December 17, 2025
A roundup of local and world news
Newsroom, 17.12.2025, 13:55
SUMMIT The president of Romania Nicușor Dan leaves for Brussels today, to attend the European Union-Western Balkans summit. On Thursday and Friday, he will join EU leaders in a European Council meeting discussing the situation in Ukraine, with a focus on solid and credible security guarantees for Kiyv and diplomatic efforts to achieve a fair and lasting peace. Mr. Dan, who attended the Helsinki summit of Eastern Bloc states, said that Russia will remain a threat even if a ceasefire agreement is reached with Ukraine. The Romanian president said that Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria want to ask for a stronger EU budget, especially for the countries bordering Russia. He pleaded for using all the opportunities Romania already has from the EU and NATO to strengthen its security and to benefit from the funding that will be earmarked for this purpose by the Allies.
CORRUPTION A former minister of transport, Răzvan Cuc, and a businessman were detained for 24 hours on Tuesday in a corruption investigation. The investigation concerns suspected bribery and complicity. According to prosecutors with the National Anticorruption Directorate, the bribe accounted for 6% of a public procurement framework contract worth EUR 4.5 million signed by the Romanian Vehicle Registration Authority. The offence was allegedly committed between September and November this year. A Bucharest court is to rule today on whether the suspects should remain in pre-trial arrest for 30 days.
1989 REVOLUTION In Timişoara, western Romania, today is a day of mourning in memory of the 1989 anti-communist Revolution heroes. These days revolution participant associations, jointly with local and county authorities, organise commemorative events to pay tribute to those who lost their lives and to remember the events that started in Timişoara and then spread throughout the country and led to the fall of Nicolae Ceauşescu’s communist dictatorship. Exhibitions, book launches, concerts and film screenings are scheduled at the city’s Opera House. On Tuesday evening, candles were lit in Victory Square, and at midnight a service was held at the Martyrs’ Church. Also last night, the traditional March of Heroes took place, organised by the local football team supporters’ association. Timisoara’s mayor Dominic Fritz said that the events 36 years ago are becoming history, while new generations must grow increasingly fond of the values of democracy and those who took part in the Revolution. The mayor stressed that Timisoara must be a beacon of freedom, and of the fight for humanity and European values.
POLITICS The leaders of the parties that make up the ruling coalition in Romania (the Social Democratic Party, the National Liberal Party, Save Romania Union and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania) convene today in a tense meeting, after the Social Democrats voted in favor of a simple motion against a cabinet minister of which they themselves are a part. The Social Democratic leader Sorin Grindeanu explained that it was a vote against what he called the catastrophic management by the environment minister Diana Buzoianu (USR). On the other hand, the Liberals, Ethnic Hungarian Union and USR criticise the violation of the coalition protocol. The USR spokesman Cristian Seidler accused Social Democrats of backing the motion as a way of opposing reforms and covering up the incompetence of some officials appointed by their own party. He urged the parties in power to focus on government work. Today’s meeting is also expected to tackle the public administration reform, long postponed over disagreements between the member parties. The Social Democrat leader said that his party will present other economy-related, such as increasing the minimum wage in 2026, and that response to these will weigh in the Social Democrats’ decision to stay in the coalition or not.
DEFENCE The joint defence committees in the Romanian Parliament have approved the 2024 annual report of the Supreme Defence Council. One of the chapters concerns the cancellation of the presidential elections last November. The chairman of the Defence Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, Mihai Weber, stated at the end of the meeting that there has been interference by state and non-state actors in the election process, favouring a particular candidate. During the review, committee members assessed the role of the Supreme Defence Council in the strategic coordination of the National Defence System, as well as the measures taken in order to strengthen Romania’s deterrence and defence posture on NATO’s eastern flank and to continue the military upgrade process. The committees also reviewed a request by the defence ministry for negotiations on a framework service agreement between the ministry and Lockheed Martin for the operation of the F-16 European Training Centre. The 60-month agreement covers the training of pilots, aircraft maintenance and integrated logistical support. Starting January 1, 2026, Romania will take full responsibility for the operation of the European Training Centre. (AMP)
