January 5 UPDATE
A roundup of local and world news
Newsroom, 05.01.2026, 20:16
UN The UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres on Monday voiced concern regarding any potential escalation of unrest in Venezuela following the capture of the president of that country, Nicolas Maduro. On Sunday evening, the US President Donald Trump said the United States is now in charge of Venezuela after the capture of Maduro. In a spectacular operation on Saturday, the US troops captured Venezuela’s president Nicolas Maduro and his wife and transported them to a prison in New York, where he is facing ‘narco-terrorism’ charges. Maduro has always denied any allegations. The European Union says that the principles of international law and the UN Charter must be upheld. In a communiqué backed by all the EU countries but Hungary, the EU has advocated for a Venezuelan-led peaceful transition to democracy in the country, respectful of its sovereignty adding that the right of the Venezuelan people to determine their future must be respected.
COALITION Romanian President Nicușor Dan will be attending a meeting of the Coalition of the Willing in Paris on Tuesday, the president’s office has announced. The meeting of heads of state and government from countries supporting Ukraine will be hosted by the president’s headquarters. Ahead of this meeting, officials from 15 states, allies of Ukraine, met in Kyiv on Saturday to analyse the details of a possible peace plan and in particular the security guarantees. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky insisted that if Russia continues to block peace efforts, Ukraine will have no choice but to defend itself.
WEATHER An Energy Winter Command convened in Bucharest on Monday for talks over all the interventions and emergency situations following the gale-force winds and heavy snowfalls that affected Romania in the past days. Over 5 hundred electricians have been deployed including to the remote localities to reconnect the households affected by the bad weather to the power grid. The most affected seem to be the counties of Alba in the center and Hunedoara in the west. In another development, the Energy Ministry has announced the country’s gas storage capabilities are 70% full, which means the gas supplies have not been affected.
COURT The Bucharest Court of Appeal has postponed its ruling over a lawyer’s request to suspend the decrees on the appointment of two of the Constitutional Court judges. The lawyer, a member of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (a populist, ultranationalist party in opposition), argues that the two judges do not meet the requirement of having 18 years of judicial experience as required by the Constitution. These developments come against the backdrop of a deadlock over magistrates’ pensions, the Bucharest press notes. If the two judges were to be replaced, there would be a new postponement with regard to magistrates’ pensions, in the context in which the new law has been postponed three times since it was first discussed by the Constitutional Court. The next deadline is set for January 16.
MAE The Romanian foreign ministry (MAE) is closely monitoring the situation in Venezuela, in close coordination with Romania’s partners in the European Union. The ministry said Venezuela is home to a community of people with Romanian roots and that Romania’s diplomatic and consular missions in Latin America and the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are ready to provide them with assistance in case of need, with the support of the EU Permanent Delegation. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs calls for restraint and responsibility on the part of the authorities there. It supports steps as soon as possible for the return to democracy, a constant wish by Venezuelan citizens. The EU has established, also with Romania’s agreement, successive sanctions regimes against the undemocratic regime in Caracas, including after the deeply flawed presidential elections in July 2024, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bucharest also said in a statement.
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