November 5, 2025 UPDATE
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Newsroom, 05.11.2025, 20:00
Visit – NATO’s Secretary General Mark Rutte was received in Bucharest on Wednesday by President Nicușor Dan. It is his first visit to Romania since taking office as head of the North Atlantic Alliance and also comes one week after the Trump administration announced that it was withdrawing some US troops from Romania. The two leaders discussed the revival of the defense industry, collaboration to ensure security in the Euro-Atlantic area, the need to increase defense spending and continued support for Ukraine. Romania invests in NATO and NATO invests in Romania, said Mark Rutte. He stressed that ‘Romania has been a valuable ally for 20 years’, specifying that our country shows leadership in the Black Sea area, which is a ‘strategic point’ in the region. At the same time, the top NATO official appreciated the support provided by Romania to Ukraine. In turn, Nicușor Dan stated that Romania is implementing the national strategy for the defense industry and will fulfill the obligations it has assumed in an allied context. Also on Wednesday Mark Rutte met with the PM Ilie Bolojan too. The visit of the senior official of the North Atlantic Alliance takes place in the context of his participation in the NATO Industry Forum, which takes place on Wednesday and Thursday in Bucharest, an event intended for strategic dialogue with the defense industries of the allied states. The President of Romania and the NATO Secretary General will participate together, on Thursday, in this event.
Meeting – Her Majesty the Custodian of the Crown, Margareta, and His Royal Highness Prince Radu received, on Wednesday, at the Elisabeta Palace in Bucharest, high-ranking Romanian state dignitaries and representatives of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, participants in the NATO-Industry Forum (NIF), which is taking place in Romania under the auspices of the NATO Secretary General. The meeting was attended by the Deputy Prime Minister Ionuț Moșteanu, Minister of National Defense, the Chief of the Defense Staff, General Gheorghiță Vlad, representatives of NATO agencies and divisions, along with generals and officers from the Ministry of National Defense. The NATO-Industry Forum is a strategic-level event that facilitates direct and continuous collaboration between NATO and the defense industry. The theme of the 2025 edition is ‘NATO Rearmament – Innovation, Acceleration, Support’. The forum is co-organized by the Allied Command for Transformation and the Division for Defense Industry, Innovation and Armaments within the International Staff of the NATO Headquarters.
Football – The former Romanian football manager Emeric Ienei, who won the European Cup with Steaua Bucharest in 1986, died on Wednesday, aged 88. As a player, Ienei played for UTA Arad, Kayserispor and Steaua Bucharest between 1954 and 1969, being capped for 254 matches and scoring 7 goals. As a coach, he worked with well-known names in Romanian football, such as Marius Lăcătuș, Loți Boloni and Helmut Duckadam, who passed away at the end of 2024. Emeric Ienei also served two tenures as manager of the Romanian national team, from 1986 to 1990 and from January to June 2000, and also managed Hungary’s national side. For his achievement to win the most important trophy in the history of Romanian football, the European Champions Cup, Emeric Ienei was decorated, in March 2008, with the Order of Sports Merit, 2nd Class with barrette.
EU – The Romanian Foreign Ministry welcomed in a statement the publication by the European Commission of the Annual Package on the Enlargement of the European Union, which contains the assessment reports for the six partners in the Western Balkans and Turkey, as well as the country reports for the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia. The ministry hails and shares the emphasis of the European Commission that the enlargement process will continue to be based on merit, taking into account the objective progress made by each state. The ministry thus welcomes the Commission’s reiteration of the fact that the candidate countries must continue on the path of sustainable reforms, based on respect for the rule of law and the fundamental rights, as well as on their clear adherence to the geopolitical position of the European Union.
Mourning – The mayor of Rome declared Wednesday a day of municipal mourning in memory of the Romanian worker who died after the partial collapse of a 13th-century tower in central Rome, where he worked. The 66-year-old man died in hospital, a few hours after being pulled from the rubble, where he remained for 11 hours, until firefighters managed to extract him. President Nicuşor Dan sent his condolences to the man’s family on Tuesday. “My thoughts also go to all the Romanians who work far from home, with dedication and sacrifice,” the head of state wrote on social media. He praised the efforts of the Italian rescue teams who tried to save the worker’s life. Another Romanian worker who also trapped in the rubble was extracted evacuated and is out of danger. (LS)
