June 30, 2025
A roundup of local and world news
Newsroom, 30.06.2025, 13:55
DEFENCE President Nicuşor Dan has convened a meeting of the Supreme Defence Council today. The agenda includes topics related to the state of play and prospects of the conflict in Ukraine following the illegal and unjustified aggression by the Russian Federation; its implications for Romania; Romania’s armed forces and the troops and equipment available for participation in missions and operations abroad in 2026. Reports will also be presented on tax evasion as a threat and risk to national security, and on the consequences of the Praid Salt Mine flooding and its implications for the community and the environment. Another topic concerns the activity of the National Cyber Security Directorate in 2024 and its main goals for 2025. During the Council meeting, other current issues in the field of national security will also be analysed, the Presidency announced.
ECONOMY The leaders of all trade unions in Romania call on president Nicuşor Dan to mediate an impending social conflict with PM Ilie Bolojan over the set of measures to reduce the budget deficit. Unionists in all sectors, convening today for the first time to discuss a joint action plan, threaten to launch nation-wide all-out strikes, arguing that the authorities have not consulted them with respect to the measures set to lower employee revenues. PM Ilie Bolojan says that Romania is in a difficult financial situation, after overspending in recent years. Among other things, expenditure will be cut by downsizing the boards of directors in state-owned companies and lowering their remuneration, by making bonuses conditional on performance and by reconfiguring the school scholarship system.
PARLIAMENT In Bucharest, on the last working day in the current parliamentary session, Deputies are reviewing and voting today on a draft law enabling the government to issue executive orders, and listing the areas in which the government may issue orders during the parliamentary recess. The Senate already endorsed the bill last week. In this afternoon’s plenary meeting, the Chamber of Deputies will also look at a bill under which the state will have the right to seize all the proceeds from illegal lending. The draft law, which has been passed by the Senate, stipulates that in addition to the measures that are currently in force, such as prison sentences between 6 months and 5 years and the seizing of interest charged, usurers will also lose the money they have lent. The new regulations amend the Criminal Code to the effect that perpetrators can no longer take advantage of loopholes.
PROCUREMENT Romania takes part in the EU Joint Procurement Agreement for Mistral 3 systems alongside 8 other European states, with the details of the programme currently being assessed together with the French side, the defence ministry announced. “The MANPAD programme is a strategic investment in Romania’s security, contributing to the consolidation of common European defence. It can be financed in part under the European Defence Industry Reinforcement through common Procurement Act (EDIRPA), which means that part of the costs can be covered by the European Union,” the ministry explained. The institution promises that “it will use all available instruments at the EU level to reduce the procurement costs, and an important option in this process is the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) instrument through the consolidation of the European defence industry.”
THEATRE The 2025 edition of the Sibiu International Theatre Festival ended on Sunday. Around 5,000 artists from more than 80 countries took part in almost 850 events over 10 days. On the last day of the festival, a concert by Damian Drăghici was scheduled in the Main Square, followed by a multimedia show with drones, lights and music in the Theatre Square. This year, 7 new stars were added to the Walk of Fame, with the personalities who received this distinction including the famous American actors Kathleen Turner and Bill Murray, as well as the Romanian-French playwright Eugen Ionescu, master of the theatre of the absurd. (AMP)
