August 20, 2025

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 20.08.2025, 13:55

Security. Romania will contribute to solid security guarantees for Ukraine, President Nicuşor Dan has assured. After two videoconferences with European leaders, in the format of the Coalition of the Willing and the European Council, the Romanian head of state said that Russia must stop killing civilians and that sanctions must be maintained and, if necessary, even intensified. In addition, President Dan said, we must ensure the immediate return of all kidnapped Ukrainian children, and Romania will continue to support this effort.

Ukraine. US President Donald Trump discussed on the phone with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban the possibility of Budapest being the venue for a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine. Hungary is one of the countries that, given its good relations with Moscow, will not enforce the arrest warrant issued against Putin by the International Criminal Court. According to AFP, Putin proposed that the meeting with Zelensky take place in Moscow. On the other hand, the United States could provide air support as part of the security guarantees offered to Ukraine, but sending American ground forces to that country is out of the question, according to the White House leader. The statements were made after a meeting between Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelensky, and European leaders, where they discussed that a possible peace agreement should also include security guarantees for Ukraine. The US president has stated that it is unclear at this point whether Vladimir Putin really wants an agreement. According to Reuters, US and European military strategists are currently analyzing various scenarios related to security guarantees, especially since the Russian Foreign Ministry has said that Moscow will not accept the presence of NATO troops in Ukraine.

Ro-alert. The population in northern Tulcea County (southeastern Romania) was warned on Tuesday night via a RO-Alert message about the possibility of objects falling into Romanian airspace amid Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian ports on the Danube. However, the groups of drones launched by Russia did not enter Romanian airspace, the Ministry of National Defense announced in a statement. Following the attacks, two Typhoon aircraft of the German Air Force, deployed at the 57th Air Base ‘Mihail Kogălniceanu’ to carry out enhanced air policing missions, were scrambled to monitor the air situation in the border area with Ukraine. Close cooperation with allies in enhanced air policing missions strengthens Romania’s defense capability and contributes to the deterrence and defense posture on NATO’s eastern flank, the Ministry of National Defense statement added.

Gaza. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has approved the army’s plan to occupy Gaza City and ordered the mobilization of 60,000 reservists to participate in the operation, AFP reports. The Israeli official also approved “humanitarian preparations for the evacuation” of the population. Israel announced in early August that it was preparing to take control of Gaza City and nearby refugee camps, with the stated aim of defeating Hamas and freeing hostages kidnapped during the Palestinian Islamist group’s attack on October 7, 2023, which triggered the war in the Gaza Strip. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said late last week that he had adopted the new plan, approved by his security cabinet, for this new phase of operations. According to Palestinian health authorities, more than 60,000 people have been killed and another 145,000 wounded in this war.

Projects. The Romanian Government adopted on Tuesday, in an extraordinary meeting, an emergency ordinance suspending the financing of certain projects from European funds, especially those with a completion rate of less than 30%. The measure comes after consultations with mayors across the country and aims to avoid the risk of losing money from the PNRR. The authorities have announced that the list of projects that will receive funding will be drawn up in about two weeks. The Minister of Investment has specified that some projects that have made less than 30% progress but will be completed by August 31 next year could also receive funding through the PNRR. Dragoş Pîslaru also said that for the other projects, the Executive will identify alternative sources of funding, in this context a new emergency ordinance will be drafted.

Protests. Representatives of forestry unions are protesting today in front of the Ministry of the Environment in Bucharest, dissatisfied with the project to reorganize Romsilva. The protesters claim that the ministry refuses to listen to the opinions of forestry professionals and supports a project that was developed without any impact assessment and contains numerous errors. The foresters also say that if it is passed into law by the government, the current reform project will endanger state forests, lead to the collapse of the National Forest Administration – Romsilva, and result in job losses. In principle, the Executive’s proposals for the reorganisation of the Authority in question provide for a reduction in the number of forestry departments from one in each county to 12. At the same time, a 90% reduction in the number of directors is envisaged, as well as a series of financial efficiency measures.

Rabla. Romania’s Ministry of the Environment is launching a public consultation on the Guide for the car scrapping program known as Rabla, by the end of the week. The program will be reopened in September with a budget of 200 million lei (approximately 40 million euros), and the value of the vouchers will be reduced, adjusted to the current economic context, the institution said in a statement. According to the authorities, Romania has met its target in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan to scrap 250,000 polluting cars, and in its 20 years of existence, Rabla has led to the removal of over one million old cars from circulation. (MI)