December 8, 2025

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 08.12.2025, 13:55

MAYOR – Liberal Ciprian Ciucu won Sunday’s elections for the Bucharest City Hall, with 36.16% of the votes – official results show. In second place was Anca Alexandrescu, supported by the opposition party AUR (populist, ultranationalist), with 21.94%, and the social – democrat Daniel Băluță ranked third with about 20.51%. In fourth place was Cătălin Drulă (USR) with 13.90%, followed by Ana Ciceală (SENS) with 5.85%. Voter turnout was 32.71%.

PRESIDENCY – The President of Romania, Nicuşor Dan, begins a two-day working visit to France today. This evening, at the Romanian Embassy, President Dan is to meet with representatives of the Romanian community in France. On Tuesday, the Romanian President will be received at the Elysée Palace and will hold talks with President Emmanuel Macron. It will be the first direct official meeting between the two heads of state after Nicuşor Dan’s election in May. The President of Romania will also have a meeting with the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, with whom he will travel to the northwest of the city to inaugurate a street that will bear the name of the Romanian diplomat Nicolae Titulescu, on the occasion of the 145th anniversary of Franco-Romanian diplomatic relations. President Nicuşor Dan is also scheduled to meet with representatives of the French business environment, and visit one of the factories of the Thales industrial group, a world leader in advanced technologies and artificial intelligence, used in various fields – defense, aerospace, cyber and digital security.

REFORM – The Bucharest government is today making a first assessment of the 17 state-owned companies that will enter a reform process. Among them are national airline TAROM, the metro company Metrorex, the railway company CFR Călători and Electrocentrale Bucureşti. The objective is to achieve more efficient management, eliminate interim management positions and reduce dependence on subsidies. After going through several stages, the government will determine which companies will be additionally listed on the Stock Exchange, which of them will be kept open, and what reforms are necessary for them to become competitive.

MOTION – The Romanian Parliament is presenting today a motion of censure filed by members of the populist and ultranationalist opposition against the pro-European coalition government led by the liberal Ilie Bolojan. According to the initiators, the executive has demonstrated its inability to manage finances, health, education, social protection, justice and public administration, all vital areas that define, according to the self-proclaimed sovereignist opposition, the life of a free and dignified people. The parties in power – PSD, PNL, USR, UDMR – have said they will not vote for the censure motion due to be debated and voted on next Monday.

HANDBALL – The Romanian National Team ranked 9th at the Women’s Handball World Championship in the Netherlands and Germany, after defeating Switzerland 36-24, on Sunday, in Rotterdam, in its last match in the main Group 1. Romania recorded four wins and two defeats at this final tournament, and this is the best ranking of the Romanians in the last five editions. Romania is the only country that has participated in all the final tournaments of the Women’s Handball World Championship.

CONSTITUTION DAY – December 8 is Constitution Day in Romania. The Constitution is a powerful incentive in favor of tolerance and pluralism, as well as the most important instrument to combat totalitarian or extremist tendencies, said the President of the Constitutional Court of Romania, Simina Tănăsescu. She emphasized that the fundamental law is not a distant text, but a living contract that permanently requires good faith, involvement and devotion. At the same time, it is a pact of trust between citizens and institutions, between present and future, between individual freedom and the common good, Tănăsescu also said. The Constitution of Romania was adopted after the 1989 Revolution, which marked the end of the communist regime. (EE)