Designated Prime Minister Luca Niculescu pledges state funding for independent media

During the parliamentary investiture ceremony, designated Prime Minister Luca Niculescu declared that his administration will channel state resources toward media education, fact-checking and independent local newspapers. He announced the establishment of a National Information Resilience Fund, describing it as a tool to counter foreign information manipulation without granting censorship powers. Niculescu, who spent over twenty years in journalism, emphasized the importance of press freedom for a modern democracy.

He referenced the only prior instance of direct government payments to the press - the Ludovic Orban cabinet’s COVID-19 information campaign, which many viewed as politically motivated. The funding plan is positioned as a response to hybrid warfare and disinformation threats, and it arrives as 2027 is identified as a pre-electoral year with national elections slated for 2028.