Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu stated on Thursday, in a discussion with journalists at the Victoria Palace, that he wants to organize a referendum for Rosia Montana, to see if the Romanians agree with gold mining. The statement comes in the context of the expected pronouncement of the decision by the international arbitration court on compensations or the possibility of gold exploitation on Friday, March 8. “I would say to organize a referendum for Rosia Montana. Let’s see if the Romanians agree to start gold mining”, declared Ciolacu. A decision in the case of Rosia Montana is expected on Friday, and depending on this the negotiation strategy will be formulated, announced the Minister of Finance, Marcel Bolos, who explained that “there is also the option not to pay anything, but to carry out the exploitation”. “We were informed that during the day of Friday the decision will be pronounced by the international arbitration court. We are waiting to see what this decision will be and then we will formulate our negotiation strategy and depending on what the coordinates of this negotiation strategy will be, we will go through the necessary stages to reach a consensus with the beneficiaries of that decision”, said Minister Bolos. Asked if an extraordinary appeal was still possible, the finance minister said yes, but that “it’s moving quite quickly”. “It’s possible, but it’s happening pretty quickly. Such are the customs of international arbitration courts and the prospect of changing the decision that will be pronounced on Friday, following the discussions with the lawyers, is quite small”, said Bolos. In June 2017, the Canadian company Gabriel Resources, the majority shareholder Rosia Montana Gold Corporation, summoned Romania to court at a World Bank Tribunal, where it claimed losses of billions of dollars because the Government in Bucharest decided not to approve the exploitation of the gold mine Rosia Montana. The total updated value of the compensation requested by the companies Gabriel Resources Ltd. and Gabriel Resources (Jersey) in the international arbitration case opened against Romania, related to the “Ro?ia Montana gold mining project”, amounts to approximately USD 6.7 billion.
Participation in cultural education activities continues to be limited, with the main barriers being difficult access, insufficient knowledge, and cost, the recently released Cultural Consumption Barometer 2024 shows. The report showed that many Romanians still associate culture with entertainment rather than with personal development or furthering their knowledge. The need for relaxation dominates in cultural […]
Roughly 84% of Romanians say that the pace of the state’s digitalization is slow or very slow, according to an Edge Institute & AtlasIntel study presented at the Digital Governance Summit 2025, which took place on Tuesday, November 25, at the presidential palace in Bucharest. The survey aims to capture the way citizens relate to […]
Romania’s Superior Council of Magistracy (CSM) issued a negative opinion on the new bill regarding magistrates’ pensions. The move is only the latest development concerning a heated issue that led to tensions between the executive and the judiciary branch. CSM’s opinion is consultative, and the government led by Ilie Bolojan can still take responsibility for […]
Romania took the presidency of the Central European Initiative (or CEI) on Wednesday, November 26, according to a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE). The organization is a regional intergovernmental forum established in 1989, following the fall of the Berlin Wall. It gathers 17 Member States in Central, Eastern, and South-Eastern Europe […]
Trade between Romania and Poland continues to grow, with annual bilateral exchanges in goods now valued at more than EUR 12 billion, according to figures presented by the Polish-Romanian Bilateral Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PRBCC). The data was released during a reception in Bucharest marking Poland’s Independence Day and Romania’s National Day. Polish investments […]
As Romania moves closer to implementing the EU Pay Transparency Directive, local employers are preparing for one of the most consequential shifts in workplace regulation in over a decade. The directive, set for transposition by June 2026, introduces strict new rules on salary disclosure, pay reporting, and equal-pay verification, aiming to close persistent gender gaps […]
