July 25, 2025
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 25.07.2025, 13:55
Visit – Romania and Austria have everything they need to build an even stronger economic partnership, the Romanian President Nicușor Dan said on Friday. He delivered a speech to businesspeople gathered at the Salzburg 2025 Summit. At the same time, Nicușor Dan highlighted that investments from Austria represented 12% of the foreign investments in Romania, with a total of over 10 billion Euros, since the 1990s. Nicușor Dan also said that Romanians and Romanian companies can have a significant contribution to the Austrian labor market. He began an official two-day visit to Austria on Friday, at the invitation of his counterpart Alexander Van der Bellen. The Romanian head of state will also discuss with Federal Chancellor Christian Stocker. The Romanian president is also the guest of honor at the Salzburg Festival, a landmark cultural event. The discussions that the Romanian President will have with the Austrian officials will also address issues related to the Romanian community in Austria, cooperation in the field of internal affairs, education and culture. There will also be discussions on current topics on the European agenda, mainly the European Commission’s proposals on the post-2027 multiannual financial framework, migration and support for the enlargement process with both the Western Balkan states and the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine.
Trade unions – The three major Romanian education trade union federations are submitting an appeal to the Presidency today, asking the head of state not to promulgate the law assumed by the Government regarding some fiscal-budgetary measures aimed at reducing the country’s deficit. The application of the law will seriously affect both education employees and students, the union representatives say. They are supporting their claim with a report by the Institute of Educational Sciences which claims that the teaching norm in Romania is at the average level of the European Union and should not be increased, and also that an additional number of students in a class will alter the teaching act and will lead to a decrease in results, including in international assessments. In recent days, employees from numerous fields of activity have protested against the government’s austerity measures, with the unions warning that they could be pushed to an all-out strike in September if the solutions proposed as an alternative to some of the reforms under consideration are not taken into account. After a first package of measures adopted by the Executive by assuming responsibility, a second one is expected to be announced next week.
Rating – The financial rating agency Standard & Poor’s maintained, on Thursday, Romania’s rating in the investment category, and also the negative outlook, after the first package of fiscal measures recently assumed by the Romanian government to reduce the budget deficit. Finance Minister Alexandru Nazare says that the S&P assessment is a new signal of confidence from international markets. According to the latest data published by the Executive, Romania ended last year with a budget deficit of 157 billion lei (about 31 billion Euros), i.e. over 8% of the Gross Domestic Product and with a public debt that exceeded 1,129 billion lei (about 226 billion Euros).
OECD – The Romanian Foreign Minister Oana Ţoiu had a conversation on Thursday with the Secretary General of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Mathias Cormann, according to a Foreign Ministry statement. She reiterated Romania’s firm commitment to continuing the internal reforms necessary to become a member of the OECD in 2026. Oana Ţoiu and Mathias Cormann also discussed the organization’s priorities in the current geopolitical context, and the head of Romanian diplomacy stressed Bucharest’s commitment to actively supporting cooperation with partners in the region, especially with the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine, the economies of the Western Balkans and the wider Black Sea area. Romania began OECD accession talks in 2022, which requires alignment with the highest standards of economic and fiscal policies and decision-making transparency.
Football – Romania’s football vice-champion CFR Cluj (north-west) ended in a draw 0-0 last night’s match in Switzerland with FC Lugano in the Europa League. Universitatea Craiova (south) lost 1-2 to the Bosnian side FK Sarajevo in the Conference League. Returning to European cups after more than half a century, Universitatea Cluj finished 0-0 with FC Ararat-Armenia, also in the Conference League. Earlier this week, champion FCSB, from Bucharest, was defeated 1-0 by the North Macedonian team KF Shkendija in the second preliminary round of the Champions League. The decisive qualifying matches take place next week, all four in Romania. (LS)
