August 20, 2025 UPDATE
A roundup of local and world news
Newsroom, 20.08.2025, 20:00
UKRAINE Romania will contribute to sound security guarantees for Ukraine, president Nicuşor Dan vowed. After the two video link conferences with European leaders, as part of the Coalition for the Will and of the European Council, the Romanian head of state said that Russia must stop killing civilians, and that sanctions must be maintained or even strengthened if necessary. In addition, president Dan says, we must ensure the immediate return of all abducted Ukrainian children, and Romania will continue to support this effort.
VISIT The Romanian PM Ilie Bolojan will be on a working visit to the neighboring Republic of Moldova on Saturday, his first as prime minister of Romania. The agenda includes activities conducted jointly with the prime minister of Moldova, Dorin Recean. The talks will focus on the main topics and cooperation projects on the bilateral agenda, including projects financed by Romania through non-reimbursable funds, as well as topics related to Moldova’s EU accession. Ilie Bolojan will reconfirm the special nature of the bilateral relationship, based on sincere friendship and a shared history, as well as Romania’s firm support for advancing the process of Moldova’s accession to the European Union.
FIRES Following a request sent by the authorities of Spain on August 17, under the European Civil Protection Mechanism, Romania is providing international support for fighting the wild fires that this country is facing. A proposal drafted by the Emergency Department has been approved by the National Emergency Committee, to the effect that Romania will send a specialised intervention module consisting of 51 firefighters. The mission will take place in the town of Jarilla (Extremadura). With this mission, Romania reaffirms its solidarity and commitment to supporting the EU member states in managing large-scale emergency situations.
CAR SCRAPPING The Romanian environment ministry will post the Guidelines for the Car Scrap Programme (“Rabla”) for public consultation by the end of the week. The programme will be resumed in September with a budget of approx. EUR 40 million, and the voucher value will be reduced, in keeping with the current economic context, the institution said in a statement. According to the authorities, Romania has met its National Recovery and Resilience Plan target regarding the scrapping of 250,000 polluting cars. In its 20 years of existence, the Car Scrap Programme has seen over a million old cars de-registered.
TRANSPORTATION Identifying alternative commercial rail transport routes between Europe and Asia, involving Romania and Turkey, and increasing the number of flights between Bucharest and Istanbul were two of the topics discussed on Wednesday in Bucharest by the minister of transport and infrastructure Ciprian Şerban with his Turkish counterpart, Abdulkadir Uraloglu. The latter also suggested the establishment of a bilateral working committee on the naval sector. In his opinion, Constanta is the most attractive port on the Black Sea, and its facilities must be capitalized on, especially in the current geopolitical context. Turkey is Romania’s most important trading partner outside the EU, with trade in 2024 exceeding EUR 10 billion.
PENSIONS The Romanian Senate Wednesday dismissed a bill amending certain regulations in the field of service pensions. The bill, previously passed by the Chamber of Deputies, provided for reducing the retirement replacement rate from 80% to 65% and stepped up the increase in the retirement age for magistrates, from 4 months to 6 months per year, up to 65 years. The government has drafted a new special pension reform project, which stipulates a gradual increase in the retirement age for magistrates and a ceiling on the amount of pension benefits.
TENNIS Romania’s Sorana Cîrstea qualified for the quarterfinals of the WTA 250 tournament in Cleveland (Ohio, USA), after defeating the Swiss Jil Teichmann in 2 sets on Wednesday. Cîrstea will play for a place in the semis against the winner of the match pitting Liudmila Samsonova (Russia), seed no. 1, against Yafan Wang (China).
CANOE The Romanian athlete Cătălin Chirilă Wednesday qualified for the semi-finals of the 500m and 1,000m single canoe events at the Canoe Sprint World Championships in Milan. In the 500m event, in which he won the world championship in 2023, Chirilă came out second place in the fourth series, while in the 1,000m event, in which he was world champion in 2022, he took third place in the third series. Romania is represented by 8 athletes at the Canoe Sprint World Championships in Milan. (AMP)
