August 30, 2026
A roundup of local and international news.
Newsroom, 30.08.2026, 13:49
Politics. President Nicușor Dan and parliamentary parties will hold fresh talks on September 1 to designate the next Prime Minister. The president believes that a majority for a stable government will be found this time. He explained that he did not make any further nominations in recent months because the successive failure of rejecting prime ministerial proposals would have harmed Romania’s economic image. This time, the president ruled out the option of a technocratic team, saying that the future cabinet will be composed mainly of ministers designated by the parliamentary parties. According to political sources, the future prime minister may be an independent leading a majority Social-Democratic government that will also be supported in Parliament by the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania.
EU funding. Romania is to finalise major projects funded under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan on the very last day of the deadline for the implementation of the plan. The opening of a new 47-km section of the A7 motorway, linking the capital Bucharest and the city of Bacău in the northeast, is scheduled for August 31. Horațiu Cosma, State Secretary at the Ministry of Transport, said in an online post that this milestone secures a 1.5 billion euro tranche of non-repayable funding. He further noted that future efforts would focus on the section between Bacău and the town of Pașcani, some 80 kilometers north of Bacău. The goal is to finalise 320 km of this motorway, which goes from Ploiești (in the south) to Pașcani, by early next year. Known as the Moldova Motorway or the “motorway of the Union of the Romanian Principalities,” the route will eventually cover over 450 km, connecting Bucharest to the northern border with Ukraine.
Diesel. The Romanian finance ministry will cut the excise duty on diesel by another 5%, following an initial 20% reduction decided two weeks ago under a special law passed this year. The measure, which will apply from September 1 to 15, follows a new bi-weekly assessment and was adopted against the backdrop of rising crude oil prices on international markets. The ministry says the additional cut in excise duties on diesel aims to limit the ripple effect of fuel costs, particularly in the transport sector, which directly impacts consumer goods prices. According to the Price Monitor app, a liter of standard diesel in Bucharest was approximately 10.15 lei (some 1.93 euros) on Sunday morning.
Danube. The Danube’s flow rate on entry to Romania is still below the multi-year average. Hydrologists say the slight increase seen in recent days will slow down, and the river’s flow will once again decline to reach 1,500 cubic meters per second. For several weeks, the flow rate was well below the average for this period, which is at 3,800–3,900 cubic meters per second. Due to low water levels, the two reactors at the Cernavodă nuclear power plant have been shut down, resulting in a 20% reduction in national electricity output. Consequently, during periods of peak domestic demand, Romania is importing large quantities of electricity from neighbouring countries, often at prices two to three times higher than export rates.
EU. European Council President António Costa is touring the capitals of EU member states until September 17. He aims to identify the specific priorities and concerns of each country as the summer recess ends and European institutions resume work next week. Costa is scheduled to visit Bucharest, Sofia, and Athens on September 3. Talks with the leaders of member states will focus defense, competitiveness, EU enlargement, support for Ukraine, and the Union’s future multiannual budget for the 2028–2034 period, among others. According to the international media, Costa is seeking support for the introduction of new levies to bolster European finances. Under a proposal made last year by the European Commission, the future multiannual budget is set to reach 2 trillion euros, the largest in the history of the EU’s common fund. The European Council President has already visited Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and the Czech Republic.
Nepal. More than 650 tourists are reported missing in Nepal, out of a total of nearly 2,500 people identified so far as missing following the catastrophic floods five days ago. According to the National Tourism Board, cited by Agence France-Presse, the majority are Nepalese, followed by Chinese, Indian, American, and Ukrainian nationals. Citizens from 31 other countries are also among the missing. Nepalese authorities have not yet provided an exact figure of the fatalities among foreign nationals due to identification difficulties. For its part, China has reported approximately 260 foreign nationals among the more than 540 missing persons. According to the Foreign Ministry in Bucharest, there is currently no information as to whether Romanian citizens were affected by the disaster in Nepal. (CM)
