July 3, 2025 UPDATE
A roundup of local and world news
Newsroom, 03.07.2025, 20:10
EU The Danish presidency of the Council of the EU wants the transformation of EU into a stronger economic, military and political player at world level but also the continuation of the bloc’s enlargement, the Danish Minister for European Affairs, Marie Bjerre has said. She has also said the EU stayed in the shadow of the United States for too long both from the military and economic points of view and the strategy must change so that it may not lose ground in its relations with the other world players. The Danish official says that in the past months, her country has been shocked not only by the statements of the Trump administration about Greenland, which is part of the Danish kingdom, but also by Washington’s attitude towards other subjects, such as Ukraine. In terms of the EU enlargement, the Council’s Danish presidency wants to put pressure on Hungary and use all means available to eliminate Budapest’s blockage of Ukraine’s accession, which also indirectly blocks the accession of the Republic of Moldova since both states are treated equally. Denmark wants during its mandate to open negotiation chapters both with Kyiv and Chisinau. On July 1, Denmark took over the half-yearly EU rotating presidency.
MEASURES The Finance Ministry in Bucharest on Thursday published a draft law on a series of fiscal-budgetary measures including an increased VAT from 19 to 21%, increased excises, increased taxes on dividends from 10 to 16% and an additional tax on banking. The draft also includes higher taxes on gambling and the payment of social contributions for pensions higher than three thousand lei. Field Minister Alexandru Nazare says that the aforementioned package of measures allows Romania to avoid the risk of having its European funds suspended and of losing the quality of an economy recommended for investment; it also opens the way of negotiations on PNRR loans, which would have been blocked otherwise. He says the package has been discussed with the European Commission and if it gets approved by the Ecofin Council, the Commission’s evaluation will be a good one. According to him the package will have an impact of 10.75 billion lei this year. “The impact on revenues in 2026 is of 35 billion and on expenses of 57 billion. Out of these 57 billion, 18 billion represents the freezing of salaries and pensions and all the other related rights” Nazare explained. He presented an evolution of the public expenses in the past five years, which grew by 43%, and says that in order to get out of the budget deficit Romania presently has “we must work very hard in the following five years.”
TALKS Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan has held consultations with representatives of trade union confederations on government measures to reduce the budget deficit. Romania needs both structural measures to increase credibility in financial markets and among investors, as well as solutions to correct injustices and imbalances in order to rebuild the trust of our citizens, Bolojan said. He announced that the National Tripartite Council for Social Dialogue will meet on Friday to continue the consultations. The measures that the executive intends to adopt have been criticised by trade unions and public sector employees. There have been spontaneous protests all week by workers at the Ministry of Finance, the Tax Authority, Romanian Waters National Administration, and court clerks. In turn, education unions are threatening to launch a general strike at the beginning of the school year in September.
JULY 4th The United States of America is Romania’s most important ally and strategic partner, said President Nicuşor Dan at a reception held at the American Embassy in Bucharest to mark the United States’ National Day on 4 July. The Romanian head of state recalled that the two countries have several major areas of ongoing cooperation, from strengthening air defence to the production of drones and ammunition. These represent more than just equipment and systems; they are a tangible demonstration of a shared commitment to collective defence and regional stability, said Nicuşor Dan, adding that the development of national defence capabilities will continue, as will the development of strategic infrastructure to enable the deployment, transit, stationing and hosting of US and other allied forces on national territory. The Romanian-American strategic partnership was mentioned by the chargé d’affaires of the US Embassy in Bucharest, Michael Dickerson, who recalled that this partnership is based on common democratic values, on a commitment to mutual economic growth in the field of trade and energy cooperation, in the field of security and defence, as well as deep and lasting human ties. Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan also referred to the strategic partnership, based on trust, respect and common goals.
WEATHER The Romanian National Meteorological Administration (ANM) has issued an amber alert for heatwave and severe thermal discomfort, valid on Friday and Saturday in over half of the country, including Bucharest, as well as a yellow alert for extremely hot weather, covering the rest of the country during the same period. The amber code will be in place in counties in the west, north-west, south-west and centre. In these regions, the heatwave will intensify and the temperature-humidity index (THI) will exceed the critical threshold of 80 units. Maximum temperatures will range between 37 and 40 degrees. A yellow warning has been issued for the south, east and south-east, where the highs range between 33 and 38 degrees. The THI will reach or slightly exceed the critical threshold of 80 units in these areas as well. The ANM specifies that the heatwave will recede on Saturday towards the southern half of Romania, and on Sunday it will intensify again in all regions.
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