, data released by Eurostat on Thursday shows. According to data earlier released by the National Institute for Statistics in Romania, the volume of construction works increased in July 2025 as compared to the previous month by 27.2%, an increase, which became visible in the area of capital repairs, maintenance works and other repairs as well as new constructions. In another development, according to a survey conducted by a real estate consultancy company on Eurostat data shows that in the European fiscal landscape Romania appears as a country with a significantly lower level of property taxation than the EU average. According to the survey, the lower taxation has also been reflected in the macroeconomic indexes, as only 0.5% of Romania’s GDP comes from property taxation as compared to the EU average of 1.9% or that in France, which is the European leader in this respect, of 3.7%.
ARMY Romania’s Defense Minister Ionuț Moșteanu announced that a new legal framework is being elaborated to increase and rejuvenate the Romanian Army reserve. Young people aged 18-35 will be able to volunteer as paid soldiers for four months. At present, the average age of reservists is approximately 47 years because military service has no longer been mandatory since 2007, Ionuț Moșteanu says. An INSCOP survey published on Wednesday shows that nearly three quarters of Romanians said, at the start of this month, that they agree with the voluntary military service. However, it is a decrease of over 5% compared to July.
ANTIFA US President Donald Trump yesterday announced that the so-called ‘Antifa’ movement, a generic term for far-left groups that claim to be anti-fascist, is henceforth designated a “terrorist” organization, a week after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. In an announcement on Truth Social, the president also strongly recommended that those who finance “Antifa” be subject to a thorough investigation, in accordance with the strictest legal norms and practices. Earlier this week, the White House had announced plans to crack down on what it has termed “domestic left-wing terrorism”, in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination. Aged 31, Kirk had been exposing his nationalist, Christian and traditional family ideas on social media and in university meetings.
(bill)
