March 25, 2025
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 25.03.2025, 13:55
Elections. The Central Electoral Bureau of Romania (BEC) has published the layout of the ballot paper that will be used in the May presidential elections. It will have two pages. Six candidates will be on the first one and five on the second. BEC’s decision came two days after establishing the order of the 11 candidates on the ballot paper. According to the draw, they are: the leader of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) (nationalist, opposition), George Simion, the former Liberal leader Crin Antonescu, supported by the PSD-PNL-UDMR government coalition, the Save Romania leader (in opposition) Elena Lasconi, Cristian Terheş, Lavinia Şandru, ex-prime minister Victor Ponta, Sebastian Constantin Popescu, Silviu Predoiu, John Ion Banu Muscel, former minister Daniel Funeriu and the independent mayor of Bucharest, Nicuşor Dan. The presidential election campaign will start on April 4 and will last until May 3. The first round of voting will take place on May 4, and the second on May 18.
Budget spending. Interim President Ilie Bolojan believes that Romania has spent more in recent years than it could afford and believes that a sustained effort is needed in the next two years to correct budget deficits and revive the economy. In a televised intervention, the head of state stated that solutions exist, including: reducing spending, combating tax evasion and, in this context, collecting taxes, because there are quite large arrears on the VAT side. Ilie Bolojan warned that, otherwise, things will become significantly more complicated economically for our country and tax increases are not excluded.
Visit. The acting Speaker of the Romanian Senate, Mircea Abrudean, is paying an official visit to the neighbouring Republic of Moldova (ex-Soviet, predominantly Romanian-speaking). The agenda of the discussions with representatives of the pro-European administration in Chisinau – Head of State, Maia Sandu, Speaker of Parliament, Igor Grosu, Prime Minister Dorin Recean – is dominated by the intensification of cooperation between the two states in key sectors, as well as the reform agenda and the European path of the Republic of Moldova, a press release of the Romanian Senate reads. Members of the Senate’s Culture Committee will also pay an official visit to Chisinau between March 26-29.
Safety. Romania is one of the safest countries in the region thanks to the professionalism and involvement of the Romanian Police and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, said Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu at the event celebrating Romanian Police Day. He highlighted that last year the Romanian Police demonstrated ‘a remarkable response capacity, with almost one million interventions and over 130,000 resolved conflicts’. Marcel Ciolacu thanked the police for their efforts in combating drug trafficking and asked them to continue to demonstrate that Romania does not tolerate this scourge. “Over a ton of high-risk drugs and hundreds of thousands of tablets confiscated in 2024 mean lives saved, especially young lives”, stressed the Prime Minister. Marcel Ciolacu also appreciated the efforts of the Romanian Police in combating illegal migration, stressing that the phenomenon decreased ‘by over 80%’ in 2024.
Gas. OMV Petrom and Romgaz have started drilling for the development and exploitation of natural gas deposits in the Neptun Deep perimeter, located 160 km offshore the Black Sea. The project is progressing according to plan, with the first production estimated for 2027, representatives of the two companies have announced. Neptun Deep will contribute to Romania’s natural gas production with about 8 billion cubic meters annually, once the production plateau is reached. This is a historic moment, as Black Sea gas means a real and safe alternative for all Europeans, and this project will reduce dependence on Russia and strengthen Romania’s economic position, said Energy Minister Sebastian Burduja.
Eurobarometer. Only 47% of Romanians would like the European Union to take on a more important role in protecting them from global crises and security risks, 19 percentage points less than the European average, according the Winter 2025 Eurobarometer, published today. Asked on which areas the Union should focus its attention to strengthen its position in the world, Romanians answered food security and agriculture, defense and security, competitiveness, economy and industry. At the EU level, defense and security are in first place. Romanians are in last place in the EU when it comes to the desire for solidarity to increase at the EU level in the current geopolitical context.
Football. The Romanian national football team defeated the San Marino national team with a score of 5-1 (2-0), on Monday evening, away from home, in Group H of the 2026 World Cup preliminaries. The specialized press in Bucharest notes that Romania won a dull match with a modest opponent, against whom it scored five goals. One was an own goal, and two from penalties. In the same group, Bosnia defeated Cyprus at home 2-1. Austria is also part of the group. On Friday, in the debut match of the preliminaries, the Romanians lost, in Bucharest, 0-1, to the Bosnians. Romania has not qualified for a World Cup final tournament since 1998. The winners of the 12 preliminary groups will qualify directly for the 2026 World Cup. The 12 second-place teams in the groups and the highest-ranked group winners from the 2024-25 Nations League, which did not qualify through the preliminaries, will fight for the other four places available for the European zone. (MI)
