July 28, 2025

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 28.07.2025, 13:55

TRADE – The European Union and the United States have reached a trade agreement that provides for 15% customs duties on European products exported to the American market. The agreement was announced following negotiations, in Scotland, between the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the American President, Donald Trump. According to the White House leader, the EU pledges investments and energy purchases worth hundreds of billions of dollars, and the head of the Commission says that, through this agreement, the US will replace Russia as the supplier of oil and gas to the Union. The 15% duties will apply to most European products imported from the US, including the automotive industry and pharmaceutical products. However, there are also products, both European and American, for which there will be no customs duties in the trade exchange between the two sides.

MEASURES – The fiscal measures included in the second package to reduce Romania’s excessive budget deficit will be analyzed in the governing coalition in Bucharest, as well as at the executive level. The package, which aims to make state-owned companies or local administrations more efficient, could be adopted this week and assumed by the government in Parliament in the first half of August. In fact, as of August 1, the first package of austerity measures comes into force. President Nicuşor Dan promulgated, on Friday, the law for which the coalition government in Bucharest has assumed responsibility in Parliament. Among the measures are the increase in VAT and excise rates, health contributions for pensions higher than 3,000 lei (about 600 euros), the freezing of public sector pensions and salaries, and the limitation of bonuses and state employment. Unhappy with these measures, employees from many sectors have staged protests.

RESIGNATION – Dragoş Anastasiu, one of the five deputy prime ministers of the Romanian government, resigned on Sunday after the press revealed that one of his companies was involved in a corruption case. He stated that his company was subjected to pressure from the National Agency for Fiscal Administration (ANAF), which led him to offer a hidden bribe to an employee of the tax office in order to save his business. Amid the accusations, Dragoş Anastasiu decided to resign in order not to damage the government’s image. He called on Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan to personally take over the inter-ministerial working group set up to reform state-owned companies.

CONFERENCE – Today and Tuesday in New York, France is co-chairing, alongside Saudi Arabia, an international conference under the auspices of the UN, with the aim of relaunching the two-state solution, Israeli and Palestinian, seen as the only possibility that can bring peace to the Middle East. The United States and Israel, however, are boycotting the event. Meanwhile, the Israeli armed forces announced, on Sunday, a pause in military activities in three areas of the Gaza Strip, to allow humanitarian aid to reach the Palestinians who desperately need it, after widespread international criticisms of what the UN has called “man-made mass starvation”. The Organization’s Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Tom Fletcher, said that a huge amount of aid is needed to avoid a health catastrophe.

SWIMMING – Romanian swimmer David Popovici, the Olympic champion, qualified for the semifinals of the 200-meter freestyle event with the fastest time of the series today at the World Swimming Championships in Singapore. Popovici finished the race in 1 min 45 sec 43/100, followed by American Luke Hobson and Britain’s Matthew Richards. This afternoon, David Popovici will compete in the second semifinal. The final of the event will take place on Tuesday. David Popovici will also compete in the 100-m freestyle and 50-m freestyle. On Sunday, Romania won its first medal at the World Championships in Singapore, with Constantin Popovici winning bronze in the high jump, while Cătălin Preda finished in 5th place in the same event. It is the second world medal for Constantin Popovici, who won gold in 2023 in Fukuoka.

WEATHER – Violent storms hit several counties in Romania on Sunday. Houses and roads were flooded, hail was reported, and the wind knocked down dozens of trees. The most affected were the counties of Neamţ (northeast) and Suceava (north). In Neamţ, hundreds of people self-evacuated or were evacuated. In Suceava, where one person died due to the floods, the levels of several water courses reached the danger limit. Damage was also reported in Botoşani county (northeast) where the storm destroyed the roofs of several buildings, knocked down trees and electric cables across the roadway and flooded households. In Harghita county (center), the floods blocked roads while several households and bridges were affected. Storms were also reported in Alba (center), Arad (west), Hunedoara (center) and Vâlcea (south) counties. On the other hand, also on Sunday, due to excessive heat, several dry vegetation fires occurred in different areas of the country and affected hundreds of hectares of land.

TENNIS – Romanian tennis player Jaqueline Cristian qualified, on Sunday, to the second round of the WTA 1,000 tournament in Montreal (Canada), after defeating Canadian Marina Stakusic, 2-6, 6-2, 6-2. Her next opponent is the Czech Linda Noskova. The main draw of singles in Montreal includes two other Romanians – Gabriela Ruse (who will play against Britain’s Emma Răducanu) and Sorana Cîrstea (who will play against New Zealand’s Lulu Sun). (EE)