June 4, 2025 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 04.06.2025, 19:56
Presidency. Romania’s president Nicusor Dan on Wednesday underlined the need for having a new director of the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI). He also said that most likely the Foreign Intelligence Service (SIE) also needed a director. President Dan has also announced he will be assessing the activity of the director of the Guard and Protection Service, Lucian Pahonţu. “I have met him; he is the man who has attributions in terms of my personal security, of this institution and of course we have to collaborate”, the Head of the Romanian State told a news conference. In another development, he has announced that the King of Spain, Felipe 6th will be visiting Romania on June 10. President Nicusor Dan has also announced a visit to the neighboring ex-soviet, Romanian-speaking Republic of Moldova on June 10. The Romanian President is also to attend the NATO Summit in the Hague over June 24 and 26 and the European Council in Brussels on June 27.
Praid. Emergency works have started at the Praid salt mine in Harghita county, central Romania, in an attempt to salvage the site and solve the drinking water issue in the neighboring Mures County. The Harghita Prefect has announced that efforts aimed at deviating the course of the Corund River are underway and the construction company has given assurances that works will be completed early next month. Experts from the Netherlands, Spain, Germany and Hungary are to visit the region and offer recommendations regarding the risks posed and the environment impact, as the salt concentration of one of Corund’s tributaries, which supplies with drinking water roughly 40 thousand people, has reached nearly twice the admitted level. At the same time, the Romanian government has approved the first financial aid packages for the company Salrom, which is managing the salt mine and the companies operating inside it.
Deficit. Romania’s net expenditure growth is well above the ceiling set by its corrective path, posing clear risks to the correction of its excessive deficit by 2030. Consequently, the European Commission (EC) recommends that the Council adopt a decision establishing that Romania has not taken effective action to correct the imbalance. According to an analysis by the EU executive published on Wednesday, vulnerabilities have increased as Romania’s fiscal and current account deficits worsened and cost competitiveness deteriorated in 2024. Under these circumstances, the EC considers that the implementation of the medium-term fiscal-structural plan and a tax reform in 2025 could significantly reduce fiscal vulnerabilities. According to the EC, high net expenditure growth leads to persistently high public deficits (9.3% in 2024 and, based on the Commission’s spring 2025 forecast, 8.6% of the GDP in 2025) and an increase in the public debt ratio by more than ten percentage points since 2021. The EC has called on Romania to take swift action to comply with the requirements of the excessive deficit procedure. At the same time, the EC recommends that the authorities in Bucharest accelerate the implementation of the PNRR and reduce dependence on fossil fuels.
Bill. Liberals have tabled a bill in support of the victims of domestic violence. Under the new law, applications for divorce and partitions would be exempted from the payment of judicial stamp duty. According to the initiator of the aforementioned bill, the Liberal MP Alina Gorghiu, the measure is aimed at supporting the victims of domestic violence to overcome their trauma and regain their lives.
ConvEx-3 Romania is hosting this year’s edition of the ConvEx-3 international exercise, the most complex level in the series of tests developed by the International Atomic Energy Agency. For 36 to 48 hours, participating states simulate a nuclear accident and the response to such a disaster: international data exchange, requests for assistance and measures to protect the population, as well as coordination, decision-making and public communication under pressure. The scenario envisages a severe accident at the Cernavodă Nuclear Power Plant (south-east), and the command centre is designed to operate in Bucharest, under the coordination of the National Commission for Nuclear Activities Control and the Department for Emergency Situations. The international exercise will take place between 24 and 25 June. (MI)
