June 13, 2026
A roundup of local and world news
Newsroom, 13.06.2026, 13:55
COMMEMORATION The president of Romania Nicuşor Dan laid a wreath on Saturday in Bucharest’s University Square, at the Monument devoted to the victims of the miner’s raids of June 13-15, 1990. The head of state Wednesday signed a decree establishing June 15 as the National Remembrance Day for the victims of the miner’s raids of June 13-15, 1990 and of antidemocratic repression, with the aim of honoring the victims of the violence in June 1990, of promoting civic education and of preventing such atrocities from happening again. During those days, law enforcement agencies, with the help of groups of coal miners, staged a crackdown on the protesters in University Square. The protests were directed against the government then led by the National Salvation Front and against then-president Ion Iliescu, and had begun on April 22, 1990. During the violent intervention of the miners called for help, 4 people were killed, 1,300 were injured and 1,200 were illegally detained.
VIOLENCE The Romanian foreign ministry received 11 requests for consular assistance from Romanian nationals that felt in danger amid local anti-immigration protests in Northern Ireland. As many as 41 Romanian citizens, including 17 children, have asked for help. So far, the Romanian embassy in Dublin has issued 15 travel documents for the Romanian nationals to return to the country. In turn, the Romanian consul general in Edinburgh has visited the Romanian families affected by the violent incidents in Belfast and talked with local authorities and police. The foreign ministry urges the Romanian citizens in Northern Ireland to follow the local police instructions and to avoid traveling to areas where anti-immigration protests are taking place.
MOLDOVA EU member states agreed to open the first set of accession negotiations with Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, with the first intergovernmental conference scheduled for Monday, when the chapter on the foundations of accession will be officially opened. Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the significant political and moral support for his country, amid the conflict with Russia. The president of Moldova, Maia Sandu, also said in a social media post that her country had done its homework and would carry on reforms in order to join the European family. In Bucharest, president Nicuşor Dan spoke about a landmark in the EU enlargement process and pledged support for the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. On June 23, 2022, the European Council granted Ukraine and Moldova the candidate country status, on June 21, 2024 the Council approved the negotiating framework, and 4 days later the EU held the first intergovernmental conference with Ukraine and Moldova, to start accession negotiations.
GOVERNMENT Romania’s interim government Friday approved several measures providing support for families at risk and increased funding for public services in several towns. The Bolojan Cabinet, dismissed in May following a no-confidence vote in Parliament, does not have the constitutional right to issue orders or to draft bills. Meanwhile, the PM designate Eugen Tomac is optimistic about next week’s parliamentary vote. The interim PM Ilie Bolojan, the leader of the National Liberal Party, says a government of technocrats has no chance of survival, while the Social Democratic Party makes its vote conditional on the repeal of austerity measures. Save Romania Union decided not to support Tomac’s cabinet, and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania is expected to make an official decision early next week, but the party’s leaders have already stated that they do not believe in a technocratic cabinet.
SPORTS The Romanian fencer Amalia Covaliu won the Piotr Nurowski Award for the best young female athlete in Europe in 2025, awarded by vote at the 55th General Assembly of the European Olympic Committees in Budapest on Friday night, according to the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee’s Facebook page. Amalia Covaliu is a world cadet sabre champion and multiple times a European junior medalist. The award was created in memory of the former president of the Polish Olympic Committee, Piotr Nurowski, who died in a plane crash in 2010, and is awarded annually for summer sports and, separately, for winter sports. The only other Romanian athletes to win the trophy were the Olympic swimming champion David Popovici in 2021, while in 2012 the gymnast Larisa Iordache came second. (AMP)
