July 22, 2025
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 22.07.2025, 13:55
Measures. Higher VAT rates and other taxes and excise duties, bonus cuts and a cap on pensions and salaries are to come into force on August 1. Romania’s Constitutional Court has rejected AUR’s appeal by which the opposition tried to block the first budget deficit reduction package, according to sources close to the CCR, quoted by Radio Romania. The measures were challenged at the CCR after the Bucharest Parliament rejected the motion of no-confidence tabled by AUR, SOS and POT. The three parties claim, among other things, that the government has abused the procedure of accountability to impose a heterogeneous package of measures that seriously affect millions of Romanians. The Prime Minister replied that the alternative would have been much worse and that these measures avoided Romania’s downgrading to junk status, which is not recommended for investment.
Deficit. Romania continues to have the highest budget deficit in the EU, but the indicator was down in the first 3 months of the year compared with the last 3 months of 2024. The data show that in the first quarter of 2025 Romania recorded a deficit of 7.5% of the GDP, a noticeable decrease from the last quarter of last year when the share had reached 9.6 percentage points. The downward trend in Romania’s deficit is larger than that of the EU, with the EU average registering a decrease of only 0.4 percentage points. After Romania, France continues to have the biggest budget. In terms of government debt to the GDP, the EU trend is up from 81% in the last quarter of 2024 to 81.8% in the first quarter of 2025. Romania is also on the rise, slightly higher than the European average, from 54.8% to 55.8%.
Corruption. The president of the National Authority for Consumer Protection (ANPC), Cristian Popescu Piedone, is being heard today at the headquarters of the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) in Romania in a case in which he is suspected of having warned an economic operator that he was about to inspect. Prosecutors raided a seaside resort where he was staying and brought him back to Bucharest for house searches. In parallel, investigators raided the economic operator and the ANPC headquarters.
Visit. “The most powerful tool against the hybrid war waged by Russia is to clarify prosperity and peace as common goals, as goals of our EU membership and Moldova’s European path,” said Romanian Foreign Minister Oana Țoiu, on a visit to Chisinau on Tuesday. She referred to the hybrid war waged by Russia not as a regional one, but as one extended to the entire European continent. The Romanian official met with President Maia Sandu, Prime Minister Dorin Recean, Parliament Speaker Igor Grosu and her counterpart Mihai Popșoi. Romania has confidence in the European path and supports the Republic of Moldova on its way, Oana Toiu assured. In her turn, Maia Sandu thanked Romania for its constant and firm support for the Republic of Moldova – both in the process of European integration and in the economic development and strengthening of democratic institutions. Discussions in Chisinau also focused on bilateral cooperation in key areas such as infrastructure and energy. This is the new foreign minister’s first official visit to Chisinau, in fact a continuation of talks on Moldova’s European integration held last week in Brussels by the two countries’ heads of diplomacy. The visit is taking place in a very important context: the Kremlin’s propaganda in the run-up to the parliamentary elections scheduled for September in the Republic of Moldova, the hostile cyber activities carried out throughout Europe by entities subordinated to the Russian Military Intelligence Service and the ban on entry to Romania imposed on the mayor of Chisinau, Ion Ceban. The latter measure was taken for reasons of national security, the Romanian foreign ministry said.
Cyber-attacks. Romania’s President Nicușor Dan said in a Facebook post that NATO, the European Union and the United Kingdom confirm that Russia is carrying out cyber-aggression, manipulation and disinformation in European countries, including Romania, also during election campaigns. He said, however, that the Romanian state needs to provide new evidence as it uncovers it and should have prevented what happened in November 2024. The first round of Romania’s presidential elections took place then, which was annulled by the CCR on grounds of foreign interference. Nicușor Dan also warned that even states with high-performing intelligence services prove such interference with difficulty.
Reform. The government in Bucharest is preparing a wide-ranging health care reform that will affect many sectors. The proposed reform introduces up-to-date performance criteria for hospital managers and department heads. Hospitals will receive more or less money depending on whether they meet the criteria. According to Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan, managers should allocate more money from hospital budgets to buy medicines, instruments and medical services and use less for salaries. Currently, the salary budget of a hospital stands at some 80-90% of the total. A real reform is needed because the current situation no longer allows just amending a few paragraphs or articles of the main law regulating the field, authorities say.
Football. Romanian football champions FCSB take on North Macedonian side KF Shkendija away from home tonight in the first leg of the Champions League second qualifying round. FCSB knocked out Andorra’s Inter Club d’Escaldes in the first round. On Thursday, Romania’s representatives also make their Conference League debuts, both away from home. In the second preliminary round, Universitatea Cluj (north-west) take on Armenians FC Ararat and Universitatea Craiova (south) meet Bosnians FK Sarajevo. Last week, runners-up CFR Cluj knocked Hungarian side Paksi Paksi out of the Europa League preliminaries after a 0-0 away draw and a 3-0 home defeat. (MI)
