August 19, 2025
A roundup of local and world news
Newsroom, 19.08.2025, 13:55
EU Romania’s president Nicuşor Dan takes part in a conference call of EU member state officials, convened by the European Council president Antonio Costa with respect to the latest developments regarding Ukraine. “Together with the US, the EU will continue to work towards a lasting peace that protects the vital security interests of Ukraine and Europe,” Costa stressed in the message convening the informal meeting. The Romanian foreign minister Oana Ţoiu also announced on her X account on Monday, after talks with the EU high representative for foreign policy Kaja Kallas, that an online meeting of European Council leaders will take place on Tuesday. “For Romania, ensuring a long-lasting peace, and not just an unspecified pause in the war, as well as the implications for the Black Sea region, are essential in this process. We support a strong, common voice of the Coalition of the Willing,” the Romanian diplomacy chief stated.
UKRAINE Kyiv’s Western allies will formalize security guarantees for Ukraine ‘within ten days’ to prevent fresh Russian attacks on the country in the event of a peace agreement with Moscow, the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday in Washington, at the end of negotiations at the White House with the US president Donald Trump and European leaders, AFP reports. It is important for the United States to send a clear signal that it will be among the countries that will assist, coordinate and also participate in the security guarantees for Ukraine, Zelenskyy emphasised. NATO’s secretary general Mark Rutte said that the issue is not Ukraine’s NATO accession, but rather NATO Article 5-type security guarantees, relying on the principle of collective defence. On the other hand, the German chancellor Friedrich Merz said the Russian president Vladimir Putin agreed, during a telephone conversation with his US counterpart, to meet with the Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the next two weeks, AFP reports. Merz stressed that Ukraine should not be pressured into ceding any territory. In turn, the French president Emmanuel Macron called for increased sanctions against Russia if negotiations on Ukraine fail. After Friday’s summit with Putin in Alaska, president Trump met on Monday with the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and with NATO and European leaders at the White House. Trump described the meetings as very good and said he called Putin to begin arrangements for a meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian presidents before a trilateral meeting that would also include the US administration.
PROTESTS Trade unions in education today picketed the education ministry offices in Bucharest to protest the measures announced by the Bolojan Cabinet. Hundreds of unionists had also gathered there on Monday, unhappy with the increase in the teaching workload, the increase in the number of students per class, the change in the hourly pay rate, and the financing of the education sector. Education unions have reached their fourth week of protests. Also on Monday, Romania’s PM Ilie Bolojan discussed with officers of the Association of Municipalities in Romania, which are dissatisfied with an emergency order that provides for the suspension of funding under the “Anghel Saligny” programme and the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNNR) for projects that have a low degree of completion or have not yet been started. Ilie Bolojan also discussed with magistrate associations a planned pension reform in the system. The government intends to pass this week an emergency order regulating the situation of investment projects financed under the PNNR and the “Anghel Saligny” programme. This is part of a second set of measures aimed at reducing spending and addressing the budget deficit, along with the reform of magistrates’ pensions.
FINANCES The Romanian finance ministry borrowed almost EUR 180 million from the banking market through 2 bond issues on Monday at an average interest rate of 7.48%, according to data made public by the National Bank of Romania. Two additional issues are scheduled today, through which the government seeks to get another EUR 26 million. The loans planned by the finance ministry in August are just over EUR 1.3 billion, slightly higher than the ones scheduled in July. The money is intended to refinance public debt and finance the budget deficit. On Monday, the national currency rose slightly against the euro, the US dollar and the Swiss franc.
TENNIS The Romanian tennis player Sorana Cîrstea qualified for the round of 16 of the WTA 250 tournament in Cleveland (Ohio, USA), after defeating Japan’s Moyuka Uchijima 6-4, 6-1 on Monday evening. In another match in the first round, Gabriela Ruse was defeated by Hailey Baptiste (US), seed no. 8. In the round of 16, Cîrstea will take on Jil Teichmann (Switzerland). (AMP)
