June 3, 2025 UPDATE
A roundup of local and international news.
Newsroom, 03.06.2025, 20:00
REPORT – The European Commission will publish an economic report on all EU member states on Wednesday, and Romania stands out with the largest budget deficit last year. According to official sources, the European Commission’s analysis will once again criticize Romania not only for having the largest deficit in the Union in 2024, but also for not taking effective measures to significantly reduce it. The report seems to confirm the premise of a budget deficit of 8.6% for this year, while the 7% target seems increasingly distant. Despite these data, the European Commission will not recommend any cuts to the Council, but will only send the recommendations that Bucharest must take into account, in order to get closer to the targets. At the same time, however, the Commission is awaiting the Romanian government’s proposal with fiscal measures to reduce the deficit, a plan that was supposed to be submitted by May. The election period in Romania is, however, the reason why the Commission was lenient with the deadline.
MESSAGE – Romania’s interim Prime Minister, Cătălin Predoiu, sent a message of condolences to the family of Moldovan composer Eugen Doga, emphasizing that, for Romanians on both banks of the Prut River, the maestro will remain a true music legend. Composer and academician Eugen Doga passed away on Tuesday at the age of 88. With a career spanning over six decades, he composed film, ballet, choral and instrumental music, creating an unmistakable sound universe. Eugen Doga was a full member of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova, an honorary member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts in Salzburg, and an Honorary Doctor of several universities.
GOVERNMENT – Romania could have a new Cabinet in 2 weeks, after negotiations on a government programme have been completed and a political agreement has been reached between the pro-European parties in Parliament, president Nicuşor Dan said. He mentioned that at the moment an expert-level task force is looking for solutions to reduce the budget deficit. On Thursday, the group will present a conclusion of the talks so far. On the other hand, according to official sources, the Supreme Defence Council is to convene this month, to include the fight against large-scale tax evasion in the national defence strategy. According to president Nicuşor Dan, the effects of the fight against large-scale tax evasion will be seen next year.
DISASTER – The situation is worsening in Praid, in Harghita County (central Romania), where dozens of homes and guesthouses located in the vicinity of the Salt Mine have been evacuated to prevent risks generated by a prospective collapse of the floor affected by recent massive water infiltration caused by rainfall. The interim finance minister and deputy PM Tanczos Barna explained that the worst-case scenario analysed by experts from the country and abroad has been taken into account. The situation is constantly monitored and works are about to begin to divert the stream in the area, in order to limit infiltration. Experts have also agreed on a technical solution to prevent future flooding at the Salt Mine. Concurrently, central authorities have introduced 2 state aid schemes for Praid, totaling EUR 60 million: a first one to address the damage caused by the floods in the salt mine, which will benefit companies that carried out economic activity underground, and another one for about 200 companies that had relied on the tourist activity around Praid. For the households affected by floods, the government is expected to adopt another decision this week.
DEFICIT – The Romanian authorities will carry on talks with the European Commission regarding the measures to be taken so as to meet the 7% deficit target, and are hoping for a fair approach for our country. The statement comes from the interim finance minister, Tánczos Barna, in the context in which the Commission is to decide on Wednesday whether or not to propose the suspension of Romania’s access to EU funding over delays in implementing the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. Tánczos Barna mentioned that discussions on this topic have been held in Brussels since January, providing details about the budget, the impact of the decisions made so far and ways to meet the deficit target.
SURVEY – Almost a third (32.2%) of Romanians would vote for AUR (the nationalist opposition), 14.7% for the Social Democrats and 13.5% for the Liberals, according to a survey conducted by INSCOP Research and quoted by the media on Tuesday. The research also shows that, if parliamentary elections were held next Sunday, 10.2% of respondents would vote for USR (currently in opposition) and 3.8 percent for UDMR. Other parties are rated at less than 3%. Regarding the estimated turnout in the parliamentary elections, 11.5% of those surveyed said they definitely would not go, and 74.2% said they would definitely go. The INSCOP Research survey was conducted between May 26 and 30, and the data was collected through the CATI method (telephone interviews).
SUMMIT – The leaders of NATO’s eastern flank and Nordic countries reaffirmed their political, military, economic and humanitarian support for Ukraine in its war with Russia, as well as their commitment to increase military spending, at the B9 summit in Vilnius on Monday. Romania was represented by president Nicusor Dan, who stressed the importance of continuing aid to Romania’s neighbors, Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova. He voiced hope that a decision to increase military spending will be made at the summit in The Hague at the end of this month. (EE)
