THE WEEK IN REVIEW
27-31 October, 2025
Ştefan Stoica, 01.11.2025, 15:56
American soldiers leave Romania
The debut of the Trump administration has been equivalent, from the perspective of Europeans who are witnesses to a war very close to them, to the installation of concern that the United States will withdraw, for various reasons, part of its troops deployed to bases in Europe. Even if called, in Washington, a resizing, the decrease in the number of US soldiers on the old continent has already occurred and is affecting Romania. America is resizing part of its troops deployed on NATO’s eastern flank, and according to the Romanian Ministry of Defense, it is about stopping the rotation in Europe of a brigade that had elements in several member states, including at Mihail Kogălniceanu, in the Black Sea area. Officials from Bucharest, led by President Nicuşor Dan, claim that this military resizing will not affect the security of Romania and the eastern flank of the Alliance in any way. The Romanian-American strategic partnership remains within the same parameters, and the strategic infrastructure developed together in locations across the country will continue to be fully operational, the president stressed. Approximately 1,000 American soldiers will remain in Romania, Defense Minister Ionuţ Moşteanu said. The Pentagon insisted that this is not a withdrawal from Europe and no signal of the weakening of the United States’ commitment to NATO and Article 5 on collective defense. And the United States Ambassador to NATO, Matthew Whitaker, stated that Romania is demonstrating increased capacity and responsibility. The Pentagon’s decision is criticized, however, by the heads of the defense committees in the Senate and the House of Representatives, both Republicans. They believe that this sends the wrong signal to Russia at a time when President Trump is pressuring Vladimir Putin to come to the negotiating table for a lasting peace in Ukraine.
The government has a new deputy prime minister
The coalition government in Bucharest has a new deputy prime minister, in the person of Oana Gheorghiu, co-founder and co-president of the Dăruiește Viață Association. This organization has been involved for over a decade in the development of medical infrastructure projects, and its effort, unanimously appreciated, resulted mainly in the construction of an ultramodern pediatric hospital, the first in the country made exclusively from donations. No one imagined that such a person, who had received only praise, a rare fact in the Romanian public landscape, could be challenged. However, the interim leader of the PSD, Sorin Grindeanu, the most vocal critic of the government of which he is a part, did. He said the appointment risks compromising relations with the United States because of criticism by Oana Gheorghiu, then a private citizen, of President Trump and Vice President Vance for the unqualified manner in which they treated Ukrainian President Zelensky during his first visit to the White House after the new administration took office. Grindeanu’s intervention provoked sarcastic remarks even from the populist opposition.
Unions threaten general strike
Thousands of union members from four major confederations protested on Wednesday near government headquarters against the austerity measures adopted by the executive. The unions are mainly demanding an increase in the minimum wage and pensions, respect for the legal and contractual rights of employees, an end to austerity measures that only affect the population, and protection of jobs. They do not rule out the possibility of a general strike if their demands are not met. The protests took place during the meeting of the National Tripartite Council, which includes representatives of the executive, employers’ associations and unions, a meeting that focused on the gross minimum wage for next year. The chances of it being increased are small. Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan recalled the reasons why, next year, public sector wages will remain at this year’s value, namely the very large budget deficit, the reduction of which is imperative. Bolojan said that he understands that people with low salaries are the most affected by the increase in the cost of living, but he drew attention to the fact that a possible increase, next year, of the gross minimum wage will generate cascading increases in many public sector wages, an increase that Romania cannot afford. The private sector sends the same message: small and medium-sized enterprises claim that they cannot afford the increase in the minimum wage. Any wage increase that is not based on an increase in labor productivity would lead to increased inflation, which especially affects those with low incomes.
Romania marks decade since Colectiv club tragedy
Prosecutors have charged southern Romania’s main gas distributor with negligent destruction. Distrigaz allegedly failed to send an emergency response team to the apartment building in the Bucharest neighborhood of Rahova where a powerful explosion recently occurred after residents complained of a gas smell, and failed to maintain the gas distribution system safely. The Rahova explosion killed three people and injured 15. More than 50 apartments were destroyed. The Rahova tragedy almost coincided, symbolically, in an unfortunate way, with the 10th anniversary of the devastating fire that consumed the Bucharest club Colectiv, along with the lives of over 60 young people. Survivors, relatives of the missing, and civil society representatives say that Romania has not healed and that things have not changed essentially since the terrible event of the night of October 30-31, considered the greatest peacetime tragedy to have occurred in the country since the Revolution. People allege gross negligence, indolence, incompetence, and, in some cases, corruption continue to claim victims.
