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February 21, 2025 UPDATE

UKRAINE The interim president of Romania Ilie Bolojan takes part on Monday in an online summit on ‘Defence and Security Strategy of Unity. Action Plan’, organised in the neighbouring Russia-invaded Ukraine, the Romanian presidency announced. On Wednesday, Bolojan took part in a meeting on Ukraine and the security challenges in Europe in Paris. The interim president stated that participants in the meeting in Paris concluded that the best way to solve the crisis is collaboration between European countries and the United States of America, so that there is a ceasefire and a just peace, which cannot be achieved without the participation of Ukraine and the European Union in the negotiations.

VISIT The Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said that the talks held on Friday in Brussels with the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, focused on Romania’s key priorities. Marcel Ciolacu mentioned stepping up the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, cutting down the budget deficit without increasing the VAT, and electoral security. “We also discussed a tax reform. The VAT is not being increased, nor will the flat tax rate be touched,” Mr. Ciolacu added. He mentioned that the talks also covered Europe’s role in the peace negotiations, emphasising that “Romania must be at the table. A strong European Union means a stronger Romania! Stronger together, the EU and Romania,” Marcel Ciolacu concluded.

ELECTIONS The Romanian government has approved a budget of roughly EUR 240 million for the organisation of the presidential elections on May 4 and 18. The money comes from the budget reserve funds made available to the government and included in the 2025 state budget, reads a news release issued by the government. The presidential election will take place in May after a first round held in December was cancelled under a Constitutional Court ruling which mentioned interference in the election process.

TALKS The president of France Emmanuel Macron will be in Washington on Monday to discuss with his US counterpart Donald Trump the Ukraine peace negotiations that the Americans have begun with the Russians in the absence of the Europeans and Ukrainians. Since the beginning of the week, the French president has been holding a marathon of consultations with leaders of European Union and NATO member countries. He launched these consultations in an attempt to make Europe’s voice heard, as Europe cannot be left aside after all its political and material involvement in supporting Ukraine over the past three years, since Russia launched a war of aggression against its neighbour.

THEFT The Dutch police have announced they apprehended a 26 year-old man, who has become the fourth suspect in the theft of the Romanian ancient artefacts from the Drents Museum in Assen. According to police sources, the artefacts have not been recovered yet. On January 25, 4 extremely valuable golden items, part of Romania’s treasure on display at the Drents Museum, were stolen. The museum was hosting an exhibition entitled “Dacia, the Kingdom of gold and silver”, which was supposed to close a day before the robbery. (AMP)

21 February 2025
February 21, 2025

VISIT Romanian Prime Minister, Marcel Ciolacu, is meeting the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels today. Talks over the National Plan of Recovery and Resilience, a.k.a PNRR, as well as the global and regional security are high on the talks agenda. Bucharest’s objective is to renegotiate with the EU officials some targets in the country’s National Plan of Recovery and Resilience so that Romania may entirely absorb the funds allotted through the European mechanism. In Ciolacu’s opinion, there are a series of issues within the PNRR, which need adjustment to present-day realities. The head of the Executive believes that 2025 and 2026 are decisive years when Romania can entirely benefit from funding in the aforementioned plan.

FOOTBALL Romania’s football champions, FCSB, on Thursday night qualified for the Europa League’s round of 16 after a 4-1 win on aggregate against, PAOK Thessaloniki, a Greek eleven coached by Romanian Razvan Luceascu. FCSB won the first game in Greece 2-1 and also clinched a 2-0 win in Bucharest last night in front of over 50 thousand football fans. FCSB will be playing their first match at home on March 6 and return one a week later either against Olympique Lyon or Eintracht Frankfurt. Lots are being drawn today in Nyon, Switzerland.

THEFT The Dutch police have announced they apprehended a 26 year-old man, who has become the fourth suspect in the theft of the Romanian ancient artefacts from the Drents Museum in Assen. According to police sources, the artefacts haven’t been recovered yet. We recall that on January 25, four extremely valuable golden artefacts part of Romania’s treasure, on display at the Drents Museum, were stolen. The museum was hosting the exhibition entitled “Dacia, the Kingdom of gold and silver”, which was supposed to close a day before the robbery.

JOBS Romania’s Prime Minister, Marcel Ciolacu, on Thursday announced that 18 hundred jobs of public and contract servants from the institutions subordinated and coordinated by the government would be axed. The premier referred to a massive drop in the number of the aforementioned jobs of 13.5%, which translates into the biggest cost-cutting initiative in the history of the Romanian government.

BUDGET The Romanian government has approved a budget of roughly 240 million Euros for the preparation and staging of the presidential election on May 4 and 18. The money comes from the Budget Reserve Funds made available to the government and stipulated in the state budget 2025 – says a communiqué of the Executive. We recall the presidential election will take place in May after a first round held in December was annulled through a Constitutional Court ruling, which invoked interferences in the election process.

RABLA Representatives of the Carmakers Association in Romania have proposed to the authorities a new form of the RABLA programme, which no longer includes the Classical and Plus variants. According to the aforementioned association, ecobonuses of higher value might encourage the population to purchase more electric cars and if ecobonuses are funded from green certificates, their value may become more important than the state budget funds. A lower ecobonus value for electric vehicles, which last year was halved at 5 thousand Euros, has caused a major market slump of roughly 32%.

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21 February 2025
Budget for 2025, promulgated

The outgoing president Klaus Iohannis signed the decrees promulgating the 2025 state budget and social security budget laws. The two bills had been quickly endorsed last week in the joint plenary meeting of the Romanian parliament. MPs in the opposition—AUR, Save Romania Union, SOS Romania and the Young People’s Party—submitted thousands of amendments, but these were dismissed one by one by the vote of the ruling coalition, comprising the Social Democratic Party, the National Liberal Party and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania.

The opposition claimed that many amendments were rushed away without careful consideration. The budgets of ministries, on the other hand, were adopted as received from the reporting committees, and one of the few amendments to pass concerned an increase in the funding of the health ministry. Another amendment scrapped the approx. EUR 140,000 originally earmarked to the Constitutional Court of Romania for covering medical prescription claims for employees and retired judges.

The draft budget for 2025 was passed by the government on February 1 and is based on a 2.5% economic growth rate and a budget deficit of 7% of GDP. The 2025 budget will enable the country’s development process to continue, PM Marcel Ciolacu said. He emphasised that higher amounts have been earmarked for the health ministry, for motorways and railways, as well as for education, and he dismissed the idea of an austerity budget.

In turn, the finance minister Tanczos Barna described the state budget for 2025 as “modest” and based on a prudent increase in revenues, “without exaggeration.” He claimed that there is “enough money for salaries, pensions and social benefits”.

The budget was criticised not only by the opposition, but also by employers and trade unions, while Fiscal Council experts said that revenues were overestimated.

The 2025 budget was finalised after late last week an IMF delegation completed its talks in Bucharest with the main institutions responsible for Romania’s monetary and fiscal policies. It was not an assessment mission, but only a fact-finding one, and PM Marcel Ciolacu assured the IMF of the government’s determination to comply with the budget deficit target of 7% of the GDP and to implement the reforms undertaken in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.

The IMF made public its latest forecasts regarding the Romanian economy last autumn, when it estimated a 7% deficit for the end of 2025, the same as predicted by the Government. The IMF estimates are, however, more optimistic both in terms of the economic growth rate (3.3%, compared to only 2.5% forecast by Bucharest) and inflation (3.6%, below the 4.4% target set by the government). (AMP)

11 February 2025
The Week in Review (03-07.02.2025)

The 2025 budget, adopted

Romania’s state and social security budgets were adopted on February 6 by the Bucharest Parliament, shortly after being greenlit by the expert committees. The budget is built on an economic growth rate of 2.5% and a deficit of 7% of GDP. Last year, the deficit was close to 9%, prompting the new PSD – PNL – UDMR ruling coalition to make efforts for its gradual reduction. The government has promised that investments will not be affected by the budget rebalancing. According to the finance minister, Tánczos Barna, conditions are met to support the country’s development through record investments and to ensure the financial resources for the payment of salaries and pensions and the protection of the vulnerable categories. The opposition USR criticized the new budget provisions, for what they see as overestimation of income, indebtedness of Romanians through the measures adopted and the elimination of some tax facilities.

Huge real estate scam with political overtones

The vote on the state budget was not the only important event that took place on Wednesday, in Parliament. Representatives of both opposition groups in Parliament, the pro-Europeans and the sovereigntists, loudly demanded the resignation of the Social-Democratic prime minister Marcel Ciolacu. The reason is the insufficiently clarified connections which he allegedly has with the former Social Democratic MP Laura Vicol, who headed the Chamber of Deputies’ legal committee for four years, and with her husband, Vladimir Ciorbă. The Prosecutor’s Office accuses the two of having developed a financial scam through which they collected from clients, individuals and legal entities, over 195 million euros, without delivering the apartments and parking lots which their clients had paid for. The Vicol-Ciorbă couple and three other people with positions within the Nordis group of companies have been arrested this week after extensive searches carried out in Romania and abroad. The investigation targets 40 individuals and 32 companies. According to investigators, there were also cases of the same apartment being sold to different clients. The prosecutor’s office seized hundreds of apartments and houses, commercial spaces, land, cars and shares and blocked dozens of bank accounts of the individuals and companies involved. The tax office announced an internal control, after prosecutors claimed that four of its inspectors could be charged with favoring the criminal. The latter allegedly took no measures against the Nordis group, although they had already discovered irregularities three years ago. Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, who traveled on planes rented by Nordis, claims that he paid for his flights himself. He is not being accused of any crime, but his image is tainted by his presence, alongside other PSD leaders, in the company of such people.

A new attempt to suspend the president

Prime Minister Ciolacu is not the only one whose resignation is being requested. One of the three sovereigntist parties in the Romanian Parliament on Wednesday submitted a new request, the third, for the suspension of President Klaus Iohannis. The previous request had been rejected by the Permanent Bureaus. The new request is also signed by the Save Romanian Union (USR) whose members said they would vote for it if it reached the plenary session. The opposition claims that the presence of Iohannis at the helm of the state is illegitimate. However, Iohannis repeatedly ruled out the option of his resignation, arguing that the Constitution requires him to remain in office until the future president is sworn in. Iohannis remained in office although his second and last term expired on December 21, after the Constitutional Court annulled last year’s presidential election. A new vote will take place on May 4 and 18. The former liberal leader Crin Antonescu will also enter the race for the supreme office. Last Sunday he received the validation as a joint candidate of the coalition government (PSD-PNL-UDMR) also from the social democrats, after he had previously been confirmed by the liberals and ethnic Hungarians.

Again, about the theft of the Dacian treasure pieces

The prime minister’s control body has found deficiencies or legislative gaps in terms of protecting the cultural heritage, and failures of compliance with the legal framework that regulates the temporary export of classified movable cultural assets. This is the result of checks undertaken in relation to the conditions in which some of the artefacts from the Dacian treasure were exhibited in the Dutch Drents Museum in Assen. The control body also found that the security and anti-burglary security measures and conditions proposed by the foreign entities to which the assets were lent were not analyzed by specialists. Four of the most important artefacts from Romania’s national heritage have been recently stolen from the Drents Museum in the Dutch city of Assen, namely the gold helmet from Coţofeneşti, dating from the period between the 5^th and 4^th centuries before Christ, as well as three Dacian gold bracelets from Sarmizegetusa Regia, from the second half of the first century before Christ. The pieces, of inestimable historical value, were part of the Exhibition “Dacia – The Kingdom of Gold and Silver” which opened on July 7, 2024 and was to be closed on January 25.

Retirement of a great champion

“My body can no longer sustain the effort it takes to get back to where I once was, and I know what that requires.” This is how Simona Halep, the most valuable tennis player in the history of Romania, with the most titles, explained her retirement. The announcement was made on Tuesday, almost a year after returning to professional competitions, which she had been banned from due to doping allegations. Simona Halep was in first place in the WTA ranking for 64 weeks. Her record includes two Grand Slam titles – Roland Garros and Wimbledon – as well as three other finals played, two at Roland Garros and one at the Australian Open. She has won 24 titles and won more than 40 million dollars from tennis, being third on the all-time list of WTA earners, behind Serena and Venus Williams. (EE, LS)

8 February 2025
The Romanian Parliament adopted the 2025 budget

At the end of marathon debates, which lasted more than eight hours, the plenum of Romania’s Parliament adopted, on Wednesday evening, the state budget and social insurance bills for 2025. The vote came after many tense episodes, which occurred against the backdrop of the rejection by the majority coalition government (PSD-PNL-UDMR) of almost all of the several thousand amendments submitted by the opposition. The budget is based on an economic growth rate of 2.5% and a budget deficit of 7% of the GDP. The finance minister, Tanczos Barna, emphasized that the state budget for 2025 is a moderate one, a budget that is based on a prudent increase in revenues, without exaggerations. As for the state social insurance budget law, it provides primarily for pension payments, the relevant minister emphasized. ‘Regardless of who will be in the government and the finance ministry in three, four, five years, Romania’s commitment to the European Commission should be respected. Step by step, we must reduce the budget deficit, we must at the same time preserve investments. Investments are the engine of the economy, and investments are also preserved in this budget’, said Tanczos Barna.

The budget for 2025 will allow the continuation of the country’s development process, the Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu also showed, who specified that the funds for the health ministry increased by over 30%, the amounts allocated for highways and railways by 20%, and the budget for education by almost 10%.

Marcel Ciolacu: “We’ll not touch the Romanians’ incomes in payment, or the pensions, which last year were increase by an average of 40%, or the salaries, where there was an annual increase of almost 25%, we do not increase the VAT and we do not need IMF money. We have in this budget the largest allocation of resources from European funding since our accession to the European Union.”

From the opposition, the Save Romania Union (USR) MPs and those of the sovereigntist parties (AUR, S.O.S. Romania and POT) criticized the lack of predictability, the overestimation of revenues, the indebtedness of Romanians through the measures provided and the elimination of some fiscal facilities.

USR deputy Claudiu Năsui explains: “The same lies, the same inflated incomes just to justify higher expenses. Because the income part only interests you to justify these expenses that you make year after year, and that you say you want to reduce. This budget hides the same lie of Marcel Ciolacu, exposed year after year.”

Eventually, the two laws were sent to the president for promulgation in the forms proposed by the Government, with very minor changes. (LS)

6 February 2025
February 6, 2025

BUDGET Parliament endorsed on Wednesday evening the draft laws on the state budget and the social security budget for 2025. The budget is based on a 2.5% economic growth forecast and a budget deficit of 7% of GDP. According to the finance minister Tánczos Barna, the conditions are thus met to support development through record-large investment, to ensure the payment of salaries and pensions, to protect vulnerable citizens, and to restore balance in the country’s finances.

GOVERNMENT The coalition government in Bucharest convenes today for the first time after this year’s state budget law has been endorsed. The Cabinet’s agenda includes several investment projects concerning the green transition, worth approx. EUR 18 mln. This year’s priorities under the “Anghel Saligny” Local Development Programme are also being discussed, and a formula for calculating national minimum gross wages based on inflation and labor productivity is to be approved, in line with the relevant European Directive. Since the beginning of the year, minimum gross wages in Romania have stood at approx. EUR 810, and the new formula should ensure predictability in employees’ incomes.

RESTRUCTURING Over 400 administrative posts in Parliament are to be scrapped, after Romania’s Chamber of Deputies approved the reorganisation of its staff on Wednesday. Personnel cuts will be made from the Chamber Speaker’s office and the Permanent Bureau members’ offices, and from various departments and directorates in the institution. According to the Chamber leaders, 240 fewer posts will result in annual savings of about EUR 7 mln. Recently, the Senate also decided to cut almost 200 positions, despite employee protests. The government speaks about the need to lower spending in order to contain the budget deficit, while the opposition complains about a lack of transparency and violation of legal provisions.

PRESIDENT The Young People’s Party (POT), a new entry in the Romanian Parliament, Wednesday evening filed a third request to remove the country’s acting president, Klaus Iohannis, from office. The move comes after the opposition failed to get the previous requests on Parliament’s agenda due to procedural flaws. If all legal procedures are met this time, Parliament will convene for a vote in a joint plenary meeting of the two Chambers. On December 21 last year, president Klaus Iohannis’ second and last five-year presidential term under the Constitution was due to come to an end, but after the presidential elections were cancelled his term was extended until a new head of state is elected.

ELECTIONS The Minister Delegate in charge of European Affairs Benjamin Haddad is on a two-day visit to Bucharest, to express his country’s solidarity with Romania, which is subject to foreign interference, reads a news release issued by the French foreign ministry. The French governmental agency in charge of protection against foreign digital interference, VIGINUM, said in a report quoted by the Radio Romania correspondent in Paris that such moves disrupted the smooth conduct of the presidential elections in Romania at the end of last year. We have more after the news.

The Romanian Government Scholarships Program is now open for applications. Each year, the Romanian Government, through the Ministerul Afacerilor Externe/ Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Romania, provides a number of scholarships to citizens from non-EU countries, with good results in education. Applicants can choose from any of the following three study cycles in accredited higher education institutions in Romania: Bachelor’s degree, Master’s degree or PhD. Scholarships are NOT awarded in the fields of medicine, dental medicine and pharmacy. The eligibility criteria, documents and detailed information can be found on the Study in Romania platform, using the Apply for MFA Scholarships button https://studyinromania.gov.ro/

Applications are to be submitted ONLY through the Study in Romania platform at https://scholarships.studyinromania.gov.ro/

Applications are accepted between 29 January and 12 March, 2025, with the selection results announced around 30 June 2025.

6 February 2025
February 4, 2025 UPDATE 2

BUDGET In Bucharest, the draft law on the 2025 state budget and social security budget were discussed in Parliament’s specialist committees on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies will meet in a plenary session to review the two bills, and the final vote is scheduled for Thursday. The discussions and the vote in Parliament are predictable, as the MPs of the ruling coalition (PSD-PNL-UDMR) have a majority. The draft budget for this year, based on a 2.5% economic growth rate and a budget deficit of 7% of GDP, was passed by the Cabinet on Saturday. ‘It is a restrained budget, based on a prudent forecast. It is a balanced budget, and in addition to investments, we have enough funds to pay salaries and pensions,’ the finance minister Tanczos Barna said.

ECONOMY Romania is ‘a politically and economically stable and safe country,’ oriented towards investment and reform, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said on Tuesday at a meeting with World Bank officials in Bucharest. ‘Our country is a regional pillar of security and economic stability for Europe and for the Strategic Partnership with the US,’ the PM added. According to a news release issued by the government, Bucharest sees the WB as a partner for its goals and continues to rely on the funding and know-how provided by the group. During the meeting, the participants reviewed jointly-developed projects in the fields of healthcare and emergency management. The World Bank officials welcomed the Government’s reform plan and the attention paid to investments, noting that Romania is a strong and resilient partner. I am confident that together we will continue to implement the ongoing projects and expand the portfolio with new investments in energy, green transition, infrastructure and other areas with growth potential, WB executive director Eugene Rhuggenaath said. The institution’s representatives also appreciated the support offered by Romania to the neighboring Republic of Moldova and Ukraine, as well as its contribution to ensuring stability in the region.

MEETING At a meeting on Tuesday with the European Commission executive vice-president in charge of social rights and skills, quality jobs and training, Roxana Mînzatu, President Klaus Iohannis emphasised the critical role of education in fighting disinformation and manipulation, as well as in strengthening the democratic resilience of European societies. According to a news release issued by the Presidency, the topics on the agenda included the social dimension of European Union policies, ways to increase the EU’s global competitiveness, the Union’s strategy with respect to preparedness and resilience in the face of challenges, EU approaches to education and the involvement of the Romanian education system in the European context. In turn, the EC executive vice-president presented the main priorities of the new Commission, including in the areas of employment, social rights and EU-funded educational programs in Romania, as well as preparedness for crisis situations. On Monday and Tuesday in Bucharest Roxana Mînzatu also had talks with PM Marcel Ciolacu, with the Senate Speaker Ilie Bolojan, and with the Chamber of Deputies Speaker, Ciprian Şerban, about key EU and national priorities, with an emphasis on education, the labor market, social cohesion and the management of European funds.

CHURCH The Romanian Orthodox Church (the majority denomination in Romania) Tuesday celebrated 100 years since its promotion to the rank of Patriarchate. According to Patriarch Daniel, this anniversary is not only a celebration of the past, but also a call to gratitude towards our ancestors and a reflection on the role of our Church in the life of the Romanian people. The Romanian Patriarchate was, throughout its 100-year existence, an unquenchable torch of faith and national unity, he said. In turn, president Klaus Iohannis said the centennial of the Romanian Patriarchate is a moment of historic importance for the entire Romanian Orthodox Church and for believers in the country and in Romanian communities abroad. According to experts, Specialists recall that the Romanian Patriarchate was born on February 4, 1925, in a historical context marked by the Great Union of 1918, which brought together all the historical Romanian provinces in a one nation state.

MOLDOVA The European Union Tuesday allocated a new EUR 250 mln financial envelope to support the Republic of Moldova in 2025 in the face of Moscow’s ‘energy blackmail,’ after the halt in Russian gas supplies to the breakaway region of Transnistria, AFP reports. ‘Today we are taking an essential step to (…) help the Republic of Moldova regain control over its energy destiny,’ the EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos, who is on an official visit to Chisinau, posted on a social network. In turn, the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen denounced Moscow’s use of ‘energy to blackmail people’, promising to offer the former Soviet republic ‘full integration into the EU energy market, decoupling it from Russia ‘. After the war started in neighboring Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova says a ‘hybrid war’ is orchestrated by Russia, including the energy crisis, disinformation and electoral interference. Chisinau is facing a suspension of Gazprom supplies to Transnistria via Ukraine, after a transit agreement between Kiyv and Moscow came to an end. (AMP)

4 February 2025
February 3, 2025

A roundup of local and international news.

DEFENSE – Europe must assume greater responsibility for its own defense in order to strengthen our strategic resilience, President Klaus Iohannis has said. The Romanian head of state is participating in an informal meeting of EU leaders on defense issues, held in Brussels today. The talks focus on military capabilities and the European defense industry. President Iohannis mentioned in this respect the need for adequate financing, regarded not only as an allocation of more money, but also as an efficient use of the instruments we already have. Regarding defense, the Romanian president emphasized the need for complementarity between the European Union and NATO. The meeting will also address issues regarding the importance of the transatlantic relationship and the Strategic Partnership between the EU and the US, the relationship between the EU and the United Kingdom, and the European Union’s defense partnerships. The debates also aim to identify basic principles needed for the development and adoption of a programmatic document related to the future of European defense – the ‘White Paper’, which is to be developed in the first part of 2025 by the European Commission.

BUDGET – Romania’s 2025 draft budget is in Parliament, to be debated in an emergency procedure. The debates and the endorsement are given as sure, with the MPs of the PSD-PNL-UDMR coalition forming the majority. Passed by the Government at the end of last week, Romania’s 2025 draft budget is built on an economic growth rate of 2.5%, an average inflation rate of 4.4% and a deficit of 7% of GDP. According to the Minister of Finance, Tanczos Barna, the budget prioritizes investments, with record allocations of 150 billion lei (about 30 billion euros).

EU – Attracting European funds to finance social projects for the Romanian citizens, protecting the rights and increasing the skills of workers in Romania are the topics of today’s meeting between Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu and Roxana Mînzatu, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, responsible for social rights, skills, quality jobs and training. Prezent in Bucharest on Monday and Tuesday, during her first official visit in this capacity, Roxana Mînzatu emphasized the openness to supporting the Romanian administration to attract as many European funds as possible. During the discussions, the two officials also referred to the debate taking place at European level on strengthening the EU’s emergency preparedness. In this context, Ciolacu said that Bucharest must be part of this debate, given the contribution that Romanian specialists have in managing such situations, such as fires and floods. On Tuesday, Roxana Mînzatu will meet with President Klaus Iohannis and will have talks with the President of the Senate, Ilie Bolojan, and the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Ciprian Şerban.

IMF – An International Monetary Fund mission is in Bucharest from February 3rd to 7th. The IMF team will meet with representatives of the new Romanian Government and the National Bank of Romania to review recent financial and economic developments and update the macroeconomic outlook. Romania does not currently have a financing agreement with the International Monetary Fund, but the financial institution annually assesses the evolution of the Romanian economy, based on consultations on Article IV, mandatory for all member states. The purpose of the consultations is to examine the financial and economic situation at the national level and to formulate general recommendations regarding monetary, financial and economic policies to be followed, to ensure stability and positive developments in the economy.

UNIONS – The unionists at the Bucharest metro are on a Japanese strike today, to warn passengers and decision-making staff about the situation the company is in. If their demands are not met, on February 10 they will launch other protest actions. The unionists are dissatisfied with the ordinance adopted by the government at the end of last year, which canceled their negotiated salary increases provided for in the Collective Bargaining Agreement signed at the beginning of December 2024, and also with the fact that the company is underfinanced.

CRIME – Prosecutors with the Directorate for Combating Organized Crime and Terrorism are carrying out searches in Romania and Monaco today, in a fraud case that includes embezzlement, money laundering and tax evasion, related to what the press has called the Nordis real estate business. The investigations target around 70 suspects, individuals and legal entities. Starting in 2018, three of the suspects are said to have initiated and constituted an organized crime group, which orchestrated and implemented a complex crime mechanism, consisting mainly of promoting and developing real estate projects under the cover of several commercial companies, followed by collecting sums of money from clients, misleading buyers during the execution of pre-contracts and sale-purchase contracts. The result, prosecutors say, was the unlawful gain of sums of money as reimbursements or refunds from the state budget or compensations due to the general budget, causing damage to commercial companies, purchasing clients and the state budget. The leaders of the organized crime group allegedly collected from clients as advance payment under bilateral sales-purchase promises, respectively sales-purchase contracts, over 195 million euros.

3 February 2025
January 31, 2025 UPDATE

GOVERNMENT The Romanian government has completed all the preliminary procedures before passing the draft 2025 state budget law on Saturday. According to PM Marcel Ciolacu, the news that the budget bill has been finalised has triggered a decrease in the interest rates at which the country borrows money in foreign markets. He said that, after the budget is endorsed in Parliament, other positive effects will follow. Ciolacu mentioned that exports will increase this year by over 3% as a result of Romania’s full Schengen accession, and emphasised that the warm weather in January allowed construction works to progress significantly, especially as regards the highway infrastructure. As a result, the budget earmarked to transportation has been increased by almost 20% compared to last year. A priority for this year is attracting foreign investments, Ciolacu added. In this respect, he announced that a foreign holding has announced plans to relocate a factory from Bulgaria to Romania. Moreover, the PM said that there are clear signals that the strategic partnership with the US is entering a new economic dimension and that next week he will have talks with the heads of major American investment funds.

MOLDOVA Romania has stood by the R of Moldova and will continue to do so, in order to increase its energy resilience and support it in its EU accession efforts, the Romanian foreign minister Emil Hurezeanu promised in Chişinău on Friday, during his first official visit in this capacity. He was received by president Maia Sandu and had meetings with his Moldovan counterpart Mihai Popşoi, and with the speaker of parliament Igor Grosu. Maia Sandu and Emil Hurezeanu discussed ways to strengthen economic ties between the two states and to encourage Romanian companies to invest in Moldova. Emphasis was also placed on improving transport infrastructure, including the construction of new bridges over the Prut and streamlining cross-border traffic. During his meetings in Chişinău, Emil Hurezeanu emphasised that Moldova’s citizens are not alone in facing the energy crisis and can count on the support of Romania and other partners. ‘The destabilising effects of the energy crisis have helped tighten our ties. We are happy that Romania has managed to cover over 60% of the citizens’ current energy demand, and the preparation of high-voltage lines is also underway. We have been and will remain by the side of the Republic of Moldova,’ Emil Hurezeanu concluded.

THEFT The Romanian justice minister Radu Marinescu called on his Dutch counterpart David van Weel to carry on efforts in the case of the theft of Romania’s Dacian treasury items and offered the Dutch side all the necessary support. The two ministers had a bilateral meeting during an informal meeting of EU justice ministers hosted by Warsaw. So far, 3 persons have been detained in connection to the theft. A break-in occurred last weekend at Drents Museum during which a golden helmet and three gold Dacian bracelets were stolen, some of Romania’s most important national heritage items.

FLU The number of respiratory infections is on the rise in Romania and the health ministry declared a state of epidemiological alert. Official data show that almost 134,000 patients were diagnosed with respiratory infection symptoms last week, including 11,000 flu cases. Eight people died from flu last week, taking the toll to 22 this season.

JUSTICE The Romanian justice minister Radu Marinescu Friday took part in an informal meeting of EU justice ministers in Warsaw, where current issues were discussed, such as mutual cooperation in the field of justice, the consequences of Russia’s war crimes in Ukraine and the future of justice. According to a news release issued by the Romanian justice ministry, Radu Marinescu stressed that Romania has offered war victims both support for access to justice, through professional bodies, and other forms of counseling, through Romanian NGOs and authorities. In a separate work session, Radu Marinescu welcomed the initiative of the Polish presidency to continue discussions dedicated to judicial cooperation, under the umbrella of the rule of law.

SPORTS Romanian football champions FCSB (Bucharest) lost 2-0 on Thursday on home turf to the English team Manchester United, in Europa League’s 8th and final round. According to the draw in Nyon (Switzerland) on Friday, the Bucharest team will take on the Greek side PAOK Thessaloniki, coached by the Romanian Răzvan Lucescu, in Europa League’s play-offs for the round of 16. FCSB will play the first leg away from home on February 13, and the return leg in Bucharest on February 20. The winner will play in the round of 16 against Olympique Lyon. In tennis, Romania plays Bulgaria in Craiova on Friday and Saturday, in the Davis Cup World Group I play-offs. The winner moves up to World Group I, while the defeated team will play in World Group II. Romania and Bulgaria have met only once before in the Davis Cup, in 1988, when Romania won decisively with a score of 5-0. (AMP)

31 January 2025
January 25, 2025

RATING The financial rating agency Standard & Poor’s confirmed Romania’s ‘BBB minus’ rating, but revised the outlook from “stable” to “negative”. The reasons are related to high fiscal and external risks, the agency reports. According to S&P, the fragmented and uncertain political environment, as well as all the substantial spending ahead of the elections, pushed the fiscal deficit to almost 8.7% of GDP, far above expectations. The Romanian finance minister Tánczos Barna says the change in the outlook from stable to negative indicates that measures are needed to reduce the budget deficit, and that the country needs a balanced public budget and a streamlined government structure. He also said that the government’s measures to reduce the deficit and consolidate economic growth must be implemented at an alert pace, in the form already agreed on with the EU.

PROTESTS The government of Romania is completely willing to find solutions to protect people’s spending power while at the same time preserving macro-economic balance, the prime minister’s office chief said after talks with representatives of the employees who protested in front of the Government headquarters. On Friday, thousands of civil servants, reserve officers, police staff, miners, foresters, steelworkers, Bucharest Metro employees and pensioners took part in a rally to protest a government order that froze salary increases for many public sector personnel at the beginning of this year, and suspended the cost-of-living adjustment of public pensions. A reorganisation of central public institutions and state-owned companies was also announced these days. According to PM Marcel Ciolacu, restructuring the public sector is a priority for the current governing coalition comprising the Social Democratic Party, the National Liberal Party, and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania.

UKRAINE The president of the Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu, is meeting today in Kyiv with the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, with PM Denys Shmykhal and with the Parliament Speaker, Ruslan Stefanchuk. The main topics of the discussions are the connection of the infrastructure of the two states, trade, collaboration in the EU accession process, and regional security. An important topic on the agenda is the energy crisis caused by Russia, which has increased energy prices and left the citizens of Transnistria, a Russian-speaking breakaway region in the Republic of Moldova, without heat and electricity. The rest of Moldova is safe for the time being, thanks to electricity and gas imports from neighboring Romania.

ELECTIONS The Liberals will convene on Sunday in a special National Council meeting to validate the former party president Crin Antonescu as the joint candidate of the ruling coalition in Romania. The Social Democrats scheduled a special congress on February 2 for the same purpose, and UDMR will make its decision at the beginning of next week. The first and second rounds of the presidential elections are scheduled for May 4 and 18. So far, the mayor of Bucharest, Nicuşor Dan, the independent candidate Călin Georgescu and the president of Save Romania Union, Elena Lasconi, have announced plans to run for president. The latter two were top placed in the presidential elections canceled last year. After the first election round on November 24 was validated, the Constitutional Court of Romania canceled the election as a whole on December 6, although voting in the second round had already begun abroad. The Court made its decision after the Supreme Defence Council published a report indicating foreign interference in the electoral process, but investigations have so far failed to confirm it. Tens of thousands of Romanians took to the streets to demand that the second round be resumed.

HOLOCAUST The minister of culture Natalia Intotero will represent Romania, on Monday, at the ceremony commemorating the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Poland. The event, held under the patronage of the president of Poland, marks the International Holocaust Remembrance Day declared by the United Nations, and brings together camp survivors, official delegations of states and international organisations. Romania’s participation in the ceremony on January 27 reflects its solid commitment to keeping alive the memory of the victims of the Holocaust, to fighting all forms of denial, distortion, or downplaying of this tragic moment, as well as to fighting anti-Semitism, xenophobia, radicalisation and hate speech, while at the same time promoting respect for fundamental human rights, both at national and international level, the Romanian culture ministry said.

HOSTAGES Four Israeli female soldiers held hostage by Hamas since October 7, 2023, have reached Israel today. In exchange for them, Israel must release 200 Palestinians held in its prisons. This is the second prisoner exchange under the ceasefire that came into effect last Sunday between Israel and Hamas, after 15 months of war. In a first stage, which will last 6 weeks, 33 Israeli hostages are to be released in exchange for about 1,900 Palestinian prisoners. A Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 killed 1,210 Israelis, most of them civilians. Of the 251 people kidnapped, 91 are still in Gaza, 34 of whom are dead according to the Israeli army. In retaliation, Israel launched an offensive in the Gaza Strip, resulting in at least 47,000 casualties, most of them civilians, and a humanitarian disaster. (AMP)

25 January 2025
No new taxes in the 2025 Budget

Delayed due to the formation of the government, the approval of the budget for 2025 is the number one priority. It’s not just any budget, but one carefully constructed, without the excessive expenses that were included in the previous one and that generated a worrying deficit, which rose to 9% of the GDP. Meeting on the topic of the budget, the Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu and the finance minister, Tánczos Barna, concluded that Romania could no longer afford an increase in spending on goods and services. On the other hand, the deficit target of 7% this year, assumed in the discussions with the European Commission, cannot be reached without freezing the salary and pension fund and an additional pressure on the National Agency of Fiscal Administration (ANAF) for better VAT collection.

However, in the case of small and medium pensions, the executive will look for solutions to supplement them, Marcel Ciolacu promises. Tánczos Barna pleaded for a rigorous control of expenses, so that Romania should respect its commitments to its European partners and insisted that, in terms of income, only the achievable ones should be included.

Tánczos Barna: “The medium-term structural fiscal budgetary plan assumed by Romania provides for this year 7%, and for the next seven years it stipulates a progressive reduction of the budget deficit up to 3%. And this commitment should be respected not only now, what we build today, what we build for 2025 must also have an impact for the following years, so that on the investment side we should not reduce the amounts allocated for investments, we should constantly increase these amounts, and, on the other hand, we should not exaggerate on the side of unachievable incomes, to avoid a situation in which the difference has to be covered by loans”.

Against the background of the scenarios circulated in the press according to which the authorities will increase some taxes, the PM and the finance minister have given assurances that the Value Added Tax remains unchanged.

Marcel Ciolacu: “We are not increasing the VAT. Why don’t we increase the VAT? I represent the social democratic party. First, the effort would be transferred equally to all Romanians, regardless of income, effort meaning a decrease in the purchasing power. I am not doing this, and I am very glad that the minister says the same thing. At this moment, consumption will decrease and automatically, you will see, we will also have a decrease in inflation”.

The ordinance adopted by the new coalition government (PSD – PNL – UDMR) at the end of the year provides for the reduction of state expenditures, the elimination of some fiscal facilities, in the case of IT, constructions, and the agri-food industry, as well as the reorganization and merger of agencies within the General Secretariat of the Government. A similar approach will also target the executive’s own functioning apparatus, as Romania needs a structural reform, Marcel Ciolacu also said. (LS)

16 January 2025
Budget deficit must be reduced

The 2025 draft budget will be built on a 7% deficit, without additional tax increases, says Finance Minister Tánczos Barna.

Romania ends 2024 with a budget deficit of 8.6%, according to data from the Ministry of Finance. Experts point out that this is a huge deficit level and is among the highest in the EU. Economic growth is not robust, as it is based on large internal and external imbalances, and the Government must try to keep spending under strict control, experts also say. The deficit must decrease this year, which is a real challenge, says Finance Minister Tánczos Barna. He specified that the objective for 2025 is the wise management of public money, given that 2024 was a difficult year for Romania, from all points of view. Tánczos Barna: “It was a year with many elections, it was a year in which pensions were recalculated, salaries were increased in several areas and investments were supported with unprecedented amounts. I believe this is the most important element of the 2024 budget, even if the year ended with a deficit of 8.6%. The year 2025 will mean a 7% deficit and, indeed, this is a challenge given that we want to keep the amounts allocated for investments and pay salaries at the level of November and pensions at the level of November 2024. We have to support the education system, the health system, all public institutions, to fit into this deficit. At the same time this must also be the year in which we begin to create that flexible state, which does not collect taxes to become obese and to hire even more and provide the same services with a larger number of employees, with high, high costs.”

Tánczos Barna recalled that, in 2024, Romania made a 7-year commitment to the European Commission, and at the end of this timeframe it must reach a 3% deficit. He also said that, in drafting the state budget for 2025, the authorities are not considering an increase in VAT or any changes to the payroll tax. The minister mentioned that the draft budget will be presented to the governing coalition by January 27, to be adopted by Parliament in the first week of February.

We recall that the Government led by the Social Democrat Marcel Ciolacu recently approved an emergency ordinance regarding some fiscal-budgetary measures in the field of public spending, to substantiate the general budget for 2025. The measures have sparked dissatisfaction among the private sector, which complains about legislative unpredictability and the change of tax laws from one day to the next. In turn, the unions signal the fact that protests will be held in the upcoming period and have asked the Ombudsman to challenge the article that provides for the freezing of pension indexation at the Constitutional Court. Having taken effect on January 1, the ordinance also provides for a salary freeze, the elimination of some tax incentives and the restriction of certain benefits.

10 January 2025
Budget deficit like in pandemic times

Romania’s budget deficit in the first 11 months of this year reached 7.11% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP), over EUR 25 bln, according to information obtained by the Romanian media. The government’s deficit target for 2024 is 8.58% of GDP, over EUR 30.5 bln, which means that substantial spending is planned for December as well. A higher budget deficit as a share of GDP was most recently recorded in 2020, the year of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the indicator stood at 9.6%.

The deficit is the difference between the state’s lower revenues and the higher expenses it must cover. Since the government does not have this money, it has to borrow it. The higher and longer the deficits, the more alarming the public debt growth rate.

Together with slower economic growth, as expected for Romania in the coming years, large budget deficits can lead to alarming situations, such as the one forecast for 2031. For that year, the fiscal plan stipulates that Romania will pay 3.5% of GDP (EUR 20 bln) in interest on government debt, as opposed to 2% today.

Official data and data collected by the press show that the new government will take over a difficult economic situation: a huge budget deficit, interest on government loans that have broken the European Union record, and European funds partly suspended.

At the moment, the incumbent government, comprising the Social Democratic Party and the National Liberal Party, cannot draft the budget law for next year. With the new parliament not yet convened, the future parliamentary majority, on which several budget chapters depend, is not clear. And without a national budget, city halls cannot prepare their own budgets, and citizens will immediately feel the effects.

The Liberal finance minister Marcel Boloş acknowledged that “political instability is creating difficulties with regard to the strategy for borrowing on foreign markets to ensure the financing of the budget deficit and public debt, as the budget for 2025 cannot be finalised.”

The Social Democratic PM Marcel Ciolacu said in recent months that the colossal loans taken out by his executive team were primarily intended for investment. He mentioned the example of Western European countries such as Portugal, Spain or Italy, which went into massive debt before creating their remarkable present-day infrastructure. Commentators say, however, that much of the deficit is due to electoral measures—e.g. substantial increases in pensions and salaries in the public sector—implemented by the government in 2024, which in Romania was a year with all types of elections: elections for the European Parliament, as well as local, legislative and presidential ballots. (AMP)

10 December 2024
October 24, 2024

ELECTIONS The campaign for the first round of the presidential election begins on Friday at midnight and ends at 7 am on November 23. The presidential elections are scheduled this year on November 24 (the first round) and on December 8 (the second round). In between, on December 1, the parliamentary election will be held. Competing in the presidential race are 14 candidates, 10 of them backed by political parties and 4 running independently. Local and EU parliamentary elections were also held in Romania this year, on June 9.

ENERGY The energy minister Sebastian Burduja promised that national gas storage is enough for Romania not to need natural gas imports this winter. He added that Romania is not importing Russian gas at all, and when imports are needed it resorts to Turkey and Azerbaijan. The Romanian official also added that the people who have difficulties paying their bills will still be protected, even after April 1, 2025, when natural gas and electricity prices will no longer be capped.

BUDGET The European Parliament Wednesday voted a budget of EUR 201 billion for 2025. The formula chosen by the EP favours the countries with smaller contributions to the European budget, such as Romania, which stand to gain from the distribution of funds through EU policies and programmes. A final decision on the budget will be reached after negotiations with the member states in the Council, where a EUR 10 bln lower ceiling has been proposed.

UN On the celebration of the United Nations Day on October 24^th, the Romanian foreign ministry emphasises that supporting and strengthening multilateralism, centered on the UN system, remain vital and the only response proportionate to the scale and complexity of the global crises that affect UN member countries at the same time. The annual world-wide celebration marks the entry into force in 1945 of the UN Charter, ratified by most signatory countries, including the 5 permanent members of the Security Council.

SPORTS Romania’s football champions, FCSB (Bucharest), play tonight away from home against Glasgow Rangers, in their 3rd match in the new Europa League format. FCSB has 2 wins so far, 4-1 against RFS (Latvia) and 1-0 against the Greek champions, PAOK Thessaloniki, coached by the Romanian Razvan Lucescu. In men’s handball, Romanian champions Dinamo Bucharest Wednesday night defeated Sporting Lisbon, 33-29, in the Champions League Group A. Sporting remains top placed in the group with 9 points, while Dinamo ranks 3^rd, with 8 points. (AMP)

24 October 2024
October 23, 2024

Visit – Romania’s President, Klaus Iohannis, is paying an official visit to Montenegro today, at the invitation of his counterpart Jakov Milatović. This is the first visit at the level of heads of state since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Klaus Iohannis will be received by President Jakov Milatovic at the official residence in Cetinje. The talks will focus on such topics as political and diplomatic cooperation, defense and support for Montenegro’s European path. Opportunities for increasing investments and commercial exchanges, stimulating contacts in the fields of energy, tourism, agriculture, internal affairs, research, education and culture will also be analyzed.

Election – Today, the US has expressed its concern about Russia’s interference in the second round of the November 3 presidential election in the Republic of Moldova, a competition which is going to be very tight. The US is concerned that Russia will try, once again, to prevent the Moldovans from exercising their sovereign right to choose their own leaders, said the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, in a statement quoted by AFP. Washington has already denounced that Russia did everything in its power to disrupt the first round of the presidential election and last Sunday’s referendum, with the aim of undermining democracy in the small ex-Soviet Republic with a majority Romanian-speaking population, especially through illegal financing, vote buying, disinformation and malicious cyber activities. We remind you that the Moldovans approved by a tiny margin, with a little over 50% of the votes, amending the Constitution with a view to their country’s EU accession. At the same time, the current president, the pro-European Maia Sandu, ranked first, with 42.45% of the votes, in the first round of the presidential election, but she is preparing for a difficult second round, in which she will fight with the representative of the Socialist Party, Alexandr Stoianoglo, who obtained 25.98%.

Budget – Today, the European Parliament pronounces on the budget for next year, in a different version than the one proposed by the EC and the one discussed in the Council, which announces negotiations. Initially, the European Commission had considered a budget of approximately 200 billion Euros, which it proposed both to the Council and the Parliament. The Council cut 8 billion Euros from this proposal, while the Parliament increased it by another 1 billion. One of the two chief negotiators of the EP, the Romanian MEP Victor Negrescu, says that the version of the EP, of 201 billion Euros, would be the correct one, both from the point of view of the multi-annual budget setting and from the point of view of what is needed for the Union’s common policies. The European Parliament agrees with the increase in the budget for border security, defense and external actions, but believes that the big problem is in the economy and in the social sector, domains for which more money would be needed, says Victor Negrescu.

Salary – Romania’s Chamber of Deputies adopted, as a decision-making body, the draft law on the minimum wage. It transposes a European directive that aims to improve the working and living conditions of employees. The document stipulates that the minimum basic gross salary guaranteed to be paid should be established annually, through periodic updating, after consultations with the nationally-representative unions and employers’ associations and should take into account the cost of living and economic and social indicators.

Year of the Child – The Romanian authorities announce a series of measures in the run-up of the Year of the Child to be marked in 2025. The measures are aimed at supporting children and promoting their rights, especially of those from disadvantaged areas. The law under which 2025 becomes the Year of the Child in Romania was passed by Parliament earlier this month. (LS)

23 October 2024