June 8, 2026
A roundup of local and world news
Newsroom, 08.06.2026, 13:55
BANKS The Competition Council has fined 10 banks in Romania a record EUR 700 million, for alleged violation of competition rules for setting the ROBOR index, which influences interest rates on loans. According to the Competition Council, the banks coordinated their policies by exchanging confidential information within the procedure for setting the ROBOR index, thus breaching national and European competition rules. The institution’s chairman Bogdan Chiriţoiu said the investigation exclusively targeted bank conduct during the so-called fixing period, when the rates should have been independent and secret.
GOVERNMENT “The pressure is huge, the responsibility towards the country is huge and I wish that political parties, beyond their discontent or their legitimate expectations, would give me the chance to offer Romania a competent, skilled government, to handle the challenges Romania is facing,” Romania’s prime minister-designate Eugen Tomac said. He has started negotiations with parliamentary parties in order to secure the 233 votes needed for his endorsement. The first consultations were with the Liberals, and Eugen Tomac said that he was confident after the talks. “A government of technocrats that does not have clear political support in parliament will not be able to push the reforms Romania needs,” said the Liberal leader and outgoing PM Ilie Bolojan, who announced that a decision would be made by the party mid-week. The agenda for today’s consultations also includes Save Romania Union and the Social Democratic Party, with talks with the fourth member of the former ruling coalition, UDMR, scheduled for Tuesday. Also on Tuesday Eugen Tomac will have talks with the parliamentary group of national minorities, as well as with independent and unaffiliated MPs. Under the Constitution, Tomac, who is putting together a cabinet made up exclusively of specialists, has one week left before requesting a vote of confidence from Senators and Deputies on his programme and cabinet team.
RUSSIA The foreign affairs ministry spokesperson Andrei Ţărnea says no EU member country took part in what he called the festival of Russia supporters in St. Petersburg. In an X post quoted by the Romanian mass media, Ţărnea emphasises that the European Union and its members stand for values that are incompatible with economic oligarchy and state capture or with regimes that wage illegal wars of conquest against neighbours. His statement comes after the press reported on the presence at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum of the leader of the populist party S.O.S. Romania, the MEP Diana Şoşoacă, known to the local public as an unrepentant Russophile and a passionate scandalmonger. She also had a dialogue with Russia’s president Vladimir Putin during one of the sessions of the meeting.
PROTESTS Members of the Sanitas trade union federation will go on a work-in strike on Tuesday. They are unhappy with the new unified wage bill, which they say provides for bonus cuts leading to substantial income decreases for all healthcare and social assistance staff. Last week, several thousand Sanitas unionists protested in Bucharest, marching from the Government head offices to the Parliament. Trade unions in public education have also announced a rally and a protest march on June 17. The interim labour minister Dragoş Pîslaru said the other day that the draft will be amended where the arguments are solid. A new unified wage law should be endorsed by Parliament by the end of August, for Romania not to lose approx. EUR 700 mln in funding under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.
HANDBALL Romania’s women’s handball vice-champions CSM Bucharest won the Champions League 3rd-place final, defeating the French team Brest 32-26 on Sunday in Budapest, Hungary. The day before, in the semi-finals, the Romanians had lost 27-32 to another team from France, Metz, and Brest had been defeated 31-30 by the Hungarian team Gyor. CSM Bucharest won the Champions League in 2016, and in 2017 and 2018 it qualified for the Final Four and finished in 3rd place each time. The new European champion is Metz, 31-29 with Gyor in the final. (AMP)
