August 21, 2025
A roundup of local and international news
Newsroom, 21.08.2025, 13:55
Measures – The Romanian government will assume responsibility for the second package of fiscal measures to reduce the budget deficit, most likely next week. From the opposition, the leader of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) senators, Petrișor Peiu, has announced that the party’s MPs will submit a no confidence motion and that he expects MPs from other parties to sign it as well.
Private pensions – The Romanian government approved, in Thursday’s meeting, the bill aimed at the payment of private pensions. Thus, those who opt to withdraw money from Pillar II, the mandatory privately administered pillar, will initially receive only 30% of the amount, and the rest of the money will be spread out over 8 years. Two weeks ago, the bill was analyzed in a first reading, and the reactions, mostly negative, determined the executive to resend the project to the Financial Supervisory Authority. According to the proposal at that time, the over 8.3 million Romanians who have privately administered pensions, the so-called Pillar II, could withdraw, after receiving the retirement decision, a maximum of 25% of the accumulated amount, and the rest in monthly installments, over a maximum of 10 years. According to the vice president of the Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF), Ştefan Daniel Armeanu, the draft law approved by the Government on Thursday fulfills a strategic objective of Romania, to join the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Sentence – Vlad Pascu, the drugged driver who in August 2023 killed two young people and injured another three in the town of 2 Mai, was definitively sentenced on Thursday by the Constanta Court of Appeal (southeastern Romania) to 10 years in prison. The court rejected Vlad Pascu’s appeal, upholding the conviction decision given by the Mangalia Court in January 2025. The judges also rejected the appeal of the prosecutors, as well as that of the victims’ families, who had requested a higher sentence for Vlad Pascu. The only change made by the Constanta Court of Appeal to the first instance decision is the decrease in the amount of compensation for the family of one of the victims, from 50,000 Euros to 20,000 Euros. We recall that at that time, Vlad Pascu fled from the scene of the accident and was found in a neighboring town. Investigators found out that he was under the influence of several prohibited substances. He was sent to trial, in pretrial detention, for committing the crimes of manslaughter, negligent bodily harm, driving a vehicle under the influence of alcohol or other substances, and leaving the scene of an accident.
Fires – The 51 Romanian firefighters who are part of the specialized module for extinguishing wild fires, today left on a mission to Spain, the Department for Emergency Situations announced. The Romanian firefighters will operate in the Galicia region, near the province of Ourense, the cited source states. As a result of the numerous forest fires affecting the Spanish territory, the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism was activated. Thus, specialized teams from several states, such as France, Germany, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, promptly responded to the request for assistance from Spain. The Romanian intervention module will operate alongside a similar team from Finland.
Football – The Romanian football champion FCSB from Bucharest today faces the Scottish team Aberdeen FC away from home in the first leg of the Europa League play-off. Also away, the runner-up CFR Cluj (north-west) will play the Swedish team BK Haecken in the first leg of the Conference League play-off. In the same phase of the competition, Universitatea Craiova (south) will be up against the Turkish team Istanbul Başakşehir away from home. The return matches will take place next week. (LS)
