October 13, 2025 UPDATE
A roundup of local and world news
Newsroom, 13.10.2025, 20:00
ECOFIN The finance minister Alexandru Nazare said that Romania has a duty to support its interests firmly, with arguments and a realistic understanding of the European context, but at the same time to meet its commitments. He took part in the ECOFIN meeting of EU finance ministers, held in Luxembourg, where talks focused on the future budget of the European Union. The Romanian official told his counterparts that the EU budget funding must be based on the principles of equity, efficiency, transparency and simplicity, which should take into account the economic development level of each EU member state. Minister Alexandru Nazare emphasised that impact assessments must better reflect the specificities of member states with emerging economies and include differentiated analyses to ensure evidence-based decisions adjusted to national realities.
POLL 55% of Romanians do not want Bucharest to send troops to the neighboring state should the Russian Federation attack the Republic of Moldova, according to an opinion poll conducted by Avangarde and quoted by the media. 28% of respondents are in favour of sending troops, and 17% do not know or do not answer. The danger of Russia intentionally attacking Romania is perceived as small / very small / non-existent by 58% of those interviewed, while 33% claim that it is large /very large and 9% do not know / do not answer. The Romanian Army is not able to withstand a prospective attack for 48 hours, as specified in NATO regulations, 49% of Romanians believe, while 35% of them are optimistic. 58% of the interviewees agree with an increase in military spending for all NATO member countries, including Romania, while 30% disagree and 12% are undecided. The Romanian government is poorly managing the national defence according to 58% of Romanians. 22% perceive it as well managed and a fifth (20%) fall into the don’t know/don’t answer category. In the current geo-military context, 75% of respondents claim that a retired senior officer with recognised professional skills should lead the defence ministry, while 11% would prefer a civilian. The survey was conducted by telephone, between October 6 and 10, on a sample of 920 Romanian adults.
FINANCES The finance ministry announces that it managed to attract approximately EUR 4 billion in foreign markets at the beginning of this month, in one of its most successful Eurobond issues in international markets, the last this year. The issue has maturities of 7, 12 and 20 years and covered a very diverse investment base, both geographically and in terms of types of investors, most of whom are privately managed asset funds. On this occasion, the ministry explained, Romania also carried out an early redemption of Eurobonds maturing next year. Basically, it managed to cover approximately EUR 1 billion out of a total of EUR 4.25 billion in the three issues maturing in 2026.
MIDDLE EAST Israel began releasing Palestinian prisoners on Monday, following the return from Gaza of the last surviving Israeli hostages. Under a ceasefire agreement with the Islamist group Hamas, Israel is to release about 1,700 Palestinians held since October 7, 2023, and about 250 prisoners, some of whom are serving life sentences. Earlier in the day, Hamas released the last 20 surviving hostages, handing them over to the International Red Cross Committee. The hostages, all men, returned to Israel after 738 days in captivity. The handing over of all the hostages taken by Hamas, alive or dead, is part of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, ahead of a peace summit in Egypt attended by the US president Donald Trump.
NOBEL Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Economics for “having explained innovation-driven economic growth.” Specifically, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced on Monday that half of the prize goes to Israeli-American Joel Mokyr for “for having identified the prerequisites for sustained growth through technological progress,” and the other half goes jointly to the Frenchman Philippe Aghion and the Canadian Peter Howitt “for the theory of sustained growth through creative destruction.” The Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, is the only one of the six prizes not originally created by the Swedish magnate, but was established in 1968.
PARLIAMENT A simple motion tabled by AUR party (opposition) against the economy minister Radu Miruță (USR) was dismissed on Monday by the Senate with 34 votes in favour, 66 against and 3 abstentions. The authors complained about the lack of vision, management incompetence, excessive politicisation and the inability to champion Romania’s economic interests. In response, Radu Miruță said the document filed by AUR contains accusations without evidence, lies, untruths and “a lot of manipulation and a collection of political labels recycled with more passion than truth.” Simple motions initiated by MPs do not lead to the dismissal of a minister, even if they are voted on by a majority of Senators. No-confidence motions on the other hand, tabled against the entire government, can lead to the fall of a Cabinet. AUR has previously filed simple motions against two members of the cabinet led by Ilie Bolojan: the education minister Daniel David, and the environment minister Diana Buzoianu. Both of them failed. (AMP)
