March 30, 2026
A roundup of local and world news
Daniel Bilț, 30.03.2026, 14:00
MEASURES A government working group is to convene in Bucharest today for talks over a new set of measures for capping fuel prices. According to Prime Minister, Ilie Bolojan, the talks are most likely to focus on trimming fuel excises. The Prime Minister explains however that the state intervention will be limited due to budgetary constraints. Last week the government in Bucharest endorsed an emergency ordinance instituting a crisis situation on the fuel market as of April 1st and applying intervention measures by the end of June. Among other things the law provides for capping the markup at the average level of 2025 for the entire chain, from refinery to the final sale, limiting the exports of diesel and crude as well as sanctions of up to 10% of turnover for violations.
VOTE The Senate in Bucharest is today debating and voting on a simple motion against the Environment Minister, Diana Buzoianu. The signatories, from the nationalist opposition, are blaming the minister for having blocked several energy projects, for creating a water crisis in two counties in southern Romania and for inappropriate landfill management. The co-ruling Social-Democrats have announced they will be voting the motion, whereas her party, the USR has rejected all the criticism and accused the PSD of having repeatedly disregarded the cooperation protocol within the ruling coalition. The Senate also debated upon a simple motion against Diana Buzoianu in December.
VISITS The European Commissioners Roxana Manzatu and Apostolos Tzitzikostas are currently on two separate visits in Romania. The European Commission’s vice-president for Social Rights and Skills, Quality Jobs and Preparedness, the Romanian Roxana Manzatu will be seeing President Nicusor Dan and Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan and will be having talks with the Committees for Labour in the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies focusing on the labour market and social policies. The EU Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism Apostolos Tzitzikostas is having talks with the Romanian authorities on various projects of connectivity, initiative and strategies aimed at boosting economic cohesion and supporting supply chains as well as the main role of the EU funding in streamlining transport networks.
FOOTBALL Assistant coach Ionel Gane will be heading the Romanian national football side during the friendly they are playing against Slovakia in Bratislava on March 31st, after selector Mircea Lucescu was admitted to hospital on Sunday. The sport publications in Bucharest write that the match in Bratislava would have been the last in the brilliant career of the 80-years-old selector. Romania was eliminated by Turkiye from the World Cup qualifying play-offs in Istanbul on Thursday night, after a match Romania lost 1-0.
SURVEY The AUR party of Romania’s sovereignist opposition would muster 33% of the votes if election were held in Romania next Sunday, followed by the PSD with 24% and the PNL with 16%, says a survey conducted by the Center of Urban and Regional Sociology, CURS. Next in the ranking comes the USR with 9% and UDMR with 5%. On a question regarding Romania’s present direction, 80% of the respondents have described that direction as a bad one, whereas only 17% deemed it as a good one. The survey has been conducted on 1517 adults, representative at the national level over March 23 and 27.
IRAN The US president Donald Trump says he is considering seizing the Iranian strategic island of Kharg in the Gulf, but on the other hand he says the talks with Iran are making significant progress and that Teheran would have accepted most of Washington’s requests – international media has announced. Kharg is playing a vital role in the Iranian economy being a major fuel hub. The US has already bombed the island, 25 kilometers off the coast, but Teheran has consolidated its defence both on the island and the surrounding waters.
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