In Romania, a penitentiary institution has launched a “service advertisement” for individuals and companies: prisoners can be hired for domestic and seasonal work at a rate of about 27 lei per hour, based on a simple service contract.
The jobs advertised include chopping wood, manual earthworks, tree pruning/clearing, and clearing plots of land, ditches, and canals. The announcement also states that food and security/escort are provided by the institution, and transport to the work site can be provided separately at a rate of approximately 2 lei/km.
This refers to Penitenciarul Mioveni (Romania), as reported by the Romanian media with reference to the institution’s publication.
The context provided in the article: against the backdrop of a labor shortage, many companies in Romania are attracting workers from non-EU countries. According to data cited from a study by the Economic and Social Council (CES), of the 136,334 third-country nationals with work permits (as of the end of August), the largest groups are from Nepal and Sri Lanka.
The list of countries whose citizens are mentioned in the article as the main groups of workers from third countries includes Nepal, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Moldova, India, Bangladesh, China, Syria, Egypt, and Pakistan.
Romanian border guards are not allowing many cars arriving from Ukraine to cross the border without proof of technical inspection, according to eyewitnesses.
To cross the border, drivers are required to present a technical inspection certificate confirming that the vehicle is in good working order. It is also necessary to have documents for entry and travel, including passport documents, car papers, and insurance, and in some cases, confirmation of the purpose of the trip and a power of attorney when driving someone else’s car.
The Romanian border police previously indicated that during border control, drivers must present an identity document, a valid driver’s license, vehicle registration documents, and confirmation of a valid periodic technical inspection, which must be valid at the time of presentation at the checkpoint.
In addition, border guards remind travelers that customs restrictions on entry into Romania apply to meat and dairy products, honey, and cash in excess of €10,000, which must be declared.
According to Interfax-Ukraine, Ukrainian restaurant chain Chornomorka is entering Romania: the first establishment in Bucharest is planned to open this winter in the renovated Unirea shopping center (Piata Unirii 1).
The company is already recruiting a team: they are looking for administrators, chefs, as well as waiters, fish sellers, cooks, and a cleaning manager.
The restaurant has an area of 280 square meters and is designed to seat 98-102 people.
The Unirea shopping center (approximately 80,000 square meters) is undergoing renovation, with Colliers Romania overseeing the redesign project. At the same time, a large-scale reconstruction of Piata Unirii is underway, with work expected to take approximately two years.
According to the chain’s website, by December 2025, Chernomorka will have 40 establishments in Ukraine, Moldova, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Poland.
Metinvest Mining and Metallurgical Group has acquired Tubular Products Iasi S.A. (AMTP Iasi), a pipe plant in Romania controlled by ArcelorMittal S.A. (Luxembourg), from ArcelorMittal. According to information released by the company on Wednesday, the group continues to promote synergy between the metallurgical industries of Ukraine and the EU.
It is specified that on December 16, Metinvest closed a deal to acquire ArcelorMittal Tubular Products Iași, located in the Romanian city of Iași.
The plant produces welded structural pipes for construction, mechanical engineering, infrastructure, and the agricultural sector. Its maximum capacity is 240,000 tons of products per year.
“Even before the war, Metinvest began building bridges between the metallurgical industries of Ukraine and the EU. Therefore, the new plant is a unique opportunity for us to keep two enterprises busy at once – in Iași and Zaporizhia. This is part of our contribution to post-war recovery. I am confident that the plant’s products will be in demand not only in the EU, but also in the restoration of Ukraine’s infrastructure and industry damaged by the war,” commented Yuriy Ryzhenkov, CEO of Metinvest, on the completion of the deal.
The enterprise became Metinvest’s first production site in Romania. Negotiations on the acquisition of the plant lasted several months. On November 24, 2025, the group received approval from the European Commission to acquire the asset under the European Union Merger Regulation, and the next day, approval from Romania’s national competition authority following a foreign investment screening procedure.
Metinvest’s enterprises in Ukraine have historically produced large volumes of hot-rolled coils for both the domestic market and export. The location of the asset in Romania, just 600 km from Zaporizhia, allows us to supply up to 180,000 tons of hot-rolled coils produced by Zaporizhstal annually. This will provide the Romanian plant with regular orders and stable operation,” said Metinvest’s Chief Operating Officer Alexander Mironenko.
It is also reported that in 2026, the asset is planned to be integrated into Metinvest’s production and organizational chains. The plant has five pipe mills, two longitudinal cutting lines, and two coating lines. Metinvest will comply with all the terms of the employment contracts with the employees of the enterprise in Iasi.
It should be noted that, in addition to Ukraine and Romania, the group has assets in Italy, Bulgaria, the UK, and the US.
AMTP Iasi is registered in Romania and is actively involved in the production and supply of small welded carbon steel pipes.
Metinvest is a vertically integrated group of mining and metallurgical enterprises. Its enterprises are located in Ukraine – in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Dnipropetrovsk regions – as well as in the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The main shareholders of the holding are SCM Group (71.24%) and Smart Holding (23.76%). Metinvest Holding LLC is the management company of the Metinvest Group.
Transmission system operators (TSOs) of Ukraine, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania launched the first monthly auctions for the allocation of cross-border capacity on Monday, according to Ukrenergo.
They are being held on December 15-17 on the Joint Allocation Office (JAO) platform with delivery in January 2026. The final results of the auctions are to be announced on December 23. According to information on the JAO, the capacity of the interconnection with Hungary is 460 MW, with Romania and Slovakia – 172 MW each. No interconnection capacity is offered from Ukraine.
“Long-term auctions for the allocation of cross-border transmission capacity are definitely beneficial for the Ukrainian electricity market. In the context of massive Russian attacks on our energy system, we really need confidence in a stable supply of electricity imports every month,” commented Vitaliy Zaychenko, chairman of the board of Ukrenergo, whose words are quoted in the company’s Telegram message.
“We are grateful to our partners at ENTSO-E and the JAO auction platform, as well as our colleagues from the energy system operators of neighboring EU countries for their effective cooperation. We hope that it will continue and that annual auctions will also be introduced in the future,” said Zaychenko.
According to NEC, the introduction of such auctions was made possible thanks to cooperation with TSOs of neighboring countries and with the support of the European Network of Transmission System Operators (ENTSO-E). Work on the rules for long-term allocation for the EU’s external borders has been ongoing for the past two years.
“After these rules were approved by the national regulators of Ukraine, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania, it became possible to allocate free capacity at inter-state crossings through monthly long-term auctions. For Ukraine, this means more effective price forecasting and, in the long term, a reduction in the cost of imported electricity,” Ukrenergo explained.
As noted in the report, on a global scale, monthly auctions contribute to closer integration of the Ukrainian and European energy markets and ensure greater stability of Ukraine’s integrated energy system.
As reported, with the start of a full-scale invasion, given the military risks, ENTSO-E agreed only to daily auctions for the distribution of inter-state cross-border capacity for import and export operations with electricity.
At the same time, traders and energy companies have repeatedly pointed out that the absence of long-term auctions, in particular monthly and annual ones, hinders the effective attraction of imported electricity.
In early December, Vitaliy Zaychenko, Chairman of the Board of NEC Ukrenergo, told Energorforma that he expects the first long-term (monthly) auctions for the distribution of inter-state crossings with Romania, Hungary, and Slovakia since the start of the war to be successful.
“I think these auctions will take place. The market is definitely waiting for long-term auctions. Therefore, I think that the entire proposed cross-border capacity will be sold,” he said.
“Unfortunately, there will be no auctions in Poland because the Polish transmission system operator does not give its consent,” added the head of Ukrenergo.
It should be noted that the auctions launched today are joint, i.e., they are held simultaneously by both operators. The TSO agreed on this mechanism in 2023, and so far, daily auctions have been held under it. Monthly auctions were previously held in Moldova and Poland (Dobrotvir-Zamosc crossing), where unilateral auctions are still in place instead of joint ones.
Participants in the panel discussion “Connecting Economies: Cross-border Infrastructure and the Power of Partnership” at the Ukraine Recovery Forum in Bucharest emphasized that the development of border infrastructure and joint projects is a key condition for unlocking the economic potential of Ukrainian-Romanian cooperation, especially in the border regions of Chernivtsi and Zakarpattia Oblasts.
The discussion was moderated by Bogdan Bernyage, senior associate expert at the New Strategy Center (Romania). The panel was attended by Gheorghe Șoldan, chairman of the Suceava County Council (Romania), Mykhailo Pavliuk, deputy chairman of the Chernivtsi Regional Council, and Andrii Sheketa, first deputy chairman of the Zakarpattia Regional Council.
According to the participants, the economic partnership between Chernivtsi region and Romania is of strategic importance: Romania accounts for over 20% of the region’s foreign trade turnover. There is significant potential for deepening cooperation in the woodworking industry, where Chernivtsi’s raw material base can be combined with the processing capacities of the Romanian side. Opportunities for the development of joint projects in the fields of IT, tourism, agriculture, and transport were also noted. “Our regions are already closely linked by trade, the next step is to move from simple exports of raw materials to joint production chains,” Pavliuk said.
With regard to Zakarpattia, the participants emphasized that the reconstruction of the region is closely linked to its long-term development and the deepening of ties with Romania. Despite the fact that the region has the longest section of the common border with this country, the border infrastructure remains underdeveloped, and a number of checkpoints operate below their potential capacity. According to Sheketa, targeted infrastructure investments—in roads, rail approaches, and the modernization of border crossing points—are a necessary condition for improving connections between Transcarpathia and Romania and for making fuller use of the opportunities for cross-border cooperation.
Following the discussion, the participants concluded that the development of joint projects and the modernization of border infrastructure could strengthen the economic integration of border regions and create additional opportunities for business and employment on both sides of the border.
