September 6, 2026 UPDATE
A roundup of local and world news
Newsroom, 06.09.2026, 19:57
CSAT Romania’s President, Nicusor Dan has summoned the country’s Higher Defence Council, CSAT, on Monday, the presidential administration announces. High on the agenda are issues related to the army equipment procurement plan for the period between 2027 and 2036, also known as the Romanian Army 2044 programme, the document on assessing the implementation of the SAFE programme, approved during the inter-institutional session on August 13, the reference terms regarding the revision at the War Department level of the US Forces’ posture and their deployment locations in Europe. The agenda will also include ways of strengthening of the US military presence on the Romanian territory. Other topical issues in the field of national security are to be tackled during the Council session, the same sources announce.
SCHOOL A fresh school year kicks off in Romania on Monday for roughly 3 million students and preschoolers. This year’s structure is divided in five study modules and the first school day comes with a series of novel things but also with some uncertainties related to exams. The first big novelty is for the students in the ninth grade – they are going to be the first generation, which after almost 20 years, kicks off a new school year with fresh school programmes, in which emphasis has shifted from rote learning to competences and ways to apply knowledge in certain situations. However, the new textbooks will not be available on the first day. The bid has ended and after the completion of procedures and any potential challenges, the new digital text books are to become available towards the end of September – Bogdan Cristescu, director with the Education Ministry, says. Another change is focusing on evaluation with new standards for the first to eighth grade students. Also a hot issue is the high school admission with a controversial examination due on September 1st. However, the education committee has voted with a landslide majority for its elimination and a Senate’s decision on the issue is expected on Tuesday.
GOVERNMENT Romania’s President Nicusor Dan is expected to designate a candidate for the position of Prime Minister, but the moves aimed at forging a new government don’t seem to have overcome the deadlock of the past months. On May 5th, the cabinet led by the Liberal Ilie Bolojan was forced to step down through a vote of no-confidence by the former coalition partners, the Social-Democrats who allied with opposition parties. ‘It is high time that we solved the issue’, President Dan has recently said without announcing formal talks yet. PSD leader, Sorin Grindeanu, who was proposed for this position by his party, has said the Social-Democrats are ready to build a majority and that the focus must shift from calculations regarding Parliament support, to Romania’s economic and social situation. On the other side, the Liberal MEP, Siegfried Muresan, proposed by the PNL, USR and UDMR, says the Romanian economy functions better without the PSD in the ruling coalition and their comeback would be tantamount to a higher deficit, higher public spending and diminished international trust. The opposition AUR believes that early election is the solution for overcoming the present political deadlock. A government will need 233 votes out of the total 465 in Parliament to take office.
HANDBALL The Romanian women’s handball champions, Gloria Bistrita, on Sunday clinched a 28-23 away win against HSG Blomberg-Lippe of Germany in Group B of the Champions League, the most important club competition in Europe. At their third Champions League season, Gloria Bistrita, a team coached by Spanish Carlos Viiver, is hankering for a Final Four qualification. In a group, which also includes Gyor, Metz, Odense, Storhamar, Nykobing, Podravka and Blomberg Lippe, the Romanians hope to rank third or fourth and thus play the return match of the quarter finals’ play-offs on their own turf. Also in the Champions League, on Saturday, Romania’s vice-champions, CSM Bucharest outperformed the Slovenian side RK Krim OTP Group Mercator 37-29 in Ljubljana, Slovenia, in their first Group A match. The same group also includes Team Esbjerg, FTC-Toyota Kovacs, Brest Bretagne Handball, BV Borussia Dortmund, Sola HK and OTP Group Buducnost. At their 12th season in the Champions League and with half of the side replaced since the last season, CSM Bucharest’s main objective is their qualification for the Final Four tournament in Budapest. We recall that the Romanians became bronze medalists in the Final Four last season.
TALKS The United States is trying to kick-start the Russian-Ukrainian peace talks in an attempt to break a deadlock that has dragged on for more than six months. The US President’s special envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, held talks in Kyiv on Sunday with the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. This has been the two envoys’ first visit to Ukraine since the beginning of the efforts aimed at identifying a diplomatic solution to the Russian-Ukrainian war. Moscow pledged it would stop bombing Kyiv for three days, a city, which they have lately bombed day and night. Zelensky has also said that Ukraine stops bombing Russian targets. Witkoff and Kushner also held talks with President Putin on Saturday, talks that have been described by Putin’s adviser, Yuri Ushakov, as ’timely and highly useful for both sides.’ Putin told the envoys that Russia was making real progress on the battlefield, while stressing the necessity of addressing ‘all the root causes of the conflict’. According to Reuters, these are statements that Moscow has repeatedly made since Putin launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. In spite of Russia’s stepped-up missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities, its ground troops have made very slow advances for most of the conflict, incurring heavy casualties.
(bill)
