Romania received a warning on Wednesday for failing to fully comply with the Landfill and Waste Framework Directives despite having already been fined by the European Court of Justice in December, euractiv.com informs. According to the Commission, Romania has successfully closed and rehabilitated 92 landfills and plans to address five more by 2026-2028. However, the situation for four others remains uncertain despite ambitious targets to send less than 10% of municipal solid waste generated to landfills by 2035. Environment, Water and Forests Minister Mircea Fechet has stressed the urgency of closing or rehabilitating at least 31 hazardous and non-hazardous industrial waste sites to avoid EU fines. During a site visit to Sofert Bacau, a 16-hectare dangerous waste landfill in north-eastern Romania, Fechet highlighted the daily fines of €18,000 incurred by this site alone, which has been storing hazardous phosphogypsum industrial waste since communist times. Today, a significant amount of recyclable material still ends up in landfills rather than in factories, while Romania is still unable to control waste imports, the minister said in an earlier statement. On 14 December, the EU Court of Justice (CJEU) imposed a fine of €1.5 million on Romania, along with daily penalties of €600, for delays in closing non-compliant waste dumps. The CJEU noted that the failure to fulfil obligations has lasted more than four years since 2018, described as “a considerable duration”. In addition, the CJEU pointed to “a significant risk of pollution and serious consequences for human health, in particular through the release of harmful chemicals into soil, air and water”.
Romanian deep-tech startup .lumen, the developer of what it says are the world’s first AI-powered glasses for the blind, has secured a new investment from EIT Urban Mobility, the European innovation community focused on advancing sustainable and inclusive urban mobility solutions. The value of the new funding round was not disclosed. The investment aligns with […]
The health spending per capita in Romania was the lowest in the EU, with spending less than half the EU average in 2023, the recently released report, State of Health in the EU - Romania Country Health Profile 2025, shows. At the same time, life expectancy in Romania is 5.1 years below the EU average, […]
Romania’s annual inflation rate stood at roughly 9.8% in November 2025, similar to October, according to data published by the National Institute of Statistics (INS). Food prices increased by 7.6% last month, while services rose roughly 11% and non-food goods climbed 10.7%. The consumer price index rose by 0.42% in November compared with October, while […]
Three French soldiers deployed in Romania as part of NATO’s Multinational Battle Group at Cincu intervened to save a truck driver following a serious traffic accident on the A3 Bucharest–Ploiești motorway, the Romanian Ministry of Defense said. The incident occurred earlier this week as the soldiers were traveling toward Ploiești and witnessed the truck crash...
Eight contemporary art galleries will present the works of the artists they represent at the third edition of the Smallest Art Fair in Town, an event dedicated to works on paper. This edition showcases works “investigating the state of wandering, disorientation, and rediscovery in the face of uncertainty.” Under the title In Dark Woods, A […]
Parents everywhere are asking an important question: What skills will truly prepare a child for a world defined by rapid change, global uncertainty, and the rise of artificial intelligence? For decades, schools focused entirely on academics. Today, research from neuroscience, performance psychology, and leading universities shows a different reality: The students who thrive long-term are […]
