October 18, 2025
A roundup of local and world news
Newsroom, 18.10.2025, 14:00
GOVERNMENT – The Bucharest government’s priority is to secure funds for already contracted investments and pay off the state’s overdue debts, Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan told Radio Romania in an interview. He added that among the top priorities right now are also improving the collection of budget revenues and reducing public spending. The Prime Minister said that, by the end of the month, the ruling coalition will also identify a solution for lower costs in the administration, through a reform for which the government will seek Parliament’s vote of confidence. Ilie Bolojan claims there will be no need for further austerity measures next year.
EXPLOSION – A person injured in Friday’s explosion in an apartment building in Bucharest, with extensive burns and multiple traumas, was transported on Saturday morning to a hospital in Austria for specialized treatment. The patient was transported onboard a SMURD plane of the General Inspectorate of Aviation. The patient was permanently monitored by the medical team during the trip – the Department for Emergency Situations reports. The Floreasca Emergency Clinical Hospital announced that two of the three injured people who were hospitalized there are recovering after the emergency surgeries they underwent. We recall that three people died in the blast.
PENSIONS – Some 4.7 million pensioners were registered in September 2025 in Romania, by 3,548 more than the previous month, and the average pension stood at just over €500, according to data centralized by the National House of Public Pensions (CNPP). The total value of the pension rights amounted to €2.6 billion. Of the total number of pensioners, some 544 thousand had worked in agriculture, and the average pension was €143. According to CNPP statistics, the number of people who retired at the age limit was 3,7 million, of whom 2,1 million were women, while the average pension was €620. In September 2025, some 3000 people received early retirement (€750 average pension), some 76 thousand people received partial early retirement (2,680 lei, average pension) and 402,382 people received disability pension (average pension of €530), of whom 45 thousand people for first-degree disability (€193 average pension). In the same month, survivor’s pension was granted to some 443 thousand people (€300 average pension), while 98 pensioners received social assistance (€108 on average).
LECTURESHIP – A Romanian Language Lectureship has been established at the prestigious University of Cambridge, within the Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages and Linguistics (MMLL), a project funded by the Romanian Government. This new lectureship will offer free Romanian language classes (beginner and intermediate level), as well as a program of cultural events dedicated to promoting the Romanian language and culture in the British academic environment. Classes are open to all members of the University and are based on an accessible and interactive format. The University of Cambridge becomes the second university in the United Kingdom to host a Romanian language lectureship, alongside University of Oxford, where the lectureship was founded in 2012.
ARREST – Simona Stan, sister to former Romanian Interior Minister Carmen Dan, has been placed under house arrest for 30 days, in a case where she is accused of defrauding several people with a total prejudice of €1.3 million. Another woman involved in this case, Mariana Popa, is being investigated at large, under pre-trial arrest. In August 2024, the Bucharest Police was notified by several people that they had been deceived in connection with the purchase of homes and cars. Later, the police managed to identify the authors of these frauds, namely Simona Stan and her accomplice. They posed as “important people” representing two oil companies (OMV Petrom and Transpeco Logistic & Distribution) and tricked six people into purchasing luxury cars and real estate. In order to gain the victims’ trust, Simona Stan allegedly used the names of Carmen Dan and Cristi Borcea, the former financier of the Dinamo Bucharest football team, one of the most popular in the country. In order to recover the prejudice, prosecutors seized all movable and immovable property belonging to the defendants.
TRIAL – Two Ukrainians and a Romanian have appeared before British courts, accused of involvement in the May arson of properties linked to Prime Minister Keir Starmer. One of the fires targeted the former residence of the Labour leader in Kentish Town, north London, on the night of May 11. The fire caused damage to the entrance to the building, where Keir Starmer lived before moving to 10 Downing Street in July 2024. The three men are also suspected of involvement in the arson of a vehicle on May 8, on the street of the former residence of the Prime Minister, and another on May 11, in front of a property in the Islington district, also north of the capital. Roman Lavrynovych (21) and Petro Pochynok (35), both Ukrainians, pleaded not guilty. Ukrainian-born Romanian national Stanislav Carpiuc (27), was not asked to enter a plea at this time. The case is not being treated as an act of terrorism, the Prosecutor’s Office said. (VP)
