December 20, 2025 UPDATE
A roundup of local and world news
Newsroom, 20.12.2025, 20:00
ECONOMY Romania has submitted in Brussels the fourth payment request under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, totaling over EUR 2.62 billion, the minister of investments and European projects Dragoş Pîslaru announced. The set contains 62 targets and milestones exclusively in the non-reimbursable funding component. According to the minister, the implementation of the Plan is one of Romania’s most important projects, critical to the development of the national economy in several respects, including infrastructure, healthcare, education, environment, digitisation, culture, energy and energy efficiency. Some of the institutions that will receive money are the environment, energy, justice, finance, healthcare and labour ministries. The projects included in the fourth payment request include the revamping of 13 dams and improving flood protection, the listing of up to 15% of the shares of Hidroelectrica, the main electricity producer in Romania, the digitisation of the judicial system and a comprehensive fiscal reform. The European Commission is to provide a response within 60 days.
REVOLUTION The sirens of freedom rang out in Timişoara on Saturday to mark 36 years since the declaration of the first city free from communism in Romania on December 20, 1989. At that time, workers from all industrial platforms went on an all-out strike and occupied the city centre, which they did not leave until the dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu fled. In the days that followed, the anti-communist Revolution spread to Bucharest and throughout the country, and culminated on December 22 with the flight from power of Nicolae and Elena Ceauşescu. Three days later, the two were executed, following a summary trial by a military court. In total, over 1,000 people died and about 3,000 were wounded in the clashes that took place in the only country in Eastern Europe where the regime change was violent.
PARLIAMENT Two simple motions tabled by AUR party against the ministers of justice and the interior will be discussed and voted on Monday in Romania’s Parliament. The signatories complain about abuse in the two fields, interference with in the electoral process and imbalances in the judiciary. The simple motion against the interior minister Cătălin Predoiu is intended to assess his political and moral responsibility. The motion authors claim that Cătălin Predoiu’s ministry is politicised, that it breaches its international obligations, and that there are redundancies in terms of powers and jurisdictions. The second motion, against the justice minister Radu Marinescu, demands his resignation because, the document claims, he has failed to restore citizens’ trust in the judiciary. AUR party MPs also criticise the minister for his failure to ensure an efficient, predictable and fair administration of justice, for the excessive duration of trials and the lack of firm response to problems in the system. Also on Monday, Radu Marinescu takes part in the ‘Government Hour’ in Parliament, at the request of USR MPs, to address ‘topics of major interest for Romania’s political, economic and social life’.
JUDICIARY “We have received hundreds of pages of relevant documents from magistrates about problems in the justice system,” the president of Romania, Nicusor Dan announced in a social media post on Saturday. The message comes ahead of Monday’s meetings, when the head of state invited all magistrates who want to complain about problems in the system, to a discussion ‘without a time limit’. ‘When 200 magistrates say that there is an integrity problem in the judiciary, things are very serious’, the head of state said. The invitation came after several hundred prosecutors and judges signed a message of support for the magistrates who speak in a report by the online media outlet Recorder about problems in the Romanian judicial system. On the day of the talks initiated by Nicusor Dan, “Declic” community announces a ‘caroling’ protest in front of the presidency offices, in solidarity with the magistrates who stand up for the independence of the system.
WAGES The Romanian ministry of labour has posted for public review a draft resolution on a 6.8% increase in the gross minimum wages, from about EUR 800 to roughly EUR 865 per month, as of July 1 next year. The ministry expects the increase to have positive effects at a social level, by encouraging employment, increasing people’s spending power and reducing undeclared work. Over 1.7 million employees will benefit from this measure. The minimum wage increase as of mid-2026 is however criticized by both employees and employers. Trade unionists want the measure taken in January, and emphasise that prices and taxes have increased, while working conditions are getting worse. Thousands of trade unionists from four confederations picketed the Presidency offices the past few days, asking president Nicuşor Dan to mediate between the unions and the government. In turn, employers argue that the increase is not at all appropriate in the current economic context. (AMP)
