January 29, 2025 UPDATE

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 29.01.2025, 19:07

Theft. Three persons suspected of the theft of Romanian Dacian treasury objects from the Drents Museum in Assen were arrested by the Dutch police in the city of Heerhugowaard, in the province of North Holland. The information was confirmed by Romanian interior ministry officials, who said all three suspects are Dutch citizens. There is no information yet about the stolen items. The artefacts in question are the gold helmet from Coţofeneşti and three Dacian bracelets from Sarmizegetusa Regia, Romanian heritage objects which are also essential parts of the history and identity of the Romanian people, an invaluable cultural heritage not only for Romania, but for the whole world, said the Romanian Culture Minister, Natalia Intotero. She has sacked the director of the National History Museum of Romania, Ernest Oberländer-Târnoveanu, whom she criticised for his handling of the public and institutional communication in the case of the stolen objects. The History Museum is the institution that sent the artefacts to the exhibition in The Netherlands.

Budget. The leaders of the governing coalition in Bucharest discussed the draft budget for 2025. These are the last calculations regarding the distribution of public funds before the budget bill reaches the government on Friday for adoption and Parliament next week for the vote. The largest amounts will be earmarked for the payment of pensions and for the continuation of investments, while the expenses for goods, salaries and services will be reduced in all ministries and institutions, according to the finance minister. The intention is to cut budgets to ministries by 5% compared to last year, except for the Health, Interior, Education, Transport and National Defence ministries. Investments will exceed 7% of GDP in order to boost economic growth and the country’s development. In the field of agriculture, the priorities remain supporting the development of the animal husbandry sector, the continuation of the INVESTALIM program and the financing of irrigation systems. The Economy Ministry will continue the massive support for entrepreneurs through the Start-up Nation and Construct Plus programs, and the defence industry will receive over 2% of GDP this year as well. The Transport Ministry will also go ahead with investments, just like in previous years, to build motorways and express roads and improve the national road network.

EU. The head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen has proposed a series of profound economic and legislative reforms to boost the bloc’s competitiveness globally so as not to lose ground to China and the United States. Entitled the Competitiveness Compass, the new strategy brings together industrial policies, investments and reforms. Von der Leyen said the European Union benefits from the most highly educated workforce in the world. She also said the EU economy is the second biggest globally, but that Europe is standing still because of weaknesses, including a business model that relied for many years on cheap labour from China, cheap energy from Russia and outsourcing investment security. These days are over, von der Leyen said. The strategy she proposed is divided into three chapters. The first refers to strengthening competitiveness through innovation, decarbonisation, reducing dependencies and enhancing the security of the supply chain with technology and resources. The second refers to legislative and bureaucratic simplifications and the third is focused on the EU citizens, who, through training and well-paid jobs, are the source and target of this reform.

Iuliu Hossu Year. In a special ceremony on Wednesday, the Romanian Academy inaugurated the Year of Cardinal Iuliu Hossu, a year-long celebration of his life, work, sacrifice, the decisive role in the fulfilment of the Great Union of Romanians and his efforts to save the Jews during the Holocaust. A brilliant Transylvanian intellectual, Cardinal Iuliu Hossu left a mark on Romania’s history. He was arrested and imprisoned by the communist authorities following his refusal to renounce the Greek-Catholic faith and give up his activities to defend Greek-Catholic believers. President Klaus Iohannis issued a statement recalling the words spoken by the cardinal – ‘Our faith is our life!’ – and said that these words could become a strong call to civic consciousness, to unity and courage, to solidarity with fellow citizens and the future of the country.

Miners riots. The former head of the Romanian Intelligence Service Virgil Măgureanu is indicted for crimes against humanity as part of the case related to the miners’ riots of 13-15 June 1990. The prosecutors with the military section of the Prosecutor’s Office of the High Court of Cassation and Justice today ordered the start of criminal action, specifying that the criminal classification of the deeds is based exclusively on the evidence recorded post 4^th June 2021, when the case was returned to the Supreme Court Prosecutor’s Office. At the time, the judges moved to cancel all evidence gathered by prosecutors. Also under investigation as part of this case are Romania’s former president at the time of the miners’ riots, Ion Iliescu, the former prime minister Petre Roman, the former deputy prime minister Gelu Voican Voiculescu, the former advisor to the prime minister Adrian Sârbu, the former leader of the miners’ trade union in Jiu Valley Miron Cozma and the reserve military Vasile Dobrinoiu and Petre Peter.

Forestry. The National Forestry Management Romsilva has seven days to present the environment minister Mircea Fechet with a restructuring plan to drastically cut expenses. The minister requested the dismantling of the loss-making forestry divisions and reduction of the number of managers. He also wants the elimination of any form of bonuses and says he sees no reason an employee should receive more than their salaries this year. Romsilva director Marius Dan Siulescu said he would collect proposals from all his teams and will present the restructuring solutions identified. Forestry trade unions believe the ministry’s move is an attack against Rolsilva aimed at dismantling the company.

Football. Romanian football champions FCSB will be playing Manchester United at home on Thursday evening as part of the final leg of the Europa League main phase. Manchester sit in 4^th place in the ranking, with 15 points, while FCSB are in 8^th, with 14 points. The top eight teams qualify straight for the Round of 16, while the teams finishing in 9^th to 24^th place will go into playoffs in order to advance to stat next stage.