December 30, 2025
A roundup of domestic and world news
Lăcrămioara Simion, 30.12.2025, 13:55
Magistrates’ pensions – The Constitutional Court of Romania will debate the notification regarding the new reform of the magistrates’ pensions on January 16, although the law should have entered into force on the first day of next year. The deliberation was postponed on Monday, due to lack of quorum, after four judges proposed by the Social Democratic Party (PSD) left the session. The four reject the accusations of boycott and claim that their absence was a procedural gesture, citing irregularities and accelerated deadlines. The former president of the Constitutional Court, Augustin Zegrean, considers their request for postponement justified, but says that their absence could be considered a disciplinary offense. An impact study – as the four requested – is not the subject of the file and is not a criterion of constitutionality, explains the president of the Constitutional Court, Simina Tănăsescu, while the minister of justice emphasizes that he has not received any official request in this regard. On the political front, the National Liberal Party and Save Romania Union are demanding sanctions for blocking the Court’s decisions, while the opposition accuses them of maintaining certain privileges.
Deficit – Romania ended the first 11 months of the year with a budget deficit of 6.4% of the Gross Domestic Product, down as compared to the same period in 2024, when it was 7.15%. The finance minister Alexandru Nazare says that reducing the deficit means that the state is spending more responsibly, is borrowing less and has more financial stability. In the same period, revenues increased by 13%, being supported by increased revenues from taxes, social contributions and European funds, while expenditures also increased by 9.9%. According to official data, investments continue to increase compared to the same period last year, with over 100 billion lei allocated to the development of infrastructure and projects financed from European funds. In a Facebook post, minister Nazare claims that Romania enters 2026 with better balanced public finances, growing revenues and a healthy basis for a responsible and balanced budget next year.
Visit – The Prime Minister of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Dick Schoof, is in Romania, where he will visit, together with his counterpart, Ilie Bolojan, the Romanian and Dutch troops stationed at Air Base 71 ‘General Emanoil Ionescu’ in Câmpia Turzii (northwest). According to the Government Press Office in Bucharest, the two prime ministers have also scheduled a meeting, with the agenda of the talks including the status of bilateral cooperation in both the defense and economic fields, as well as the regional security situation.
Education – The National Alliance of Student Organizations in Romania (ANOSR) warns the government that possible reductions in the student enrolment number in the higher educationsystem could have serious effects on the university environment. ANOSR leader Sergiu Covaci emphasizes that these discussions contradict Romania’s development objectives and commitments assumed as a member state of the European Union. Sergiu Covaci said that he has noticed this dissatisfaction of the Prime Minister related to the student enrollment number, in the sense that it is too high or that it would unnaturally increase the number of students, which is completely wrong, considering the targets that Romania has assumed both in relation to the European Union and for the development of the state itself. We are talking about economic development, the growth of the people who go through tertiary education, so automatically the people who are eligible for a master’s degree. Any minister who comes should understand that cutting the student enrollment number is not an option, it is not a solution. Last year, Romania ranked last in the European Union, with only 23% of young people aged 25 to 34 having graduated from university, compared to the European average of over 44%.
Eurozone – Bulgaria will join the eurozone on Thursday, January 1, 2026, thus becoming the 21st country to adopt the European Union’s single currency, an integration that some fear will fuel inflation and exacerbate political instability, international media write. Over the summer, a protest movement emerged that called for “keeping the Bulgarian leva”. Led by far-right and pro-Russian parties, it is taking advantage of Bulgarians’ fears about rising prices. According to the latest opinion poll conducted by the EU’s Eurobarometer, 49% of Bulgarians oppose the single currency. This concern is particularly felt in the poor rural areas. But according to the successive governments that promoted its adoption, the euro will boost the economy of the European Union’s poorest country, will strengthen its ties with Western Europe and protect it from Russian influence. The Balkan country of 6.4 million inhabitants, a member of the European Union since 2007, faces significant challenges following anti-corruption protests that have recently toppled yet another coalition government, in power for less than a year. (LS)
