October 9, 2026 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 09.10.2026, 20:00

Government.  The Romanian Prime Minister-designate, Luca Niculescu, is confident that he will secure the 233 votes required to form the new government, following initial discussions with representatives of the PSD, PNL and UDMR. Although there are disagreements and conditions attached to participation in the government, the Prime Minister-designate emphasised that, following Thursday’s meetings, all parties agree to honour the fiscal and budgetary commitments undertaken by Romania. Luca Niculescu said that the cabinet proposed by him will have, among its priorities, the budget amendment, the preparation of next year’s budget and protecting the population from rising energy prices. On Monday, he will hold talks with the USR and the parliamentary group representing national minorities. Luca Niculescu must submit the government programme and the list of proposed ministers to Parliament by next Thursday.

GDP. Romania’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) remained unchanged in the second quarter of 2026 compared with the previous quarter, while in the first half of the year the economy contracted by 0.6 per cent compared with the same period last year, according to provisional data published on Friday by the National Institute of Statistics. According to the data, compared with the same quarter of the previous year, the GDP fell by 1.9 per cent. The World Bank has recently revised its forecast for Romania’s economic performance in 2026, estimating a decline of 0.5 per cent. In 2027, Romania’s GDP is expected to return to growth, with an increase of 1.7 per cent.

Monetary policy. The National Bank of Romania has decided to keep the monetary policy interest rate at 6.50 per cent per annum, in order to ensure price stability in the medium term. The Bank notes that inflation fell significantly in the first two months of the third quarter – from 10.42 per cent in June to 8.16 per cent in July and 6.17 per cent in August. However, the NBR estimates that the annual inflation rate will return to an upward trajectory by the end of the year, mainly due to rising prices for fuel, energy and other raw materials, including agri-food products, as well as movements in the national currency exchange rate. The Central Bank also warns that uncertainties remain regarding fiscal consolidation measures and that the war in the Middle East and the energy crisis pose significant risks to the economy and inflation.

Banks. Banks in Romania could be required by law to refund money to affected customers within a maximum of 45 days, according to a draft bill currently under debate in the Senate. Under the bill, credit institutions are obliged to recalculate interest in the event of errors or unfair competitive practices. Failure to meet the deadline for recalculation and compensation will constitute an administrative offence and may be punishable by a fine of up to 1 per cent of the turnover achieved in the previous financial year. However, the legislative proposal does not have the support of the National Bank of Romania, on the grounds that, amongst other things, it overlaps distinct legal regimes and may affect the variable interest rate mechanism. The draft bill comes in the wake of the Competition Council’s decision to impose fines totalling over 700 million euros on 10 banks, following the conclusion of an investigation into the coordination of behaviour in the procedure for setting the ROBOR index, which is used to calculate variable interest rates on loans denominated in lei. According to the investigation, the banks coordinated their behaviour by exchanging information deemed confidential and strategic regarding the ROBOR rate.

Spotlight. The International Festival of Light – Spotlight started on Friday and over the course of three days, will bring 19 projects – 13 installations and six video-mapping shows – to the centre of Bucharest under the theme ‘Playground’, created by artists and studios from Romania and abroad. Spotlight also marks the end of this year’s ‘Open Streets – Bucharest, Urban Promenade’ programme, following 25 weekends during which the city’s streets have become spaces for strolling, culture and socialising. Spotlight offers three evenings of art, light and technology across an exhibition space of over 7,000 square metres, featuring 16 artists from seven countries. The edition is complemented by Spotlight Talks and the annual meeting of the International Light Festivals Organisation, hosted in Bucharest for the first time.

Nobel. Navanethem Navi Pillay, an 85-year-old South African lawyer, was awarded the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday ‘for her efforts to promote peace and international law’. Ms Pillay chaired the UN’s independent commission of inquiry which accused Israel of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip. Her career has also taken her from the South African courts, where she defended anti-apartheid activists and secured crucial rights for political prisoners, to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Court. On Thursday, the Royal Swedish Academy announced that the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature is the Canadian writer Anne Carson. Nobel Week began on Monday with the Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which was awarded to the American Karl Deisseroth and the Germans Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel. On Tuesday, the Prize in Physics was awarded to the Belgian Francis Halzen, and on Wednesday, the Prize in Chemistry was shared between the French researcher Henri Kagan and the Japanese researcher Kenso Soai. (deleted). The Nobel Prize was established by the wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel (1833–1896), best known as the inventor of dynamite.

Sanctions. The US announced on Friday that it was imposing sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC), just a few hours after the South African lawyer Navi Pillay was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, in part for her work at the institution, AFP reports. Washington justifies these sanctions on the grounds of its desire ‘to defend American sovereignty and its citizens against the threat posed by the International Criminal Court’, according to a statement from the US State Department. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated on Friday that Washington would ban any dealings with what he called a ‘dishonest court’, a further step in the Trump administration’s campaign to dismantle this jurisdiction. The ICC has described the sanctions imposed by the US as an attack on international law and warned that ‘history will judge this moment’. The ICC stressed that these measures are intended to intimidate its staff and disrupt its work. The Court has called on its 125 member states to support it. (MI)