November 27, 2025 UPDATE

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 27.11.2025, 19:55

Magistrates. The Superior Council of Magistracy gave a negative opinion on Thursday in a plenary session to the new bill on the reform of magistrates’ pensions. The negative opinion was given just one day before the expiry of the deadline that would prevent Romania from losing any additional EU funds under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. In recent days, the general assemblies of magistrates from all over the country have expressed their point of view and it is known that prosecutors and judges in Bucharest rejected the draft law that would lead to a cut in their pensions and an increase in their retirement age. Representatives of the ruling coalition also expected to receive a negative opinion from the Superior Council of Magistracy, but the government is ready to meet in an extraordinary session on Friday or Saturday to adopt the new bill and submit it to Parliament. Romania has until November 28 to meet the milestone in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan regarding special pensions or faces losing 231 million euros. The initial draft of the magistrates’ pension reform was declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court on October 20 on grounds that the Government did not request an opinion from the Superior Council of Magistracy, within the legal time frame, an opinion which is advisory but nevertheless compulsory.

Defence. Romanian defence minister Ionuţ Moşteanu on Thursday attended a meeting of the South-Eastern Defence Ministerial (SEDM) held in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The agenda of talks included the implementation of projects and activities associated with the initiative, as well as an exchange of views on recent developments in regional security. According to a statement from the defence ministry in Bucharest, Ionuţ Moşteanu highlighted the need for further support for Ukraine, as well as for the Republic of Moldova. He also emphasised Romania’s commitment to strengthening active participation in projects carried out by the South-Eastern Defence Ministerial and highlighted the essential role of the actions initiated by Romania during its presidency of the initiative, between 2023 and 2025. “Romania recognises the important role of the South-Eastern Defence Ministerial initiative and supports efforts to consolidate and improve the projects carried out within it in order to promote stability and cooperation in South-Eastern Europe”, the defence minister also said.

CEI. Romania on Wednesday took over the presidency of the Central European Initiative for the year 2026. The event took place at a meeting of the Initiative’s  foreign ministers hosted by Serbia as the current president. In a pre-recorded speech, Romanian foreign minister Oana Ţoiu emphasised Bucharest’s increased commitment to regional cooperation and presented the priorities of Romania’s presidency. These include, among others, supporting the European integration of candidate states by maintaining the Initiative’s role as a link between EU and candidate states, strengthening the economic and business dimension within the Initiative, including by boosting connectivity projects, capitalizing on the local dimension of the Initiative by involving local authorities, communities and citizens, maintaining the focus on the fight against disinformation and strengthening resilience, given the significant impact that hybrid threats can have on the stability of societies.

Resolution. The European Parliament adopted a resolution on Thursday calling on the EU to take greater responsibility for European security and to actively engage in initiatives to achieve peace in Ukraine. The European Parliament also emphasised that no occupied Ukrainian territory will be recognised by the Union as belonging to Russia. At the same time, the European Parliament urged the EU and its member states to continue working with Washington and other like-minded partners to ensure that negotiations for a just and lasting peace are in keeping with the principles of international law. While taking note of the efforts of the US administration to end Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the resolution views Washington’s political ambivalence towards Kyiv is detrimental to the goal of achieving lasting peace. MEPs also stress that any peace agreement must not limit Ukraine’s capacity to defend its sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.

Statements. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that drafts of a peace plan discussed by the United States and Ukraine could become the basis for future agreements on ending the conflict in Ukraine, Reuters reported. “In general, we agree that this can be the basis for future agreements,” Vladimir Putin said, adding that the version of the plan discussed by the United States and Ukraine in Geneva had been transmitted to Russia. President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said that Ukrainian and US officials would continue working on a US-backed peace plan. “At the end of this week, the joint work of the Ukrainian and US delegations will continue to build on the results achieved in Geneva,” Yermak said on social media.  (CM)