June 21, 2026
A roundup of local and international news.
Newsroom, 21.06.2026, 13:45
Congress. The National Liberal Party is holding an extraordinary congress today in Bucharest. The 2,500 delegates are deciding on the new leadership structure, which will no longer consist of four first vice-presidents, but only one, and are electing the leader of the party and his team. The only one who has submitted his candidacy is the current leader of the party, the interim Prime Minister of Romania, Ilie Bolojan, who said he aims to rebuild the party as one of dignity, courage and principles, to regain people’s trust and become a driving engine of the country’s reconstruction. The congress is taking place amid internal division between those loyal to the acting Prime Minister and those supporting First Vice-President Adrian Veştea, who has been designated to form the future government. Veştea said this Congress is an unstatutory and illegal initiative and announced that he will not run for the party leadership, although he initially said he would. 30% of the entire number of delegates, mainly from among Veştea’s supporters, are not attending the congress. Veştea previously called for the Congress to be postponed by one week, and his associates challenged in court the decision to organise an extraordinary National Council, where it was decided to hold a congress. However, the court set July 3 as the date for hearing the case.
Decision. The Social Democrats are today meeting as part of the National Political Council to decide whether to join the government proposed by Prime Minister-designate Adrian Veştea. The decision is critical for the investiture vote in Parliament, given that the other parties in the former governing coalition, namely the National Liberal Party, the Save Romania Union and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania said they would not support his cabinet. The Alliance for the Union of Romanians also announced that it does not intend to vote for the new executive. In exchange for the votes, the Social Democrats demanded clear guarantees regarding the increase in Romanians’ incomes and investments. Adrian Veştea has repeatedly postponed the submission of the government program and the list of ministers to Parliament, with the constitutional 10-day deadline expiring on Tuesday.
Parliament. The last week of the current session of the Romanian Parliament has a busy schedule. The Chamber of Deputies may debate, in emergency procedure, a draft amendment to the Criminal Code that redefines child pornography. Depending on the gravity of the crime, punishment may increase up to 12 years in prison for recruiting or coercing minors for such activities. The Chamber of Deputies is the decision-making body. MPs may also look at a bill banning the use of mobile phones in schools for the entire duration of classes, including breaks. Under the bill initiated by members of the National Liberal Party, the Save Romania Union and the Social Democratic Party, pupils will be required to store their phones in specially arranged spaces for the entire duration of their presence in school. Prime Minister-designate Adrian Veştea is also expected in Parliament to submit the government program and list of ministers. After receiving these documents, the joint permanent bureaus will propose a timetable for hearing the candidates and the investiture vote, most likely speeding up procedures.
Corvette. A new light corvette was handed over to the Romanian Navy on Saturday. Made in Turkey, the ship received its flag in a ceremony held in Istanbul, in the presence of the presidents of Romania and Turkey, Nicuşor Dan and Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The new corvette will strengthen Romania’s contribution to regional security and to the fulfillment of commitments undertaken within the North Atlantic Alliance, Nicuşor Dan emphasised. The Turkish president said Turkish companies are producing over 50 warships, 15 of them for export. The two leaders also discussed the upcoming NATO summit to be hosted by Ankara early next month, where it is expected that the financial commitments undertaken by the member states in 2025, in The Hague, will begin to be implemented. The new Romanian corvette was named Rear Admiral August Roman and is the first military ship exported by Turkey to a NATO and European Union member country.
Education. The National Assessment, the exam for entering high school, begins on Monday in Romania. Almost 150,000 pupils are expected to take the written test in Romanian language and literature. The math test is scheduled for Wednesday, and pupils from national minorities will take the literature and mother tongue test on Thursday. The first results will be posted on July 1, and the final ones on the 8th. High school graduates are also preparing for exams, as the written tests of their Baccalaureate begin on June 29. The Ministry of the Interior has launched an information and prevention campaign specifically for this period, aimed at parents, drawing attention to the emotional pressure that many children go through during exams and the danger that may drive them to making impulsive decisions.
Defence. Two Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets of the British Air Force were scrambled last night from Borcea Air Base in the south of Romania after the Romanian Army radars detected a group of signals on the Ukrainian side of the Danube Delta. The Ministry of Defence in Bucharest said the mission of the two aircraft in the Air Police Service was limited to monitoring the situation, as no unauthorised intrusion into Romanian airspace was reported. On Saturday night, Russia carried out a new series of drone attacks on civilian and infrastructure targets in Ukraine, near the river border with Romania. (CM)
