A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsflash
Newsroom,
24.07.2026, 20:00
Drone. A drone that had entered Romanian airspace was shot down by the Romanian pilot of an F-16 aircraft, the president of Romania Nicuşor Dan announced. He mentioned the aircraft was shot down at around 11:00 am, above an uninhabited area in Buzău County. According to some sources, the incident occurred near the town of Padina, about 120 km from the Ukrainian border. Nicuşor Dan also said that teams from relevant Romanian institutions travel to the site to investigate the incident. It is for the first time that the Romanian Air Forces shot down a drone violating Romanian airspace. Such incidents have occurred dozens of times before, the most serious of them on May 29, when a Russian-made drone hit an apartment building in Galaţi, wounding two people. In many other cases, Russian drones have hit targets in Ukraine right on the border with Romania.
Deficit. Romania’s budget deficit fell to 2% of the Gross Domestic Product in the first six months of this year, according to data released Friday by the Ministry of Finance. According to the source, the deficit is 1.65 percentage points lower than in the same period of 2025, thus confirming the continued progress of fiscal consolidation. Expressed as a share of the GDP, revenues rose by 0.46 percentage points, driven both by tax collections—primarily VAT, payroll and income taxes, and property taxes—and by the drawdown of European Union funds. Total expenditures decreased by 1.19%.
Law. The new public sector salary bill could be discussed in Parliament in a new extraordinary session in early August, following the special session next week in which other draft laws will be voted on, which are critical for the disbursing of significant funding under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. The announcement was made by the interim PM Ilie Bolojan, who emphasised that there are still discussions for the final form of the document. According to him, the draft law on public sector salaries aims to eliminate situations in which employees in the public system with similar duties are paid differently, and promised that no one will have their incomes lowered. He also said salaries will be based on a reference value adjusted to the dynamics of the economy. Unless the law was adopted, the current salary inequities in the public sector would increase, and Romania could also lose EUR 770 million in EU funding under the NRRP.
Corruption. Three executives from Romanian state-owned arms manufacturers have been detained by anti-corruption prosecutors on charges of accepting bribes. They are Mihai Rafiu—CEO of “Uzina Mecanică” in Bucharest, Alexandru Tiberiu Pîrvu—CEO of “Uzina Mecanică” in Plopeni (south), and Liliana Sorescu—commercial director of the same company. According to a statement from the National Anti-Corruption Directorate (DNA), another individual—a representative of several private firms—was also detained in connection with the case. Prosecutors note that public officials allegedly received sums of money in connection with the conclusion and execution of commercial contracts with those companies, as well as for approving orders and making the corresponding payments. During searches conducted at the home of the director of the Plopeni Mechanical Plant, sums of money in lei and foreign currency totaling 500,000 euros were found and seized as part of a precautionary seizure measure.
Visit. Romania and India have the ambitious goal of doubling their trade in the coming years, president Nicuşor Dan stated on Friday at the Romania-India Business Forum organised in the context of the state visit to Bucharest by the president of India, Droupadi Murmu. Romania is a country with interesting energy prospects, with a special quality of personnel in the fields of technology, science, IT, so there are multiple cooperation options, the head of state emphasised. He also highlighted that there are cooperation opportunities in the defence industry. Also on Friday, the president of India Droupadi Murmu had talks with the interim PM Ilie Bolojan, and met with the Senate speaker Mircea Abrudean, and the Chamber of Deputies speaker Sorin Grindeanu.
Treaty. Romania acceded on Friday to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in South-East Asia. The document was signed in Manila, in the Philippines, by the Romanian Minister of Education and Research, Mihai Dimian. The signing of the Instrument of Accession to the treaty reaffirmed Bucharest’s commitment to deepening cooperation with the Association of South-East Asian Nations , including through the establishment in the coming years of a Sectoral Dialogue Partnership in the fields of higher education, digital skills, cyber security, research and innovation, according to the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Alongside Romania, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden have also acceded to the treaty. Founded in 1967, ASEAN comprises 11 member states with a combined population of approximately 690 million and a cumulative GDP of over 2,600 billion euros.
Fuels. Romania is not facing the risk of a fuel supply crisis, despite the temporary suspension of oil deliveries from Kazakhstan through the Caspian Pipeline, affected by tensions in the Black Sea region. Authorities and companies in the energy sector expect the market to remain stable in the next two weeks. The interim PM Ilie Bolojan said that Rompetrol, a company that supplies oil from Kazakhstan, is looking for alternative routes. Kazakhstan is Romania’s main oil supplier, with over 5 million tonnes of oil annually. Meanwhile, fuel prices continue to rise, having once again exceeded USD 100 / barrel, following the resumption of the war in Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, as well as drone attacks in the Black Sea. In Romania, in the last month, the petrol price increased by over 4%, and diesel by approximately 7%.
Resignation. The Minister of Agriculture in the Republic of Moldova (a former Soviet republic with a predominantly Romanian-speaking population), Radu Musteaţă, resigned from his post on Friday, just three days into his term, following media reports that he had been a member of the Democratic Party during the period when it was led by oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc. Prime Minister Vasile Tofan accepted Musteaţă’s resignation. Plahotniuc, a political heavyweight and one of the wealthiest people in the republic, was sentenced in April to 19 years in prison in a fraud case involving the theft of one billion dollars from the banking sector. He was the leader of the Democratic Party between 2016 and 2019.
Wildfires. Wildfires continue to ravage parts of Europe. The French president Emmanuel Macron has announced his country will receive additional EU aid to deal with a major fire near the Atlantic coast. In Spain, the authorities have declared a state of emergency in the Madrid region and the neighboring province of Ávila, where fires are spreading rapidly due to the heat and drought, forcing the evacuation of tens of thousands of people. According to an AFP report based on data from the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), 2026 is so far the second worst in the last two decades in the European Union in terms of the areas affected by fire. For France, however, it is the most severe year on record, and for Spain and Italy one of the worst.
