September 19, 2025 UPDATE

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 19.09.2025, 20:00

REACTION – Romania condemns the violation of Estonian airspace by three Russian fighter jets, Romanian Foreign Minister Oana Ţoiu said in a post on the social media. She also said that this incident is an additional reason to adopt the 19th package of sanctions against the Russian Federation. ”As an EU member and NATO ally and as a country facing such Russian challenges, Romania is in full solidarity with Estonia” the Romanian official added. In the meantime, the European Commission is proposing that member states completely eliminate the import of Russian liquefied gas and not do business with refineries from non-EU countries that process fuels from Russia. These are provisions from the 19th package of sanctions against Moscow, published on Friday by the EU executive. The package includes measures in the energy sector, the banking system, as well as sanctions for entities and individuals that collaborate with the Russian government.

TALKS – The Romanian Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan discussed, on Friday, with the big retailers, about the cap on basic foods, a measure that expires on October 1. The meeting took place amid divergences in the rulingcoalition: PSD and UDMR insist on maintaining this measure, while USR, most of those in PNL, but also the PM are leaning towards removing it. The Minister of Agriculture, the Social Democrat Florin Barbu, said previously eliminating the cap would cause an increase in inflation and specified that Social Democratic MPs could submit an amendment to extend the measure. The amendment will be made if the intention to eliminate the cap is not abandoned, Barbu explained. Another topic discussed by the prime minister with retailers was related to the promotion of Romanian products. They said they agreed with this under conditions of competitiveness and stressed the need to increase domestic food production.

DIPLOMACY – The Romanian Foreign Minister Oana Ţoiu, is, until September 29, on a visit to the United States, with the aim of representing Romania at the 80th session of the UN General Assembly and participating in high-ranking bilateral and multilateral events. During the visit, Minister Ţoiu will lead the Romanian delegation at the high-level segment of the General Assembly and will support the national intervention in the UN plenary on September 29, an opportunity to present Romania’s objectives and priorities for the entire session.

STUDY – Energy Minister Bogdan Ivan announced on Friday that he had commissioned, through TransElectrica (the Romanian national electricity transmission operator), an independent study which reveals that if the coal-fuelled units at the Oltenia Energy Complex (southwest) were to close, there would be a ‘real’ risk of blackout. On Wednesday, Bogdan Ivan held negotiations with the European Commission to obtain a postponement of the deadline assumed by Romania regarding the closure of coal mines and power plants scheduled for the end of this year. According to him, in keeping with the commitments made five years ago, when the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) was drafted, Bucharest has assumed the most aggressive decarbonization target in the EU. He added that Romania has taken about 2 billion euros from this NRRP milestone, but the gas power plants and the projects that were to be built with this money are only ‘on paper’.

FINANCING – Finance Minister Alexandru Nazare says he is confident that Romania will manage to secure over 21 billion euros in the new allocation for the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. In Copenhagen, Denmark, at the informal meeting of EU finance ministers, Alexandru Nazare assured that this time, the money will be used efficiently. In a message on a social network, the minister said that this is the third time this plan must be renegotiated with Brussels, because so far Bucharest has not managed to implement all the projects undertaken in 2021. Last week, the Ministry of Investments and European Projects officially transmitted the renegotiated NRRP to the European Commission. The Romanian authorities are awaiting formal approval by the Commission, and then a decision by the ECOFIN Council, which includes European finance ministers. A meeting is scheduled for October 10.

MOLDOVA – The Ambassador of the Republic of Moldova to Bucharest, Victor Chirilă, emphasises the fact that Russia has already pumped hundreds of millions of euros before the parliamentary elections in Chisinau, on September 28. In an intervention on a private television station, Victor Chirilă explained why this time the diaspora is also targeted and how the image of the EU is being denigrated. “The diaspora is the most pro-European part of our society and in the last elections they brought the decisive vote for the Republic of Moldova, for maintaining the R. Moldova on the European path and I believe that the same will happen this time,” said Chirilă. As for Russia’s hybrid operation and the funds allocated for this electoral campaign, Ambassador Victor Chirilă said that it is ten times larger. According to him, if last fall at the referendum and the presidential elections, Russia brought over 40 million euros to the Republic of Moldova, through illegal means, this time it is 300 million euros to buy votes, to destabilize the political situation, create violence, promote manipulation, propaganda, disinformation and stage various protests. (EE)