November 15, 2025
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 15.11.2025, 13:55
Drones. The Russian Federation’s ambassador to Romania, Vladimir Lipaev, was summoned on Friday to the Romanian Foreign Ministry for talks about the drone that had recently entered Romanian airspace. According to a statement from the Bucharest diplomatic service, he was presented with “tangible, extensive, and solid” evidence of the violation of Romanian airspace by an unmanned aerial vehicle belonging to the Russian military during the night of November 10-11. The institution states that the fragments recovered by the Romanian authorities from the crash site of the aircraft prove beyond doubt its origin and involvement in the massive attacks that night against Ukrainian civilian infrastructure near the border with Romania. The Romanian side expressed its strong protest to the Russian ambassador against this “unacceptable and irresponsible act,” which represents a violation of Romania’s sovereignty. In a statement published last night on its Facebook page, the Russian Embassy in Bucharest rejects the accusations, which it describes as “absurd and unfounded,” and writes that the fragments and photographs of an unmanned aerial vehicle presented are not in fact evidence, as the coordinates of the aircraft’s entry into Romania and data on its route were not provided. The Russian Embassy also argues that the nature of the fragments unequivocally indicates that the drone did not crash on its own, but was shot down by air defence forces, which could only have happened outside Romanian airspace, completely ruling out any speculation about an alleged intentional violation of Romania’s territorial integrity.
Inflation. The National Bank of Romania has revised its annual inflation forecasts upwards, both for the end of this year, from 8.8% to 9.6%, and for the end of 2026, from 3% to 3.7%. The governor of the Central Bank, Mugur Isărescu, stressed that the reasons why prices rose more than expected between July and September are not only the increases in VAT and excise duties or the liberalization of the energy market, but also the rather tense political and social climate. Isărescu estimated that inflation in Romania will only begin to decline towards the end of next year, after the effects of tax increases and the removal of caps on electricity prices have dissipated. Thus, inflation would return to the NBR’s target range of 1.5-3.5% only in the first quarter of 2027.
Protest. Nearly a thousand people protested on Friday evening in front of the High Court of Cassation and Justice in Bucharest, demanding the dismissal of Supreme Court President Lia Savonea. The protest was organized by several civic organizations, including Declic and the Timişoara Initiative, which say that since Judge Lia Savonea became president of the High Court, magistrates have released several people convicted of corruption and overturned several final convictions. The protesters also expressed their dissatisfaction with the fact that judges and prosecutors do not want to give up their current privileges and are demanding higher pensions. Also in front of the High Court of Cassation and Justice headquarters, a demonstration in support of Judge Lia Savonea took place on Friday evening, attended by several lawyers.
IMF. The International Monetary Fund urges Romania to develop an appropriate mix of policies and reforms to support economic growth and protect financial stability. The recommendations appear in a report prepared by the international financial institution following consultations with the Bucharest administration. According to the document, the IMF leadership welcomes the comprehensive fiscal reform package for 2025-2026 recently adopted, but notes that it must be fully implemented to strengthen market confidence. On the other hand, IMF representatives agreed that the resurgence of inflationary pressures requires a cautious approach to monetary policy and recommend that the National Bank of Romania resume cuts in the monetary policy interest rate only after wage and price growth moderates in a sustained manner.
Pollution. Romania is among the nine European Union member states that reduced their greenhouse gas emissions in the first half of the year while also seeing growth in their gross domestic product. In the second quarter of 2025, greenhouse gas emissions from the EU economy were estimated at 772 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, a decrease of 0.4% compared to the same quarter of 2024. At the same time, the Union’s gross domestic product grew by 1.3%. The economic sectors that have consistently reduced their emissions from year to year are electricity, gas, and air conditioning, by almost 3%, manufacturing, and transport, by 0.4% each. In contrast, households increased their emissions by 1%.
Moldova. The Republic of Moldova (a former Soviet republic with a Romanian-speaking majority) officially took over the chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on Friday during a ceremony held in Strasbourg. Chisinau Foreign Minister Mihai Popşoi presented the priorities of the mandate, emphasizing that support for Ukraine and the operationalization of the Special Tribunal for crimes of aggression, as well as the Complaints Commission, are the key directions of the Moldovan presidency. Over the next six months, while chairing the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, the Republic of Moldova will focus on children’s rights, combating violence against women, strengthening social rights, supporting local democracy, and fighting disinformation. (MI)
