October 30, 2025 UPDATE
A roundup of local and world news
Newsroom, 30.10.2025, 20:07
NATO France will not increase the number of its troops stationed on Romania’s territory as NATO contingents, the French Defence Minister, Catherine Vautrin said during her meeting with her Romanian counterpart, Ionut Mosteanu on Thursday. The two officials visited the contingents deployed to the National Training Centre in Cincu, central Romania. Vautrin recalled that France had already deployed 3 thousand servicemen to Romania as part of the NATO Battle Group and gave assurances that Paris would remain a staunch ally of Bucharest as its security depends on the Eastern Flank. In turn, the Romanian Defence Minister mentioned the very high potential of cooperation between the two countries in terms of industrial military output. Mosteanu recalled that the recent US decision to resize its troops stationed in Romania is not a matter of concern. Founded in 2022, the NATO Battle Group in Romania has brought together servicemen from France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Spain.
RESIZING The Romanian Social-Democrats, part of the ruling coalition in Bucharest, are calling for explanations from the Liberal Prime-Minister, Ilie Bolojan, regarding the withdrawal of some US servicemen from Romania. The PSD interim president, Sorin Grindeanu, says he is waiting for the Prime Minister to come to Parliament to present the implications for Romania’s strategic and security commitments. The leadership of the Chamber of Deputies on Thursday approved the request of the PSD group regarding the presence of the head of the Executive in the Chamber of Deputies in plenary sitting on Monday. We recall that Washington has announced its intention to resize some of its troops deployed to the Eastern Flank, as part of a global process, which also includes the basis at Mihail Kogalniceanu in south-eastern Romania. The US says this is not a signal of weakening commitment to the Alliance, and the Romanian authorities say that the country’s security will not be affected. The Pentagon’s decision was criticised, however, by the heads of the defence committees in the American Senate and the House of Representatives. NATO officials say such adjustments are not unusual, and the European Commission claims that the United States’ decision does not influence the Union’s plans regarding the defence of the Eastern Flank.
PROTESTS Trade confederations from Romania’s education system have announced they will be staging a referendum on an all out strike in the future. The head of the Trade Federation in Education, Marius Nistor, says that no actions aimed at interrupting activity will be mounted by the end of the year but they are to take place at a sensitive time. Representatives of trade unions in education who are disgruntled among other things with raising their volume of work and by the latest pay cuts are calling for the abrogation of the measures comprised by law 141, which, according to them, are negatively affecting the entire education system. Thousands of employees in Romania’s administration system, in Education and Healthcare took to the streets on Wednesday to call for pay and pension rises, fair taxation and the cancellation of the government’s austerity measures, which they consider unjustified. They also protested the government’s decision to keep the minimum wages in 2026 at their present value of 800 Euros.
GOVERNMENT Oana Gheorghiu, nominated by Romanian Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan for the deputy Prime Minister seat, was sworn in on Thursday, after president Nicuşor Dan signed her appointment order on Wednesday. Aged 56, Oana Gheorghiu is a graduate of the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest, and the co-founder and co-chair of the “Dăruieşte Viaţă” Association, which built a hospital for pediatric cancer exclusively from donations. In a social media post a few months ago, she criticised the current US president, Donald Trump, which has now prompted the interim leader of the Social Democratic Party, Sorin Grindeanu, to ask the Liberal PM to withdraw his nomination in order to avoid a diplomatic disaster in relation to Romania’s strategic partner. Every irresponsible public statement directly affects Romania’s strategic interests, Sorin Grindeanu posted on Facebook. Oana Gheorghiu replied that nothing she wrote on her personal page before taking over the deputy prime minister post commits the Romanian state or the Romanian government in any way. The deputy prime minister seat has been vacant since Dragoș Anastasiu resigned in July over bribery accusations.
COLECTIV On Thursday Romania commemorated 10 years since the tragedy in Bucharest’s Colectiv night club, where a fire broke out because of fireworks during a concert and 64 people lost their lives. 140 people were hospitalised, and some of them were left with lifelong injuries. When the fire broke out, there were 500 people in the club, far beyond the capacity of the hall. The victims were commemorated this morning in Bucharest.
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