February 27, 2026 UPDATE

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 27.02.2026, 20:00

PROMULGATION – Romanian President Nicuşor Dan announced on Friday that he promulgated the law on magistrates’ pensions. “Recalibrating the way these pensions are calculated is a gesture of fairness that our society has been waiting for. Citizens’ trust in the state is regained when the reforms expected by society become reality”, the head of state wrote on Facebook. He assures magistrates that their work is respected and their importance in the architecture of the state is fully recognized. The Constitutional Court of Romania published on Thursday the reasoning behind its February 18 decision establishing that the government’s new draft law on the reform of magistrates’ pensions was constitutional. The law provides for a phased increase in the retirement age to 65, compared to 48-50 at present.

CEI – Foreign Minister Oana Ţoiu opened on Thursday in Bucharest the first meeting of the Committee of National Coordinators, marking the official start of Romania’s term as President of the Central European Initiative (CEI) for 2026. The meeting was attended by the Secretary General of the CEI Executive Secretariat, Franco Dal Mas, as well as the National Coordinators from all 16 member states of the Initiative. Oana Ţoiu and Franco Dal Mas presented Romania’s strategic goals under the motto ‘Closer in the region, stronger in Europe’: European integration of candidate countries, promotion of cross-border economic partnerships and regional investments, combating information manipulation and disinformation, supporting local authorities in delivering concrete initiatives for citizens, and involving the new generation in building a future based on trust and common values. The CEI is the largest forum for regional cooperation in Central and South-Eastern Europe. Of its 16 members, 9 are EU members (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Italy, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Hungary).

GROWTH – Structural adjustment, based on solid revenues and control of current expenditures, strengthens the confidence of markets and investors and reduces financing costs for Romania, and the 2026 budget will continue to aim to combine fiscal prudence with economic dynamism. The statement was made by Finance Minister Alexandru Nazare, after the relevant ministry published the budget execution for the first month of the year. It shows a surplus of 850 million lei (about 170 million euros), or 0.04% of GDP. It is the first execution in the last seven years with a budget surplus in January. Confidence in the national economy also increased significantly at the beginning of this year, according to a survey by the Association of Investment Professionals in Romania. The indicator, which measures the optimism of financial specialists, rose by over 10 points in January. Most experts anticipate prices to rise more slowly next year, with inflation forecast to fall below 6%.

OECD – Romania has received the formal opinion from the Public Governance Committee of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Ministry of Justice announced on Friday. According to a press release, the assessment carried out by the Committee targeted the legal, institutional and policy framework in the field of public governance, analyzing the developments recorded in recent years. It is the 22nd opinion out of the 25 necessary for accession to the OECD. On Thursday, Romania obtained, from the Financial Markets Committee, the 21st opinion, following the analysis of the degree of compliance of national practices and policies with the legal instruments and standards of the OECD, applicable in the field of financial markets. Bucharest submitted its official candidacy to the Organization since April 2004 and hopes to join this year.

JUSTICE – Romanian Minister of Justice, Radu Marinescu, had a meeting on Friday with the British Ambassador to Bucharest, Giles Matthew Portman, during which the recent developments in bilateral judicial cooperation and its development directions were analyzed. According to a press release from the relevant ministry, the discussions addressed, among others, topics regarding the strengthening of the legal and operational instruments necessary to combat human trafficking and all forms of exploitation, including child abuse, as well as organized crime, from drug trafficking and economic and financial crimes to cybercrime and money laundering. “The meeting reconfirmed the commitment of both parties to maintaining an open dialogue and to developing a sustainable partnership, oriented towards protecting the interests of citizens, increasing the degree of trust in the act of justice and strengthening the bilateral legal framework,” the Ministry of Justice reported. (EE)