May 7, 2025
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 07.05.2025, 13:55
Elections. Sovereignist George Simion, leader of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) got 40.96% of the votes, followed by the independent Nicuşor Dan, mayor of Bucharest, with 20.99 percent. These are the final results announced Tuesday evening by the Central Electoral Bureau (BEC), after centralizing all the minutes from the country and abroad for the first round of the presidential elections held on May 4. According to the calendar, BEC will submit the minutes to the Constitutional Court for the validation of the elections. The campaign for the second round of the elections – due on May 18 – starts on May 9th. Outside the borders, the voting process will take place over three days, under the same conditions as in the first round. OSCE observers who monitored the electoral process in Romania found, in a preliminary report, that the elections were managed efficiently, but that they were marked by insufficient supervision of some key aspects of the campaign.
Finances. Romanian Finance Minister Tánczos Barna said today that the budget deficit is now within normal parameters. He added that Romania can meet the deficit target of 7 percent of the GDP at the end of the year, if it achieves the forecasted revenues. Tánczos Barna acknowledges that the situation is not ideal, but manageable. In April, the revenue target was exceeded and over 50 billion lei (the equivalent of about 10 billion euros) in taxes, fees and excise duties were collected for the budget – the minister also said.
Repatriation. Nine people, Romanian citizens and their family members, were evacuated from the Gaza Strip and brought to the country, in the context of the deteriorating security situation in the region. They were repatriated with a Spartan aircraft of the Romanian Air Force, after, the day before, they had been transported to Jordan by a consular team of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Pope. A Holy Mass for the election of the new Pope will be celebrated this evening at the Roman Catholic Cathedral of St. Joseph in Bucharest. ‘We pray that the Holy Spirit will inspire the cardinal electors in choosing the one who will be the Successor of Saint Peter’ – it is stated on the Facebook page of the Archdiocese of Bucharest. At the Vatican, the process of electing the successor to Pope Francis, who passed away on Easter at the age of 88, begins today. 133 cardinal electors under the age of 80 will lock themselves in the Sistine Chapel and vote until one of them obtains a two-thirds majority of the votes and will thus become the spiritual leader of the 1.4 billion Catholics on the globe. The entire Catholic world will keep an eye on the Chapel’s chimney, waiting for the white smoke that will announce the designation of the new Pope. The fastest elected Sovereign Pontiff in history was Pius VII, who, in 1939, ascended the papal throne after only three rounds of voting.
Anniversary. The Romanian Radio Children’s Choir is celebrating its 80th anniversary, and the anniversary will be marked by two concerts on the Radio Hall stage. Following the record-breaking sale of tickets for the concert scheduled for May 10th – a couple of hours – a second one will take place on May 17th. Along with the current members of the choir, special guests, as well as former choristers, will take the stage. Among them will be mezzo-soprano Roxana Constantinescu, a former member of the Radio Children’s Choir, today one of the most valuable lyrical voices born in Romania and enjoying a fulminating career on the world’s great stages.
Visit. French President Emmanuel Macron is receiving today in Paris the Syrian leader Ahmad al-Shareh, who came to power after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December last year. It is the first visit of the Syrian transitional president to Europe. According to the Radio Romania correspondent in France, President Macron will communicate to him the expectations that Paris has from the government in Damascus – a real transition towards a democratic society, contribution to regional stability and, in particular, the fight against terrorism. Emmanuel Macron invited Ahmad al-Shareh to visit France in early February, in order to condition this visit, a month later, on the formation of a Syrian government that would include all components of civil society.
Celebration. Romanian sports celebrate today 39 years since Steaua Bucharest won the European Champions Cup in football. On May 7, 1986, in Seville, Spain, the team, made up exclusively of Romanian players, defeated the famous FC Barcelona in the final 2-0, after a penalty shootout. Steaua’s goalkeeper, Helmuth Duckadam, entered the Book of Records at that time, after saving all four shots fired by the Catalans. In February 1987, in Monte Carlo, Steaua also won the European Super Cup, after a 1-0 win against the Soviets from Dinamo Kiev. Two of the authors of those unique performances in the history of local football, goalkeeper Helmuth Duckadam, midfielder Lucian Bălan and defender Ilie Bărbulescu, have died in recent years. (MI)
