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After PSD-AUR announced their no-confidence motion, there was a day or so of silence from President Nicușor Dan. And when he finally spoke it was only to give assurances that he would continue his well-known equidistance, as well as giving some even more indigestible assurances: "There are some party leaders, that when they want to say something, we have to...

The Iran conflict has become the most powerful, if unintended, accelerator of Europe's electric-vehicle transition since subsidy-driven booms of 2020-2022. The Strait of Hormuz blockade and the surge in oil and gas prices jolted energy markets and triggered widespread inflation fears, while average petrol prices in the EU climbed in some countries above €2 per liter, reshaping consumer purchase...

The European Parliament on Tuesday stripped Diana Șoșoacă of her immunity, leaving her open to face a probe for 11 charges including legionary propaganda and denying the Holocaust. The European legislature decided, in a plenary vote, that Ms Sosoaca, the S.O.S. president could be investigated in Romania, as requested by the Prosecutor General’s Office. Two separate votes took place in...

Greece's government is advancing plans to restrict anonymity on social media. Greece says this is aimed at tackling online abuse, but critics warn it will undermine privacy and free expression. Digital Governance Minister Dimitris Papastergiou said the proposal, which was under discussion for months and now being considered by the office of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, shall require platforms to verify...

TODAY IN HISTORY: Benito Mussolini, executed on April 28, 1945, showed how democracy can be dismantled from within There is a familiar frustration among people who like to argue politics by reductio ad absurdum: the moment you invoke Hitler, which can be so very tempting, people claim you lost the debate. The comparison is dismissed as a hysterical and unserious...

On Monday, April 27, Romania descended into the ridiculous: Someone with a corruption conviction (Marian Neacșu – PSD) and a former adviser to ex-PM Adrian Năstase (Petrișor Peiu – AUR) announced in unison that they would submit a motion of censure to remove the Government led by Ilie Bolojan. The president, who arrived in Cotroceni as a great reformist...

According to the Ukrainian state news agency Ukrinform, Moldovan President Maia Sandu said that discussions are ongoing with international partners, including the European Union, about possible approaches to the reintegration of Transnistria. Transnistria, a breakaway region along Moldova’s eastern border effectively surviving on Russian funding, has been outside the control of the central government since the early 1990s, with Russian...

Prosecutors carried out searches in Bucharest, Brașov and Mureș last week The European Public Prosecutor’s Office in Cluj is investigating suspected corruption and procurement fraud related to the acquisition of medical equipment. The investigation concerns a public procurement procedure for medical equipment worth approximately €1.5 million, during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021. Based on the evidence, the tender specifications were allegedly...

Bitcoin continued its modest rally last week, breaking above $79,000, driven by strengthened institutional buying and ETF inflows, while geopolitical sentiment improved after President Donald Trump indefinitely extended the United States' ceasefire with Iran. US spot bitcoin ETFs saw $824 million in inflows last week, while digital asset treasury companies continued to stock pile, with Strategy notably adding another 34,164...

‘Stability and predictability’ needed, investors say Romania's economic progress essentially depends on a stable and predictable governance framework, international investors said in a statement on Monday as the county was plunged into a political crisis. The Foreign Investors Council said the collapse of the ruling coalition last week came as fiscal consolidation is already dampening economic growth and consumption, while budget...