August 5, 2025 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 05.08.2025, 19:47
Iliescu. Ion Iliescu, Romania’s first president after the fall of communism, died on Tuesday in Bucharest at the age of 95, after spending nearly two months in hospital. He was in serious condition and suffering from lung cancer. After the December 1989 revolution, the National Salvation Front (FSN) took power and formed a provisional government, appointing Ion Iliescu, a former high-ranking communist official, as interim president of Romania. The first presidential elections were held on May 20, 1990, with Ion Iliescu being elected president for a two-year term. This was followed by another four-year term until 1996. Ion Iliescu was president again between 2000 and 2004, the year Romania joined NATO. After the FSN, he was a member of the Democratic Front for National Salvation (FDSN), the Party of Social Democracy in Romania (PDSR), and finally the Social Democratic Party (PSD). Ion Iliescu had been charged with crimes against humanity in two controversial criminal cases, one concerning the 1989 Revolution and the other concerning the Miners’ Riot of June 1990. In December 1989, more than 850 people died in the days following the fall of dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu. Prosecutors accused Ion Iliescu of “directly spreading misinformation through television appearances and press releases, contributing to the establishment of widespread psychosis.” In June 1990, several people died and approximately 1,000 protesters were injured following miners’ actions.
Reactions. “History will judge Ion Iliescu, the central figure of the transition of the 1990s. It is our duty to clarify the major issues of that era in order to move forward with confidence,” President Nicușor Dan has stated. The leaders of Romania’s main political parties have sent messages of condolence. The interim president of the PSD, Sorin Grindeanu, said he was deeply saddened to hear of the death of former Romanian president Ion Iliescu. A prominent figure in recent history, Ion Iliescu, the first president of democratic Romania, made a major contribution at defining moments for the Romanian people, such as accession to NATO and the EU. The PNL has also sent a message of condolence, stating that he was an important figure in post-December politics and the first democratically elected president after 1989, and his work influenced significant moments in the country’s recent history. For his part, USR President Dominic Fritz has highlighted the role Ion Iliescu played in Romania’s strategic orientation towards NATO and the EU, but at the same time, he has stressed that we cannot overlook the suffering of those who paid with their blood for the right to freedom and democracy, for the revolution and the miners’ riots. The current Liberal prime-minister, Ilie Bolojan, has pointed out that Ion Iliescu’s passing marks the end of a significant stage in the country’s recent history, marked by the post-communist transition and essential transformations in public life.
Budget. The ruling coalition in Bucharest is assessing the measures comprised by the second fiscal package aimed at reducing the country’s budget deficit with emphasis on the reform of the local public administration. Talks are also focusing on the reforms of state companies, fighting tax evasion and streamlining the activity of the National Agency for Fiscal Administration as well as the reform of the country’s healthcare system. Talks on reforming the magistrates’ special pensions are also underway as these reforms are expected to become part of the third set of fiscal-budgetary measures.
Protests. Trade unionists in Romania’s Education on Tuesday staged a protest in Bucharest against the fiscal-budgetary measures taken by the Government. Teachers have asked for the resignation of field minister Daniel David and said that measures such as increasing the number of working hours and the number of students in a classroom as well as merging some education units are going to severely impact their activity. The unionists also want stipulations in the Austerity Law on education cancelled and have threatened to block the beginning of the school year unless their claims are met.
GRECO. Romania has implemented or properly approached only two out of the 26 recommendations comprised by the report of the second assessment round on preventing corruption and promoting integrity at central level (executive positions and leadership) and at the level of law-enforcement institutions. The conclusion belongs to the Groups of States against Corruption (GRECO), which is a Council of Europe body and which on Tuesday made public its conformity report regarding Romania endorsed during its 100th plenary sitting in Strasbourg over June 3 and 6. According to the document, out of the 24 pending recommendations, 22 have been partially implemented and two have not been implemented at all. The Group of States against Corruption is calling on the Romanian authorities to provide additional information regarding the implementation of the recommendations that are still pending by December 31, 2026.
Ukraine. Sweden, Norway, and Denmark will contribute a total of approximately 421 million Euro to a NATO-led initiative to deliver American weapons to Ukraine, the Oslo government announced on Tuesday. US President Donald Trump said in July that the United States would deliver weapons to Ukraine paid for by European allies, but did not indicate how this would be done. Sweden said its contribution, which includes Patriot missiles and other air defense equipment, as well as anti-tank ammunition, will amount to 238 million. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has stated that the North Atlantic Alliance is grateful to the three Nordic countries for their swift action in financing the military support package for Kyiv. NATO will coordinate the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL), an initiative funded by European NATO countries and Canada, which will be divided into packages worth $500 million (€433 million). On Monday, the Netherlands became the first country to announce its participation, with €500 million. According to the Swedish government’s website, Stockholm donated €8.3 billion to Ukraine until March 2025.
Gagauzia. Evghenia Guţul, governor of the autonomous territorial unit of Gagauzia in the Republic of Moldova, was sentenced on Tuesday to seven years in prison by the Chişinău Court in a case involving the illegal financing of the former ‘Shor’ party, according to the MOLDPRES news agency. In the same case, a former secretary in the Central Office of the same party was sentenced to six years in prison. Guţul, who has strongly criticized the current pro-European government in Moldova and has occasionally visited Moscow to meet with high-ranking officials, denied any wrongdoing, Reuters reports, recalling that she was included on EU and US sanctions lists on suspicion of destabilizing Moldova. Evghenia Guţul and Svetlana Popan were accused of knowingly accepting illegal funding for a political party and an electoral competitor from an organized criminal group, a crime committed on a continuous basis and as accomplices. Prosecutors say that Guţul systematically channeled undeclared funds into Moldova from 2019 to 2022 to finance the now-banned pro-Moscow Shor party, founded by Ilan Shor, an exiled pro-Russian businessman who was convicted of fraud in Moldova. Tuesday’s decision can be appealed. (MI)
