November 21, 2025
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 21.11.2025, 13:55
Conference – Romania’s President, Nicuşor Dan, declared on Friday in Bucharest that the expansion of the European Union to Moldova, Ukraine and the Western Balkans is not “an act of charity”, it is an investment in security. The statement was made at the high-level conference “Cohesion 2027+”, organized by the Ministries of Investments and European Projects, Foreign Affairs and Finance. The head of state also spoke about competitiveness and performance in the area of innovation. “One of my important messages is that, in the area of research, development and innovation, we must take care of the specific conditions that each country has and our objective is to make the economy in the European area progress in each of the member countries”, Nicuşor Dan stated. The Bucharest conference will also be attended by the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, the Romanian Roxana Mînzatu, responsible for social rights, skills, quality jobs and training. Also attending the conference are the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for Cohesion and Reforms, Raffaele Fitto, and the Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan.
Elections – The electoral campaign for the local by-elections organized on December 7 for the Bucharest General City Hall, for the leadership of the Buzău County Council (southeast) and for the positions of mayors in 12 communes and one city begins on Saturday. In Bucharest, there are 18 candidates, but, according to opinion surveys, the competition will be between the representatives of the coalition parties: Daniel Băluţă (PSD), Ciprian Ciucu (PNL) and Cătălin Drulă (USR). In the top four is the independent Anca Alexandrescu, supported by the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), in opposition. At the Buzău County Council, the former social-democratic prime minister Marcel Ciolacu is competing with Răzvan Moraru, a common candidate of PNL and USR. We recall that the position of general mayor of the capital remained vacant after the former chief mayor Nicuşor Dan became, in May this year, president of Romania.
Plan – The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will speak with his American counterpart, Donald Trump, in a few days’ time after the United States presented Kyiv with a draft peace plan to end Russia’s war in Ukraine. The White House spokeswoman rejected suggestions that the Ukrainians would be forced to make major concessions and insisted that the plan is good for both Russia and Ukraine. According to AFP, the plan mainly calls on Kyiv to cede the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk to Russia. These two regions, claimed by Moscow, as well as the Crimean Peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014, would be recognized de facto as Russian, including by the United States. Also under the 28-point plan, two other southern regions – Kherson and Zaporozhe – would be divided along the current front line. Kyiv would give up its NATO membership but would be ‘eligible’ to join the European Union.
Reform – The Superior Council of Magistracy in Bucharest will issue an opinion on the new government bill to reform the retirement system of magistrates, after the general assemblies of the courts and prosecutors’ offices in Romania rule on the draft law in sessions at the beginning of next week. The Superior Council of Magistracy made the announcement, without specifying, however, the date when it will send the opinion to the government. The executive would like to adopt the new law by the end of next week by assuming responsibility in Parliament, but it cannot do so without the advisory, but mandatory, opinion of the Council. The executive is constrained by the deadline of November 28, which cannot be exceeded without losing over 200 million Euros from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR). The new bill reduces the pensions of judges and prosecutors to 70% of the last net salary and extends the transition period to 15 years, at the end of which magistrates will retire at 65, like most employees.
Concert – The Orchestre National de France – National Orchestra of France and Orchestra Română de Tineret – Romanian Youth Orchestra performed together on Thursday evening in Paris, under the baton of Romanian conductor Cristian Măcelaru, on the stage of the Auditorium Hall of Radio France. The event marked the 145th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Romania and France. 80 musicians, half French and half Romanian, performed a repertoire chosen from the works of Georges Bizet, Maurice Ravel, Camille Saint-Saëns, George Enescu, Grigoraş Dinicu and Vladimir Cosma. Cristian Măcelaru, who has already conducted some of the greatest orchestras of the world, has been leading the National Orchestra of France for five years. (LS)
