May 30, 2025 UPDATE
A roundup of local and world news
Newsroom, 30.05.2025, 20:00
GOVERNMENT The pro-European parties in the Romanian Parliament, the Social Democratic Party, the National Liberal Party, Save Romania Union and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, will begin negotiations on Monday on a new government and a set of economic measures to reduce the budget deficit. The 4 political leaders met with the president of Romania, Nicuşor Dan at Cotroceni Palace on Friday. The latter said the new Cabinet will be formed in the next 2 to 3 weeks and the new PM must have credibility, as a period of tough economic measures is ahead. At the end of the meeting, the interim president of USR, Dominic Fritz, said the talks were open and productive, and all participants were aware of the responsibility for forming a stable government that can take the measures required in order to get Romania out of the budget crisis. Fritz also voiced optimism regarding a pro-European majority to back the new government in Parliament.
FLOODS Heavy rainfall in Romania in recent days has caused problems in 200 localities in 30 counties. Over 500 people have been evacuated, according to the latest official report. The counties facing the biggest problems were Braşov and Covasna (centre), Botoşani and Neamţ (northeast), Vrancea and Bacău (east). Teams from the Romanian Waters National Administration, firefighters and other structures have been deployed to the affected areas to manage the situation. Images from the scene show extensive flooded areas, people walking through the water or by boat in an attempt to save property. Meteorologists say that the weather has started to improve, but rain will still be reported over extended areas.
FUNDING Romania will receive about EUR 1.3 billion from the European Commission under the 3rd payment request in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, the minister of investments and European projects, Marcel Boloş, announced. He said the disbursement was approved by Brussels 2 days ago and the funds will be received by June 10. The third payment request included reforms related to the green and digital transition, sustainable transport, energy renovation, taxation and pensions, the business environment and good governance. The European Commission decided, however, to suspend a EUR 869 million payment until the end of November, because of the country’s failure to meet certain goals. One such milestone concerns the Authority for Monitoring Performance Indicators of Public Enterprises, another one refers to the management of companies subordinated to the energy ministry, and another one targets the issue of special pensions. The Romanian official also said that the 4th payment request is under negotiation with Brussels, and Bucharest seeks an increase from almost EUR 2.7 billion to EUR 5.7 billion. Boloş pointed out that the milestones in the new request include a tax reform, a pollution tax in the transport sector, the energy law, the justice laws, as well as the entry into force of the unified salary law.
SAVINGS The Romanian Senate will save approximately EUR 3.5 million per year as a result of a reorganisation which cut the personnel scheme by almost 150 positions. The speaker of Parliament’s upper chamber, the Liberal Ilie Bolojan, said in an online post that the cut was achieved through correct workload assignment and by adjusting the number of advisors to the Senate committees and Senators’ offices. He also said that he found the Senate is operating properly with the current personnel structure and mentioned that electronic work attendance registration has been implemented. Early this year, several Senate employees organised a protest against the reorganisation measures announced by the leader of the National Liberal Party and former interim president of Romania.
CONSTITUTIONAL COURT The Constitutional Court of Romania must quickly draft the reasoning for its ruling regarding public officials’ declarations of assets, and Parliament must amend the law, president Nicuşor Dan stated on Friday. He added that his declaration of assets will be made public. On Thursday, CCR ruled that the public officials’ asset and interest declarations should no longer be made public on the website of the National Integrity Agency and on the web pages of other public institutions. At the same time, they also ruled that these declarations should no longer include the incomes and assets owned by civil servants’ spouses and children.
UKRAINE The Romanian government has approved an approx. EUR 18 million contribution to the European Peace Facility. The amount is intended, in particular, to strengthen Ukraine’s capacity to train its armed forces and its defence capability, in the context of the aggression of the Russian Federation. The mandatory contribution was undertaken by Romania, along with the other EU member states, for the entire duration of its participation in the actions carried out by the European Union through the European Peace Facility. (AMP)
