May 21, 2025

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 21.05.2025, 13:55

RESULTS – The Central Election Bureau on Tuesday made public the minutes of the results of the second round of voting in the presidential elections in Romania, held on May 18. The independent Nicuşor Dan got over 6.1 million votes while nationalist George Simion got over 5.3 million. After receiving all the documents from the Central Election Bureau and solving the requests for the election’s annulment, the Constitutional Court is expected to validate the election and publish the results in the Official Journal. Then, within 24 hours, the presidents of the two Chambers of Parliament will call for a joint session of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, for the oath-taking by the one whose election was validated. On Tuesday evening, George Simion, who admitted his defeat, announced that he would challenge the May 18 election at the Constitutional Court for the same reasons for which the presidential elections in December were annulled. He denounced the alleged involvement in this year’s election of non-state and state actors, mentioning the Republic of Moldova and France.

REACTIONS – Six American senators, both Republicans and Democrats, members of the Unites States Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee congratulated, in a message, Romania’s president-elect, Nicuşor Dan. “We look forward to working with you to further strengthen the indestructible alliance between Romania and the United States, because when we collaborate, we can achieve much,” the message reads. “From support for Ukraine, to strengthening energy partnerships, to safeguarding our democracies, the Euro-Atlantic community is stronger when Romania is at the table,” the American senators also said. In Bucharest, president-elect Nicuşor Dan has a meeting today with representatives of the US Embassy. He made the announcement after the American diplomacy said that the US looks forward to collaborating with the new head of state and the future government. In the meantime, President Donald Trump announced that the new American ambassador to Bucharest will be lawyer Darryl Nirenberg.

GOVERNMENT –  Romania’s president- elect Nicuşor Dan is meeting today with representatives of the business community to talk about the country’s economic situation, aggravated by the growing budget deficit. The issue was analyzed on Tuesday by Nicuşor Dan and officials with the Ministry of Finance. At the same time, informal talks are held in Bucharest with a view to forming the future Government. Romania currently has an interim one, after the resignation, on May 5, of the Social Democratic Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu. Most leaders within the PSD, which has the largest representation in Parliament, say that the party should go into opposition for a period, from where it can offer support for rational and good solutions for Romanians. The other parties that supported Nicuşor Dan in the election campaign – PNL, UDMR and USR – say they want the Social Democrats to be by their side in the government, during a difficult economic and financial period. AUR, whose nationalist candidate, George Simion, was defeated by Nicuşor Dan in the second round of the presidential election, announced that his party would remain in opposition and would not respond to the president-elect’s invitation to participate in future consultations.

INFLATION – The National Bank of Romania expects an inflation rate of 4.6% at the end of the year, higher than the previous forecast of 3.8%. In a press conference held on Tuesday, the head of the National Bank, Mugur Isărescu, drew attention to the fact that the forecast used data collected before May 1, and the analysis does not include what happened during the presidential elections, so the forecast may change. In his opinion, the big problem of the Romanian economy remains the high budget deficit. Mugur Isărescu also has said that, this month, there has been a strong pressure on the foreign exchange market, with some of the largest capital outflows from the country, and the National Bank has intervened with very large amounts to stabilize the exchange rate.

CELEBRATION – Orthodox and Greek Catholic Christians celebrate today St. Emperors Constantine and Helena, the spiritual protectors of the Patriarchal Cathedral in Bucharest. Constantine is the first canonized Christian emperor. He ruled the Roman Empire between 306 and 337. In 313, he promulgated a decree granting Christians the right to  their faith, after 250 years of persecution against them. Constantine’s mother, Saint Helena, is known for having found the wood of the Holy Cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified and for building several churches at the Holy Places in Jerusalem. The relics of the St. Empress Helena have been recently brought from Venice to Romania, a mostly Orthodox country. Almost 2 million Romanians celebrate their name day today. (EE)