August 19, 2025 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 19.08.2025, 17:18
EU. Tuesday’s videoconferences of the Coalition of the Willing and the European Council addressed the results of important discussions in Washington on Ukraine’s security, Romanian President Nicusor Dan announced on social media. According to him, President Donald Trump’s involvement in a peace agreement for Ukraine is essential, and any peace must be fair and sustainable. Europe’s role is also crucial. Transatlantic coordination remains, says the head of state, the strongest asset in deterring Russia’s aggression, which must stop killing civilians. At the same time, Romania will contribute to solid security guarantees for Ukraine, which will be implemented through close cooperation between Europe and the US. In conclusion, Nicusor Dan said that a peaceful and secure Ukraine strengthens Romania’s security and benefits our neighbor, the Republic of Moldova. For his part, European Council President Antonio Costa, who convened the Council meeting, said that Ukraine’s accession process to the European Union must move forward and that Europe must be part of future peace negotiations alongside Ukraine, Russia, and the US, Reuters reports.
Ukraine. Kyiv’s Western allies will formalize security guarantees for Ukraine ‘within ten days’ to prevent fresh Russian attacks on the country in the event of a peace agreement with Moscow, the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday in Washington, at the end of negotiations at the White House with the US president Donald Trump and European leaders, AFP reports. It is important for the United States to send a clear signal that it will be among the countries that will assist, coordinate and also participate in the security guarantees for Ukraine, Zelenskyy emphasised. NATO’s secretary general Mark Rutte said that the issue is not Ukraine’s NATO accession, but rather NATO Article 5-type security guarantees, relying on the principle of collective defence. On the other hand, the German chancellor Friedrich Merz said the Russian president Vladimir Putin agreed, during a telephone conversation with his US counterpart, to meet with the Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the next two weeks, AFP reports. Merz stressed that Ukraine should not be pressured into ceding any territory. In turn, the French president Emmanuel Macron called for increased sanctions against Russia if negotiations on Ukraine fail. After Friday’s summit with Putin in Alaska, president Trump met on Monday with the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and with NATO and European leaders at the White House. Trump described the meetings as very good and said he called Putin to begin arrangements for a meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian presidents before a trilateral meeting that would also include the US administration.
OECD. Romania has closed 14 out of 25 committees in its process of joining the OECD, and the draft law on private pension payments is a priority recommendation of this organization, said on Tuesday the Secretary of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Luca Niculescu, at the public debate on this legislative act, organized by the Ministry of Labor. Luca Niculescu, as coordinator of Romania’s accession process to the OECD, stressed that this is set for 2026, which means that all technical discussions must be completed by the beginning of next year at the latest. “Romania’s accession to the OECD, which after joining NATO and the European Union is Romania’s most important project in the coming period, will bring more prosperity to Romania, will bring more investment, will bring more solid and credible institutions, will bring a broader, larger dimension for Romania on the international economic map, and will mean more influence for Romania in the world,” Luca Niculescu added.
Protest. Education unions organised a picket on Tuesday at the Ministry of Education and Research in Bucharest to protest against the measures affecting education announced by the Bolojan government. Hundreds of education union members gathered here on Monday, dissatisfied with the increase in weekly teaching hours, the increase in class sizes, changes to hourly pay rates, and the financing of the education system. On Tuesday, the union federations rejected Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan’s statements that teaching hours had decreased in recent years. The unions entered their fourth week of protests at the Ministry of Education and announced that they would continue their actions, including on September 8, when a new school year begins in Romania. On Monday, the prime minister met with representatives of the Association of Municipalities in Romania, who are dissatisfied with the provisions of the Emergency Ordinance suspending funding through the “Anghel Saligny” program and the PNRR for projects that have a low degree of completion or have not yet been started. The government intends to adopt this week the emergency ordinance regulating the situation of investment projects financed through the PNRR and the “Anghel Saligny” program. Ilie Bolojan also met on Monday with representatives of magistrates’ associations on the subject of pension reform in the system.
Finances. The Romanian finance ministry borrowed almost EUR 180 million from the banking market through 2 bond issues on Monday at an average interest rate of 7.48%, according to data made public by the National Bank of Romania. Two additional issues are scheduled today, through which the government seeks to get another EUR 26 million. The loans planned by the finance ministry in August are just over EUR 1.3 billion, slightly higher than the ones scheduled in July. The money is intended to refinance public debt and finance the budget deficit. On Monday, the national currency rose slightly against the euro, the US dollar and the Swiss franc.
Tennis. The Romanian tennis player Sorana Cîrstea qualified for the round of 16 of the WTA 250 tournament in Cleveland (Ohio, USA), after defeating Japan’s Moyuka Uchijima 6-4, 6-1 on Monday evening. In another match in the first round, Gabriela Ruse was defeated by Hailey Baptiste (US), seed no. 8. In the round of 16, Cîrstea will take on Jil Teichmann (Switzerland). (MI)
