May 5, 2025 UPDATE
A roundup of the latest world and local news
Newsroom, 05.05.2025, 20:34
PRIME MINISTER Romania’s Prime Minister and PSD leader, Marcel Ciolacu, on Monday announced his resignation upon the failure in the first round of the presidential election experienced by the coalition’s candidate, Crin Antonescu. At the same time, the Social-Democratic leadership has unanimously voted in favour of leaving the ruling coalition. An interim president will be appointed at the chairmanship of the Executive, which would function until the second round of the presidential election, political sources have announced. The PSD ministers will remain interim until a new government is being appointed. PNL and UDMR have announced their support for Nicusor Dan and so has the opposition USR. According to Nicusor Dan, ’for the election on May 18, Romania has two main directions, a pro-western and an anti-western direction’. He also pointed out that in the following period, it is society, which must debate on the direction the country must follow.
RESIGNATION Elena Lasconi on Monday stepped down as leader of the Save Romania Union, the pro-western opposition. She issued a statement saying the decision comes after a period marked by political and personal challenges, but that she is confident in the future of her party and that of Romania. Dominic Fritz takes over the USR chairmanship to become the party’s interim president. Lasconi won a very low percentage in the first round of the presidential elections. At the previous ballot, held last year and cancelled by the Constitutional Court on account of the election process being corrupted, she had made it to the second round, where she was due to face the extremist candidate Calin Georgescu.
ELECTION The candidate of the populist, ultranationalist Alliance for the Union of Romanians, George Simion, and Bucharest’s mayor Nicușor Dan, who ran as an independent, entered the second round of the presidential elections. With all of the votes cast on Sunday counted, George Simion won the first round with 49.96%, followed by Nicușor Dan with 20.99%. The candidate of the Romania Forward electoral alliance, Crin Antonescu, who ran on behalf of the ruling parties, the Social Democratic Party, the National Liberal Party and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, won 20.07% of the votes. Voter turnout was 53.21% and 973,129 Romanians in the diaspora went to the ballots.
VISAS The US Department of Homeland Security in consultation with the Department of State has rescinded Romania’s Visa Waiver Programme (VWP) designation, according to a communiqué published on the institution’s web page. It recalls that on March 25, 2025, DHS paused the implementation of the VWP in order to conduct a review of Romania’s designation. That aforementioned review has concluded and, given this Administration’s focus on border and immigration security, the Department decided that Romania’s designation should be rescinded in order to protect the integrity of the Visa Waiver Programme and to ensure border and immigration security. Romania may be reconsidered for VWP designation in the future should they meet the statutory eligibility criteria. The Romanian Foreign Ministry has voiced regret regarding the decision of the US administration and the Romanian government says it is essential that the US partners provide all the technical details on which the temporary rescission of Romania’s VWP designation is based.
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