🇷🇴Week of October 26

A coach carrying more than 100 people fell into a ravine near Barcelona, and dozens of passengers were injured. Emergency services activated the red intervention plan in Barcelona.123

More than 80 people were injured in the crash, according to HotNews.ro, which reported that the coach fell 20 metres into the ravine. Mediafax put the number of injured at 80, of whom 20 were described in its headline as being in a more serious category.42

Attributed claim: Accounts differ on the number of people aboard: Digi24 and Profit.ro reported more than 100 passengers, while HotNews.ro described almost 100 people on board. The outlets agree the vehicle overturned into a ravine near Barcelona.135

Laura Codruța Kövesi is closing a seven-year term as head of the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO), the institution she built from scratch. In an interview with POLITICO she said the office will be eliminated quietly because it does its job. She also said politicians want an independent judiciary only until an investigation reaches their own circle of close associates.123

Kövesi said financial restrictions, legislative blockages and reluctance from elites in Brussels and European capitals threaten the EPPO's future. She described the pressure as gradual erosion of an institution that is investigating a growing number of frauds involving EU funds. "If you want to destroy an institution," she said, framing the warning around the office's own record.145

European prosecutors still have questions for European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in the so-called Pfizergate case, according to Digi24. Kövesi's remarks on the politicians targeted by EPPO investigations were reported alongside that case. The sources do not state what the prosecutors' remaining questions concern.672

Kövesi's warning was delivered as she leaves the post, and she cast the threat as coming from underfunding, administrative delays and political pressure at a moment when the office is handling more EU funds fraud cases. She said that in Brussels "nobody hears you screaming."482

The government is preparing to index pensions in 2027 and is discussing a percentage that could be applied in two stages, with the Finance Ministry running calculations for the budget law. The Labour Ministry is working from a figure that has not been fixed, and the increase due on 1 January is uncertain.1234

Fiscal consultant Adrian Negrescu said pensions could be raised in two stages in 2027: a first increase of 3-4 percent at the start of the year and a second during the summer, if the economic situation and state revenues allow it. A separate scenario reported for the indexation is a 5 percent rise plus support payments for pensioners with small pensions.56

The discussion covers taxes as well as pensions, and the cost of the increases and what is planned for salaries are part of the same calculation. Adrian Veștea, the designated prime minister, said he will not raise taxes, adding that there is no predictability and that the government must give it.758

Adevarul.ro frames the pension decision as sitting between the promise of indexation and price increases, and asks how much pensioners could gain in 2027. The other accounts centre on the two-stage mechanism and the percentage under discussion rather than on a single agreed figure.951

Microsoft has prepared voluntary departure offers for 60,000 employees across four countries, part of what the company's restructuring is described as its largest staff reduction. The packages are aimed at tens of thousands of workers, and vice-presidents are among those eligible.123

The cuts amount to a quarter of Microsoft's global workforce, a reduction tied to the company's push into artificial intelligence. The offers were reported on Monday.413

HotNews.ro reported that Microsoft is paying the 60,000 employees to resign and published details of the offer, while StartupCafe described the departures as voluntary layoffs at global level. Mediafax reported on Thursday that the company is preparing the exit of tens of thousands of staff during its race for artificial intelligence.567

afaceri.news reported that Microsoft is offering voluntary departure programs to approximately 60,000 employees. The reports did not specify which four countries are covered or which job categories are affected beyond the inclusion of vice-presidents.81

Aleksandar Vučić conceded defeat in Serbia's elections after a day of heavy turnout and long queues at polling stations. The result ends 12 years in power for Vučić, and the party that removed him is the Students' List. Crowds celebrated in the streets of Belgrade after the result.1234

The Students' List is the party credited with unseating Vučić after his 12 years in power. Voting drew large queues, and the contest was described as deciding the country's direction.25

Joy spread through Belgrade after the result, with crowds gathering in the streets of the capital.34

The European Public Prosecutor's Office has sent the leadership of the Lower Danube River Administration (AFDJ) in Galați to trial over a contract worth 7 million euro for tugboats that cannot navigate the Danube when water levels fall. Romania bought the vessels for the river, and prosecutors say they fail to meet the contract requirements.123

Four officials from Galați face charges in the case, which concerns the rigging of a tender funded with EU money. Two entities have also been sent to trial alongside the four functionaries, according to Informat.ro.456

Attributed claim: Accounts differ on the number of defendants. Agerpres, Adevarul.ro and Ziare.com report four officials sent to trial, while Actualdecluj and G4Media report six defendants in the same 7 million euro EU fraud case.27436

The two tugboats bought for the Danube do not meet the contract requirements, and the payment of 7 million euro covered vessels that cannot operate on the river when the water is low.378

Nearly 700,000 euros seized at Otopeni Airport have disappeared from the storage room of the border customs office, and the money bag was found holding only one banknote and sheets of paper. The missing sum was confiscated at the airport and kept in the customs office's deposit room. The case came to light nine months after the disappearance, and police were notified.1234

Prosecutors are investigating the Border Customs Office at Otopeni Airport for Passengers, where the disappearance of almost 700,000 euros was established. The bag that should have held the confiscated cash contained a single banknote and sheets of paper in place of the money.23

Europa FM reported that the police were called in over the missing sum at the Otopeni customs office. The amount involved is put at almost 700,000 euros across the accounts.41

The Bucharest Tribunal rejected a request by DIICOT prosecutors to extend Călin Georgescu's pre-trial detention by another 30 days. The court placed the former presidential candidate under judicial control instead. Georgescu had been taken to the tribunal on Monday, where the request was debated at first instance and the court reserved its ruling.123

The case concerns allegations that Georgescu defrauded a businessman of 1.1 million euros. Ionel Rusen was released from detention alongside Georgescu, and prosecutors can still contest the ruling.14

Georgescu could be released on Wednesday, and his supporters celebrated in the street after the decision.53

Bulgaria held a presidential election on Sunday, and voters will decide the presidency in a runoff a week later because no candidate won outright. The vote was marked by record absenteeism, and security fears and divisions over the war in Ukraine shaped the campaign.123

Incumbent President Iliana Iotova finished slightly ahead in the first round, taking between 35 and 36.5 percent of the vote, according to exit polls cited by AFP and Novinite. Outlets reported her as the winner of the first round on the basis of those polls, with a second round still required.456

Drones in the Black Sea marked the presidential election, and Iotova was the favourite in opinion polls. A journalist in Sofia framed the contest as a choice for Bulgaria between Russia and the West.78