August 19, 2026 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 19.08.2026, 19:45

Talks. Romanian President Nicușor Dan is due to meet on Thursday in Bucharest with the leaders of the parties in the former governing coalition, as well as the Ministers of Finance and of Investment and European Projects, to discuss the progress of projects funded under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR). According to the Presidential Administration, the Head of State will hold talks with the leader of the Social Democratic Party, Sorin Grindeanu; the leader of the National Liberal Party and acting Prime Minister, Ilie Bolojan; the leader of the Save Romania Union, Dominic Fritz, the leader of the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians, Kelemen Hunor, the Minister of Finance, Alexandru Nazare, and the Minister for Investment and European Projects, Dragoș Pîslaru, on the progress of PNRR project implementation ahead of the 31 August deadline.  Among these is the law on the unified pay scale, which has not yet reached Parliament.  The reform, which has been postponed for several years, is a prerequisite for the release of 770 million euros. The government must secure political agreement and a vote in Parliament by 26 August, and the new law must be enacted by the end of the month.

Government. The interim government in Bucharest gathered on Wednesday in an extraordinary session to approve the 2026–2030 Railway Infrastructure Development Strategy. The emphasis was placed on halting the technical deterioration of the railways, given that last year nearly 9,800 km of track – over 72 per cent of the infrastructure – required renewal work. At the same time, consideration was given to attracting a larger number of passengers and transporting an increased volume of freight. The funds required for routine repairs and line modernisation exceed 26 billion euros by 2030. According to experts, between 2021 and 2025, only around 46 per cent of the funding required for public rail infrastructure was secured. This underfunding was reflected in a decline in both the number of passengers choosing to travel by train and the volume of freight carried.

USR. The Political Committee of the USR (Save Romania Union), a party in Romania’s coalition government, met, on Wednesday, to re-elect Dominic Fritz as the party’s president, in the context of the Constitutional Court’s recent ruling on the Law on the Integrity of Public Officials, but also – as the Union pointed out – against the backdrop of political attacks launched by the PSD against Dominic Fritz and his party. The USR reaffirms its support for Dominic Fritz, who has been re-elected as party leader. The Constitutional Court (CCR) recently ruled that an amendment tabled at the request of the PSD and the nationalists in the AUR – which strips mayors found to be incompatible or in a conflict of interest of their mandate – is constitutional. However, the USR leader, Dominic Fritz, is directly affected and may lose his position as mayor of Timişoara (west), after being found to be in a conflict of interest in June. Whilst the USR leader accuses the authorities of an abuse of power and argues that the law cannot be applied retrospectively, the Social Democrats are calling for the application of the principle that ‘no one with a criminal conviction should hold public office’.

Inflation. The annual inflation rate in the European Union rose to 3 % in July, up from 2.9 % in June, and Romania is once again the country with the highest rate, with an annual price increase of 8.2 % – according to data published on Wednesday by the Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat). Last month, the EU member states with the lowest annual inflation rates were Sweden (0.3 %), the Czech Republic (1.3 %) and Denmark and Hungary (both 1.6 %). At the other end of the scale were Romania (8.2 %), followed at some distance by Lithuania (5.4 %), Cyprus and Bulgaria (both at 4.4 %). In Romania’s case, data previously published by the National Institute of Statistics showed that the annual inflation rate had fallen to 8.16 % in July, from 10.42 % in June. For its part, the National Bank of Romania has revised its inflation forecast for the end of 2026 upwards to 5.5 % and anticipates that it will reach 2.9 % by the end of 2027.

Fuel. The price of diesel in Romania remains above the psychological threshold of 10 lei ($2.21) per litre, despite a 20 per cent reduction in fuel excise duty, according to the business press in Bucharest. Analysts say that the rise in petroleum product prices has also been caused by the war in neighbouring Ukraine, which has been invaded by Russian troops. Romania imports approximately 63 per cent of its total oil requirements from Kazakhstan, via Russia.

Danube.  The Danube’s flow rate at the point of entry into Romania will remain at 1,300 cubic meters per second over the next three days, rising to 1,350 cubic meters by August 25—levels well below the multi-year average for August (almost 4 thousand cubic meters per second)— says a forecast published by the National Institute of Hydrology and Water Management. Danube flow rates, which have dropped to historic lows, led to the shutdown of the two reactors at the Cernavodă Nuclear Power Plant (southeast), which account for approximately 20% of the country’s energy production. The Ministry of Energy has repeatedly said the National Power System has sufficient resources to cover the production shortfall resulting from the shutdown of Cernavodă Unit 2, including wind power, the coal-fired Rovinari 4 power unit, and hydroelectric generation. Furthermore, the National Power System possesses significant cross-border interconnection capacity—approximately 4,000 MW—enabling electricity imports.

Exercise. Around 1,300 Romanian and foreign military personnel are currently taking part in the EAGLE SPEARHEAD exercise at the “Getica” National Joint Training Centre in Cincu (in central Romania), organised by the NATO Battle Group in Romania. These include military personnel from France, Belgium, Spain and Luxembourg, who form the Battle Group in Cincu, as well as their comrades from Portugal, Romania and Italy. 300 combat vehicles have been deployed for this large-scale exercise. EAGLE SPEARHEAD aims to strengthen joint training, assess the troops’ level of readiness and test their ability to operate effectively in a multinational environment. (MI)