September 26, 2026 UPDATE
A roundup of local and international news
Newsroom, 26.09.2026, 20:00
GOVERNMENT The Prime Minister designate Siegfried Mureşan has submitted the governing programme and a proposed list of Cabinet ministers to Parliament. It is a comprehensive programme featuring 372 concrete measures his cabinet intends to implement for Romania, Mureşan told a press conference. The proposed cabinet comprises the same number of ministries as the Ilie Bolojan government, which was dismissed following a no-confidence vote on May 5, and includes only three deputy PMs. “With this governning programme, we propose a modern, prosperous, fair, and secure Romania. We will cut down the number of MPs, in line with the latest census figures. We will limit the number of state secretaries in each ministry. We will ban the simultaneous payment of a public pension and a public sector salary. We will reform and modernise state-owned enterprises. We will reform and modernise the National Agency for Fiscal Administration, and, crucially, we will create a one-stop shop for citizens, handling population records, passports, driver’s licenses, and vehicle registrations all in one place. We will not raise the VAT, and as soon as we can afford it, we will bring the VAT rate back to 19%. We will invest in the future of children and families,” Siegfried Mureşan explained. The 3 parties that back Muresan hold a combined 170 parliamentary seats, but a minimum of 233 votes is required to have the government endorsed. For the time being, the opposition parties PSD and AUR have announced that they will not vote for the Mureşan cabinet. The vote in Parliament will take place on Wednesday in a joint plenary session, the joint Standing Bureaus have decided. Parliament’s leaders also decided that the interviews of the proposed ministers by the standing committees will be held on Monday and Tuesday.
DEFICIT The budget deficit narrowed by 31% in nominal terms during the first 8 months of this year compared to the corresponding period last year, falling to 2.89% of GDP, the finance ministry announced on Saturday. This is an improvement by approx. 1.62%, the institution says in a statement. According to the ministry, this trend reflects the ongoing fiscal-budgetary consolidation process, as consolidated general budget revenues rose by 11.4%, a rate significantly higher than that of total expenditures, which increased by 4.2%. The full-year target for the budget deficit is 6.2% of GDP.
ENERGY The European Union is facing an energy price crisis driven by the impact of the war in Iran on oil and gas markets, the EU energy commissioner Dan Jørgensen said in a letter to member states seen by Reuters, urging them to consider measures to reduce energy consumption. “We are facing a price crisis linking to a supply crisis,” Jørgensen stated in the letter addressed to EU energy ministers. Although the EU is better prepared now than in the winter of 2021, when Russia cut gas supplies to Europe, straining supply, governments must step up preparations for the coming winter, the Commissioner added. I invite you to consider taking or continuing to take measures that can sustain gas storage injections or reduce gas and electricity demand for as long as necessary, Jørgensen said.
IRAN The US president Donald Trump rejected an Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end fighting in the Middle East. Iran presented the initiative at the UN General Assembly in New York, stating that it had been conveyed to the US via Qatari mediators and that it could reopen the strategic waterway and end hostilities in the region within seven days. Tehran’s plan also calls for a cessation of hostilities on all fronts, including in Lebanon, the lifting of the US blockade on Iranian ports, the unfreezing of assets, and the removal of sanctions imposed by Washington on Iran’s oil industry. However, US government sources suggest the White House leader has rejected the plan. The situation in the Middle East was also discussed during the summit between Donald Trump and the Chinese president Xi Jinping, given that China is a major importer of Gulf oil. Before the US and Israel took action against Iran, around 20% of global oil exports passed through the Strait of Hormuz.
HANDBALL Romania’s women’s handball team was defeated 28–20 (17–16) by Denmark on Saturday in Bucharest, in the EHF EURO Cup 2026 semi-finals. On Sunday, also in Bucharest, Romania take on Hungary in the third-place play-off, while Norway and Denmark compete for the trophy. The five host nations of EHF EURO 2026 (Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Turkey) did not play in the qualifiers but instead participated in the EHF EURO Cup alongside Norway, Denmark, and Hungary. (AMP)
