September 3, 2025 UPDATE
A roundup of local and world news
Newsroom, 03.09.2025, 20:14
IMF The talks between the IMF representatives and the Finance Ministry focused on the evolution of the Romanian economy and the latest measure packages; the IMF acknowledged the efforts and the firm commitment of the incumbent government for consistent reforms – the Finance Minister, Alexandru Nazare said on Wednesday. ‘We want a healthy and resilient economy and everything we are doing in this period represents the foundation we are rebuilding, a foundation which was weakened by the unacceptable high deficit and the disastrous management of public funds over the past years.’ This is the message the minister has conveyed to the IMF representatives present in Bucharest over September 3 and 12 to assess the latest developments of the Romanian economy. The IMF mission headed by Joong Shik Kang will be having talks with officials from the Central Bank and other government agencies as well as with representatives of the private environment and NGOs. At present Romania doesn’t have a funding agreement with the IMF but the institution is assessing the evolution of the Romanian economy on a yearly basis under the Article Fourth consultations. The IMF has downgraded its forecasts on Romania’s economic growth this year from a previous 3.3% to 1.6%, according to the World Economic Outlook report published in April.
ENERGY Romania’s Energy Minister, Bogdan Ivan, says the country ‘is in an extremely challenging situation’ when we speak about energy, the safest energy source being the nuclear one. While attending the ceremony on starting the works of streamlining Unit One of the Nuclear Power Plant in Cernavoda, south-eastern Romania, the minister said Romania boasts some of the best trained experts in producing nuclear energy, with an expertise of 30 years. In his opinion, the investment made in streamlining Unit One of the aforementioned power plant, represents the future of Romania. Romania is in front of a huge opportunity, namely to turn in seven years from an importer of energy into an exporter”, minister Bogdan Ivan also said.
VISIT The European Union and discussion partners are very pleased with the incumbent government and the firmness we are having, with the completely ‘unpopular’ measures, the Minister of Investment and European Projects, Dragos Pislaru, told a news conference on Wednesday after the working visit he paid to Brussels on Monday and Tuesday. The Romanian official met the European Parliament President Roberta Metsola for talks over the RESTORE mechanism, a European rapid intervention instrument in emergency situations and over European funds. With Roxana Minzatu, the European Commission Executive Vice-President for Social Rights and Skills, Quality Jobs and Preparedness, he tackled the European Plus Social Funds, projects, designed to help the vulnerable categories, support education and fight school dropouts. Pislaru’s talks with Raffaele Fitto, the Executive Vice-President for Cohesion and Reforms, focused on projects that cannot be funded through the PNRR and are to be included in the cohesion category.
SURVEY In the context of geopolitical uncertainty, 68% of Europeans believe that the EU should play a more important role in protecting its citizens from global crises and security risks, according to the latest Eurobarometer survey. By contrast, only 43% of Romanians believe the EU should play a more important role in protecting citizens from crises. Nine in ten Europeans want Member States to be more united, and 71% believe the EU needs more tools to face current global challenges. 73% of Romanians believe Member States should be more united. 37% of European respondents believe the EU should focus on defense and security and competitiveness, 32% on economy and industry, in order to strengthen its position in the world and face the current political and economic challenges. At the same time, Romanian citizens believe the EU should secure its position in the world by focusing on food security and agriculture (34%) and defense and security (30%). European citizens believe the European Parliament should focus on the following issues: inflation, price hikes and living costs (41%), defense and security (34%) and combating poverty and social exclusion (31%). 42% of Romanian citizens participating in the survey believe the priorities of the European Parliament should be inflation, price hikes and living costs, 37% say the EU should focus on support for the economy and the creation of new jobs, while 29% argue the top priority should be agriculture and food security. In Romania, the survey was conducted over May 5-25, based on 1,056 face-to-face interviews.
(bill)
