May 21, 2025 UPDATE

The latest news from RRI

Newsroom, 21.05.2025, 19:57

Talks – The President-elect, Nicuşor Dan, emphasizes that the main priority during this period is to correct the budget deficit. He also said that the development of a plan to reduce public spending could no longer be postponed. The topic was analyzed on Tuesday by Nicuşor Dan and officials from the Finance Ministry. The President-elect said that he maintained his stand that it is not necessary to increase the VAT, but to reduce spending in order to solve the problem of the budget deficit. In parallel, informal discussions are taking place in Bucharest with a view to forming the future Government. The current one is functioning on an interim basis, after the resignation, on May 5, of the Social Democratic Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu. The opinion of the majority within the Social Democratic Party (PSD), with the largest representation in Parliament, would be, at present, that the party should go into opposition for a period of time, from where it can offer support for rational and good solutions for Romanians. The other parties that supported Nicuşor Dan in the presidential election campaign – PNL, UDMR and USR – have said that they want the Social Democrats to be with them in the government, in a difficult economic and financial period. The Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), whose nationalist candidate, George Simion, was defeated by Nicuşor Dan in the second round of the presidential election, announced that it would remain in opposition and would not respond to the president’s invitation to participate in future consultations.

Ambassador – Six American senators, both Republicans and Democrats, members of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations sent, in a statement, congratulations to the president elect of Romania, Nicuşor Dan. ‘We look forward to working with you to further strengthen the indestructible alliance between Romania and the United States, because when we work together, 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 six American senators added. In Bucharest, Nicuşor Dan welcomed the nomination of Darryl Nirenberg for the position of United States ambassador to Romania. ‘I look forward to working closely with President Trump and his administration to further strengthen the Strategic Partnership between Romania and the United States. Our countries are united by decades of cooperation, supported by common values ​​and shared interests. I am fully confident that, together, we will carry out major projects that will bring more security and prosperity to our peoples,’ Nicușor Dan wrote on the X network.

CCR – The Constitutional Court of Romania (CCR) will debate on Thursday the request of the leader of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), George Simion, to cancel the presidential election won by the independent Nicușor Dan. George Simion asks the judges to find that ‘the electoral process regarding the election of the President of Romania in 2025 was marred by multiple irregularities and violations of electoral legislation, which had a convergent effect of disregarding the essential principles of democratic elections’. The leader of the AUR claims that, in the period between the day of the vote in the first round and the date of the start of the electoral campaign for the second round, ‘an operation of disinformation of the electorate and denigration against him’ began, which was carried out including on election day. He also states that there were foreign interferences in the unfolding of the electoral process in Romania, which had the aim of carrying out acts of electoral fraud and ‘contributed to the propagation of disinformation’, by artificially promoting false scenarios. We recall that, in the second round of voting of the Romanian presidential election, on May 18, Nicuşor Dan obtained over 6.1 million votes, and the nationalist George Simion over 5.3 million.

Press conference – Romania’s interim president, Ilie Bolojan, held a press conference in Bucharest on Wednesday, in which he presented the activity carried out during his mandate which started on February 12 and which he will hand over to the president-elect, Nicușor Dan, on Monday, May 26. During all this time, he stated that he had in mind anchoring on two pillars: membership in the EU and NATO and the relationship with the USA. ‘We had clear positions both on the war in Ukraine, where we supported a just peace and respect for international law, and on the relationship with the Republic of Moldova. Romania’s positions were predictable, convergent with the government and in this way I believe we contributed to consolidating an image of a state and country that you can rely on’, Ilie Bolojan specified. He explained that there were also important discussions in the field of defense, which meant consolidating NATO’s eastern flank, strengthening the national defense industry, and accessing European funds. Another important direction was related to internal political stability and inter-institutional dialogue. Collaboration with the government was a priority because in the context of a large budget deficit, political instability creates even bigger problems, the interim president said. Regarding Sunday’s presidential election, he stressed that they were organized in the best conditions, and the Romanians expressed their point of view.

Moldova – The EU member states decided on Wednesday in the Council to extend the European Union Partnership Mission in the Republic of Moldova (ex-Soviet state with a majority Romanian-speaking population) for another two years. Furthermore, the Council increased the role of the strategic advisory mission provided to the Moldovan authorities on security matters. The partnership mission was established in the first year after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine and considering the observation that Russia has tried to influence society and politics in Chisinau through methods and instruments that are today known as hybrid warfare. This involves interference through manipulation, propaganda or cyber attacks. The head of the mission is the Romanian diplomat Cosmin Dinescu, and the mission is under the command of the European External Action Service. (LS)