October 18, 2026 UPDATE

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 18.10.2026, 20:00

NATO – A meeting of the North Atlantic Council to assess security in the Black Sea region will take place on Tuesday, at Romania’s request. NATO will discuss the situation following increasingly frequent attacks by aerial drones on commercial vessels travelling to and from Ukrainian ports, near the coasts of Romania and Bulgaria. The attacks have damaged or even sunk ships, killing members of their crews. On Saturday, two aerial drones that had violated Romanian airspace were shot down over the Black Sea by Romanian Air Force F-16 fighter jets near Sulina. Romanian President Nicușor Dan and Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev held a brief meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Thursday, during which they discussed the situation in the Black Sea. President Dan said Romania had asked its allies for assistance in ensuring security in the Black Sea, and that France had responded within just 24 hours, confirming it would send specialised equipment.

DRONE – A drone entered Lithuania from Poland early on Sunday before crashing in the north of the country. Its debris struck a car, but no one was injured, Lithuanian authorities said. Asked by a journalist whether the drone was of Ukrainian origin, Vilmantas Vitkauskas, head of the National Crisis Management Centre, said this was “probably the most credible explanation of all the possibilities”. Russia is deliberately diverting Ukrainian drones from their flight paths as they head towards targets on Russian territory. According to Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda, the latest incident shows that Russia’s war against Ukraine “is spreading to NATO’s and the EU’s eastern flank”. During a red air alert, fighter jets deployed as part of NATO’s air policing mission were scrambled and sent to the area, while Kaunas Airport, near Lithuania’s second-largest city, was closed. Ukrainian drones have repeatedly entered NATO airspace in the Baltic region in recent months. On Saturday, Romanian F-16 fighter jets shot down two drones over the country’s territorial waters, days after two chemical tankers were struck by drones near Romania’s Black Sea coast. These are the latest in a series of attacks highlighting the risks to commercial shipping on NATO’s eastern flank. Most of these incidents have taken place outside NATO territorial waters.

GOVERNMENT – Designated Prime Minister Luca Niculescu met on Sunday with the team of ministers proposed for his cabinet. Discussions focused on the government programme and the implementation of the measures it sets out. The talks also covered Romania’s security, foreign partnerships and the need to place greater emphasis on economic diplomacy. The designated prime minister reiterated that Romania needs a fully empowered government as soon as possible. Hearings for the proposed ministers begin in parliamentary committees on Monday, ahead of the confidence vote scheduled in the full Parliament for Tuesday afternoon. To be approved, the new government, made up of Social Democrats and independents, needs at least 233 votes in favour. Parliamentary support is expected to come from the Social Democratic Party (PSD), the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR), the national minorities and the United for Romania parliamentary group. On Saturday, National Liberal Party (PNL) leader Ilie Bolojan announced that his party, which will move into opposition, would support the new government through a “conditional and case-by-case vote of necessity”, after signing an agreement with the designated prime minister. The Save Romania Union (USR) and the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), meanwhile, will vote against the government. Luca Niculescu is the fourth candidate nominated by President Nicușor Dan for the post of prime minister, following Parliament’s dismissal, through a motion of no confidence on 5 May, of the minority government formed by the PNL, USR and UDMR and led by Liberal Ilie Bolojan, who has served as caretaker prime minister ever since.

NATIONAL BUDGET – Romania’s 2027 budget must be built on realistic revenues, clear priorities and spending the state can afford, says interim Finance Minister Alexandru Nazare, who has been included in the cabinet proposed by Luca Niculescu. However, achieving this objective, which will fall to the future government, depends on striking a balance between available resources and meeting social demands, such as the indexation of pensions. Alexandru Nazare added that Romania had not yet reached a stage of economic recovery free from constraints, and that maintaining budgetary discipline was essential to avoid further imbalances. In his view, there were favourable conditions, given that the budget deficit for the first nine months of this year stood at just 3.82% of GDP, 1.5% lower than in the same period in 2025. Meanwhile, public administration debt continued to rise, reaching 1,205 billion lei (around 225 billion euros) in July. As a percentage of GDP, government debt has now edged above 60%, according to the National Institute of Statistics. Social pressure over issues such as pension indexation is nevertheless evident. Although annual indexation is required by law, it has been suspended over the past two years. The average pension in Romania does not exceed 3,000 lei (around 560 euros), while more than two million pensioners receive less than 2,500 lei.  (EE)