March 23, 2026 UPDATE
A roundup of local and world news
Newsroom, 23.03.2026, 20:00
PRICES The government of Romania announced it will hold a special meeting on Tuesday to pass an emergency order capping fuel prices. Specifically, the Cabinet would declare a crisis in the crude and petroleum products market for a period of 6 months, with possible extensions every 3 months. The measures to protect the economy and the population include a cap on mark-ups throughout the chain for petrol, diesel and for the raw materials used to obtain them. Also, during the crisis situation, the amount of biofuel in petrol will be reduced in order to lower the end price. Also, petrol and diesel export and EU deliveries will be carried out by business operators exclusively with the prior written consent of the ministries of economy and energy.
CONSULTATIONS The National Permanent Bureau of the Social Democratic Party (a leading member of the ruling coalition in Romania), convening on Monday at its headquarters, decided to hold an internal consultation on April 20 in which local leaders will decide whether or not the party will remain in the government led by the Liberal Ilie Bolojan. Regional meetings will take place before this date, and the party president Sorin Grindeanu will also go to Brussels this week to discuss the political situation in Romania with his colleagues from the EU political family. Sorin Grindeanu also said that after the results of the internal consultation are centralised, the party will act immediately at a political level. During the same meeting on Monday the party also decided that the Social Democrats will not support a minority government and will not form an alliance with AUR. The National Liberal Party and Save Romania Union also announced on Monday that they have scheduled meetings to analyse the relationship with their fellow government members, after increasingly frequent attacks coming from the Social Democrats.
DEFENCE Romania has a higher degree of security after the decision to allow US partners to deploy military capabilities on its territory, said the defence minister Radu Miruţă. He made this statement at the official opening of the multinational exercise “Sea Shield 2026”, the largest training event this year, organised by the Romanian Naval Forces. “Sea Shield 2026” will cover all environments (sea, river, lagoon, underwater, land and air) and will include complex scenarios, adapted to current security challenges. For the first time, a structure will be set up to counter unmanned systems, with six surveillance drones of the Romanian Naval Forces gathering information, supported by a specialised US unit, Task Force 66. Over 2,500 personnel from Romania and 600 from 12 other partner states take part in this year’s exercise, which takes place until April 3.
DRONES Citizens in the north of Tulcea County Monday night received a new extreme alert message, in the context of the war started by Russia in Ukraine. In the message, the public are warned about possible objects falling, and the authorities recommend that people who received the RO-ALERT message take shelter in safe places. Since the beginning of this year, according to data provided by the defence ministry to AGERPRES, there have been over 15 Russian strikes near the Romanian-Ukrainian border, and in at least 10 of them the Air Police Service used aircraft for monitoring and management.
FRANCOPHONIE The former European commissioner Dacian Cioloş is Romania’s candidate for secretary general of the International Organisation of the Francophonie (OIF). The announcement was made on Monday by president Nicuşor Dan, at an event occasioned by the International Day of the Francophonie. This candidacy, the head of state argued, is “constructive”, future-oriented and unifying. The president pointed out that, for our country, the Francophonie is a choice embraced long ago and one that adds value reflected in economic terms, among other things. Moreover, Nicuşor Dan reiterated that Romania is one of the main supporters of institutional Francophonie.
MOBILITY Romania’s Chamber of Deputies Monday reviewed the European Parliament’s proposal on military mobility, aimed at facilitating military troop and equipment movement across the EU. Romania has a strategic role in the region and requests a separate financial allocation for infrastructure works in NATO member states on the eastern flank. The opposition argues that the document raises several issues regarding national sovereignty. But according to the Liberals (in the ruling coalition) the document responds to the security challenges that the EU has in the region and helps Romania develop its logistics infrastructure. The final vote on the bill is due on Wednesday.
IRAN The US president Donald Trump said on Monday that the US had had “good” and “productive” talks with Iran and that he would order the military to hold off any strikes on power plants and energy infrastructure for five days, just hours before the expiration of an ultimatum that threatened to lead to further escalation of the conflict that has entered its fourth week, Reuters and AFP report. In his message, Trump also states that he has discussed with Iran over the past two days ‘about a complete and total cessation of hostilities’ in the Middle East. Trump’s decision follows a threat by Iran to attack Israel’s power plants and those that supply power to US bases in the Gulf region if it attacks Iran’s energy infrastructure. In turn, Iran Monday dismissed the US president Donald Trump’s claims that the two countries are engaged in ‘productive’ negotiations to end the war in the Middle East, dpa says. More than 2,000 people were killed in the war launched by the US and Israel on February 28 against Iran, which threw stock markets into chaos and pushed fuel prices up, fueling fears of rising inflation and tensions in the North Atlantic Alliance, Reuters reports. (AMP)
