July 15, 2025
A roundup of local and world news
Newsroom, 15.07.2025, 13:55
VISITS The president of Romania Nicuşor Dan announced he would make official visits to Germany and Austria, focused on the economic component of foreign policy. At the end of this week, he will go to Germany, where he has meetings scheduled with president Frank-Walter Steinmeier and chancellor Friedrich Merz, as well as with members of the business community in that country. On July 25 and 26, Nicuşor Dan will be in Austria, where he is scheduled to meet with president Alexander Van der Bellen and chancellor Christian Stocker, and will also attend a business forum. The 2 countries provide over 25% of foreign direct investment in Romania.
MOTION The populist and hard-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), in opposition in Bucharest, announced that it had filed on Tuesday an unconstitutionality claim against what it called the Austerity Act, for which the ruling coalition took responsibility before Parliament. It is a toxic, deeply unfair and deeply unconstitutional law, an abuse of power committed with cynicism and contempt towards Romanians and towards the principles that govern an authentic democracy, AUR believes. The previous day, the joint Parliament Chambers dismissed a no-confidence motion also tabled by AUR, so the first set of fiscal measures intended to reduce the excessive budget deficit, the largest in the EU, has passed. On the other hand, several hundred employees from the Agriculture Payments and Intervention Agency, the Rural Investment Financing Agency, and the Ministry of Investments and EU Projects Tuesday picketed the Government offices to protest the cut of certain bonuses, which they say seriously affects the capacity to manage EU funds.
DEBT Romania’s foreign debt was approaching EUR 210 billion in May, continuing its upward trend in recent years, according to data released by the National Bank. In this context, experts believe the country’s public debt could exceed 60% of GDP next year. The main cause is the high budget deficit and, although the fiscal measures aimed at reducing it should also help improve the foreign debt situation, this does not mean that the debt will not increase, analysts say. The latest estimates by the rating agency Moody’s indicate that, even after implementing the first set of fiscal measures undertaken by the executive, Romania’s public debt would be kept at approximately 66.5% of GDP only starting 2029.
HOLIDAY Around 27% of EU citizens aged 16 or over could not afford a one-week annual holiday away from home, Eurostat reports. According to data for 2024, the number decreased by 1.5% compared to 2023 and is significantly lower (by 10.6%) than a decade ago, in 2014. The highest proportion of people who could not afford a one-week annual holiday was reported in Romania (58.6%), Greece (46.0%) and Bulgaria (41.4%).
MEETING EU foreign ministers convene in Brussels today to discuss the war in Ukraine and the situation in the Middle East, as a decision on the 18th set of sanctions against Russia is still pending, dpa reports. The sanctions proposed by the European Commission in June target Russia’s financial and energy sectors in response to president Vladimir Putin refusing to accept an unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine. The sanctions were suspended after the Slovak PM Robert Fico said he was not ready to approve the proposal, citing concerns about Slovakia’s gas imports. EU ministers will discuss the war with their Ukrainian counterpart, Andrii Sybiha, who plans to attend the meeting via video link. The agenda also includes the situation in the Middle East, after the EU announced last week an agreement with Israel to improve access to humanitarian aid in Gaza.
UKRAINE The president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on Monday night that he had a phone call with the US President Donald Trump, reconfirming the commitment to support Ukraine. According to a Telegram post, the two leaders discussed strengthening security and achieving a just and sustainable peace. Zelenskyy thanked his US counterpart for his willingness to work together to stop the war, while Trump shared with Zelenskyy details of his meeting with NATO’s secretary general Mark Rutte. The talks included the Alliance’s efforts to increase defence spending, as well as the means to strengthen the protection of the Ukrainian population from Russian attacks. Zelenskyy also had a separate call with Mark Rutte, who informed him about transatlantic coordination to support Ukraine. Zelenskyy welcomed the commitment of the US, Germany and Norway to deliver additional Patriot air defense systems and other types of weapons to defend citizens and withstand Russian attacks. (AMP)
