May 15, 2026
A roundup of local and international news.
Newsroom, 15.05.2026, 13:55
National Bank. The management of the National Bank of Romania is meeting today for its fourth monetary policy meeting this year. Experts expect that, amid the current political crisis, the Central Bank will maintain the reference interest rate at 6.5%. The key interest rate is expected to be maintained at this level until the end of the year, due to the significant depreciation of the national currency (leu) and the high inflation rate of almost 11%, in April. Financial analyst Adrian Codirlaşu told Radio Romania that one of the factors driving the inflation rate up is the high budget deficit, against the backdrop of an increase in the state’s financing costs. He said the high level of taxes and high interest rates result in a drop in private consumption and investments, which further slows down the economy, and the population feels the pressure in the form of price hikes and a lower purchasing power.
Talks. President Nicuşor Dan has invited parliamentary parties to official consultations in order to appoint a new prime minister. The talks will begin on Monday morning, and the delegations have one hour each to present their options. The first to be received by the president are the representatives of the Social Democratic Party, followed by the Alliance for the Union of Romanians, the National Liberal Party, the Save Romania Union, the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, the group of national minorities, SOS and the Party of Young People.
Funding. The European Commission has approved Romania’s Payment Request number 4 under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, worth around 2.6 billion euros. The money will go into the digitalisation of public administration, healthcare, education, social infrastructure, energy and transport. The Commission’s decision must now be endorsed by the Economic and Financial Committee of the European Union, after which the money will be sent to Bucharest. Romania will thus have received almost 13 billion euros under the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism, accounting for over 60% of the total amount of funding allocated to it.
Crime. A transnational criminal group that sold dietary supplements as a treatment for incurable diseases has been dismantled, under the coordination of the prosecutors from the Romanian anti-terrorism and anti-mafia prosecutor’s office. The criminal group was made up of Romanian, Moldovan, Ukrainian, Russian, Bulgarian and Polish nationals, and from 2019, it is believed to have caused damages of over 370 million lei, over 100 million euros and three million leva and forints to victims in Romania, other European Union member states and beyond. The leaders of the group allegedly set up companies through which they sold products under the name of dietary supplements, many of which were not authorised for sale. The products were promoted exclusively online, through 200 websites, and some of the call center workers presented themselves to callers as doctors or medical specialists. Six people are in temporary arrest in Romania, three were detained in Poland, investigations into ten people are continuing in the Republic of Moldova, and the central warehouse was identified in Bulgaria, where enormous quantities of supplements were discovered.
Eurovision. Romania has qualified for the Eurovision Song Contest final to be hosted by the Austrian capital Vienna, along with nine other countries represented in the semi-final that took place on Thursday evening. Alexandra Căpitănescu and her band were the third contestants to enter the stage and put on a show described by commentators as “electrifying”, singing their entry “Choke Me”. The Republic of Moldova also qualified to the final from the first semi-final, held on Tuesday. At this year’s edition, the ranking of the songs in the semi-finals was the result in equal measure of public vote and of the national juries. (CM)
