November 3, 2026
A roundup of local and world news
Newsroom, 03.11.2026, 13:55
WEATHER The heavy rainfalls of the past hours have affected over 20 towns and villages in southern and south-eastern Romania, as well as the capital city Bucharest. According to the latest reports issued by the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations, gale-force winds and heavy downpours have brought down trees and electricity posts, flooded households and damaged cars. Code red and orange alerts had been issued for the county of Constanta, in the southeast, where railway traffic was disrupted. Hydrologists had issued red and orange alerts for flooding in some parts of the county. Heavy downpours are also expected to continue in the country’s southern and southeastern regions as well as gale-force winds. Temperatures are below the period’s average in the aforementioned regions. The highs of the day are between 7 and 16 degrees Celsius.
AWARDS Irina Rimes, Om la Luna (Man in the Moon) and Dora Gaitanovici were among the artists who stepped onto the podium last night during Radio Romania 2026 Music Awards, one of the most important events devoted to the best acts in the local pop-rock industry. 14 musical projects and artists were awarded prizes for their musical achievements last year. The soundtrack was provided by Radio Romania Big Band under the baton of director Simona Strungaru, the recipient of the Excellency Award. Through its cultural and musical programmes, the promotion of Romanian songwriters and young talents, by capitalizing on the sound heritage and the activity of its own musical groups, Radio Romania has been a supporter of artistic creation, cultural diversity, passing down this heritage to future generations.
SAFE Romania and the ex-Soviet, Romanian-speaking, Republic of Moldova have signed a military partnership within the European SAFE programme. According to decision-makers in Bucharest and Chisinau, the document consolidates the relationship between the two sates in the field of defence. Their armies will thus be able to buy military vehicles produced in Romania by an Italian company while the authorities are having talks with partners on getting access to technologies for fighting military drones.
TALKS The dialogue between the government and the major trade union federations that kicked off on Monday, is going to continue in the next period – the Executive in Bucharest has announced after the first round of talks between Prime Minister, Luca Niculescu and the trade unionists that took place yesterday. The government has already pledged a set of measures, such as pension indexation, curbing the red tape, and including trade unions in the consultation process for drawing up the national position towards the next European funding cycle. Trade unions have also stood for an increase in the minimum wage. Another issue has been linked to the new wage law, which could be ready in the spring of next year and gradually applied as of July 2027. Trade unionists have also proposed several amendments to the pension law.
BUDGET In the first nine months of this year Romania managed to curb its budget deficit by 3.81% of the GDP from 5.31% in the same period last year whereas public investment rose by almost 30%, up to roughly 21.5 billion Euros, data released by the Finance Ministry on Tuesday says. The budget deficit stood at 15.6 billion Euros, 4.9 billion under that registered in the same period last year. 65% of the investment was supported through European funds. The Ministry cautions however that meeting the deficit target of 6.2% of the GDP for this year hinges on getting the funds of payment requests 5 and 6 of the PNRR of a total value of 4.23 billion Euros.
(bill)
