April 24, 2026 UPDATE

A roundup of local and world news

Newsroom, 24.04.2026, 20:00

GOVERNMENT The Social Democratic Party (PSD) officially left the government led by the Liberal Ilie Bolojan on Thursday. After the Social Democratic ministers submitted their resignations, the PM appointed interim ministers to avoid a government deadlock. This does not require a vote of approval in Parliament for the next 45 days, a period during which the government will have full powers. The interim energy minister position was taken over by the prime minister himself, while the other posts (the labour, justice, healthcare, agriculture, and transportation ministers) were placed under the authority of the ministers remaining in the cabinet from the National Liberal Party (PNL), Save Romania Union (USR), and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania (UDMR). From Cyprus, where he attended an informal EU summit, president Nicuşor Dan said he would tell European leaders that Romania remained committed to a pro-European course. Mr. Dan said that if everything was in order with the decrees on the appointment of interim ministers he will sign them, and that at present, there is a concern to ask the Constitutional Court of Romania to rule in advance on the legality of these interim terms. The president of Romania described the departure of the Social Democrats from the government as a “political move” that will be followed by their withdrawing confidence in the Liberal prime minister. As for forming a new government, Nicuşor Dan emphasised he would not agree to a minority cabinet supported by the Alliance for the Union of Romanians, regardless of whether the suggestion came from the Social Democrats or the Liberals.

EU SUMMIT President Nicuşor Dan believes Romania’s prosperity and security depend on a strong European Union, and one of the key topics on the agenda of the meeting in Cyprus is the future European budget, in a move to correlate Brussels’ ambitions with adequate financing. The Romanian head of state said he wanted some of the competitiveness funds to reach companies in less developed countries, so that the gap does not increase. Convening on Thursday and Friday in Cyprus, the EU heads of state and government definitively validated the EUR 90 billion financial assistance package provided to Ukraine, after Hungary withdrew its veto. The EU approved the 20th set of sanctions against Russia and initiated steps for the 21st. The new package could include bans on some Russian oligarchs and Russian Orthodox Church officials who support the war against Ukraine. The measures include, among other things, banning transactions with 20 Russian banks and those involving the RUBx crypto-currency, as well as denying access to European Union ports for new ships from the so-called “shadow fleet” used by Moscow to circumvent Western sanctions.

ESPIONAGE The former deputy chief of the secret services in Chişinău, Alexandru Bălan, subject to serious espionage charges, was handed over by the Romanian authorities to their Moldovan counterparts on Friday. Balan was escorted by a high-security unit from Bucharest to the Albiţa checkpoint into the Republic of Moldova. The Directorate Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism Offences (DIICOT) found that between 2024 and 2025, Alexandru Bălan allegedly sold state secrets in Budapest to KGB officers from Belarus, which also endangered Romania’s national security. The operation that led to his arrest last fall was a Europe-wide effort, involving intelligence services from Romania, Hungary, and the Czech Republic.

SALARIES The upcoming uniform salary law in Romania will not entail income losses, PM Ilie Bolojan promised. In a radio interview, he said that on the contrary, the new legislation will bring some gains for certain categories as a measure of equity. The point is for those who currently have higher earnings than they should, as a result of the classification of professions and positions in the public sector, to stay at the current level until the salaries for other employees in corresponding positions catch up with them through annual increases, the PM explained. Bolojan discussed this topic on Thursday with the outgoing labour minister Florin Manole, and with the interim minister Dragoş Pâslaru. The Romanian PM also said that he hoped all parliamentary parties to support the new law, the draft of which will be discussed next week. (AMP)