August 11, 2025 UPDATE

A roundup of local and world news

Newsroom, 11.08.2025, 20:19

COALITION The Social Democratic Party in Romania says its participation in the coalition proceedings depends on the endorsement of a package on eliminating privileges, on talks over budgetary adjustment measures with a view to carrying on investment, the PSD interim president Sorin Grindeanu said on Monday. He also said his party requested meetings with representatives of the Finance Ministry on the concrete implementation of the state budget. The Social-Democrats believe that a series of talks must be staged regarding the process of carrying on major and small investment. They also believe some measures in education, healthcare, administration and in the fiscal area must be reconsidered. The PSD leadership convened in a session on Monday against the tension caused by the refusal of their USR coalition partners to attend the funeral of the former president Ion Iliescu. The USR members explained their refusal by recalling the victims of the 1989 revolution and the miners’ raids in Bucharest in the early 1990s. The Liberal Prime Minister, Ilie Bolojan had earlier underlined that political stability is crucial for Romania mainly against the present economic and social background. During a show hosted by a private TV channel the Prime Minister admitted that harmonizing principles inside a coalition made up of four parties and backed by the group of the national minorities, can sometimes be difficult but underlined the need for responsibility in order to be able to move the country onward.

TALKS French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, and German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, will be holding a virtual meeting on Ukraine on Wednesday to coordinate their efforts before the summit on Friday between the US president Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Macron’s cabinet has announced. According to Reuters, other virtual meetings in various formats are going to take place on that day, including with Donald Trump, says a communiqué released by the Elysee Palace. The European leaders are insisting that the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky attend the high-level summit on Friday between the US and Russian presidents. EU Foreign Policy Chief, Kaja Kallas, says that any deal between the USA and Russia must also include Kyiv and the EU as this is a security issue for Ukraine and the entire Europe. US Vice-president J.D. Vance says that Washington is working on including the Ukrainian president.

MEETING The measures endorsed by the Government are based on the possibilities presently offered by Romania’s budget and also on the realities in the country’s education system, Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan said at the meeting with representatives of trade unions in education. Trade unionists have again reiterated their discontent regarding the increase in their working hours and the number of students in classrooms, the latest amendments to the system of payment and funding in education. The head of the Executive has called on the Education Ministry to assess the implementation of the new regulations and come up with solutions if there are any issues. In the meantime teachers are threatening to boycott the beginning of the school year due on September 8.

REFORMS The Romanian Government is beginning preparations this week for the adoption of the second package of budget reforms, given that Fitch Ratings has announced that on August 15 it will publish Romania’s sovereign rating, one of the assessments on which the country’s creditworthiness on international markets depends. According to the agency’s statement, reducing the budget deficit and stabilizing debt are key conditions for avoiding a downgrade of Romania’s country rating, which is currently at BBB- with a negative outlook. Package 2, for which the cabinet led by Ilie Bolojan intends to take responsibility in Parliament, as it did in the case of Package 1, provides for profound reforms in the structure and functioning of the state at the central and local levels. One of these is the completion of the legislative framework for the second pillar of pensions, which aims to eliminate the current possibility for beneficiaries of this pillar to access the full amount saved. The President of the Financial Supervisory Authority, Alexandru Petrescu, says that the proposed bill, together with the Ministry of Finance, on private pensions is a necessary and priority measure, as it completes the legislative framework. In addition, it is also a recommendation from the OECD, to which Romania must respond.

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