In the flash estimate Eurostat published on 13 November, seasonally adjusted GDP in the third quarter of 2026 rose by 0.4% in the euro area and by 0.5% in the European Union from the previous quarter. In the second quarter the increases had been 0.6% and 0.7%. Romania is listed at plus 2.1%, and Ireland at 5.5%. Among the member states with a published figure, those are the two largest quarter-on-quarter increases. Denmark, Greece, Croatia, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta and Slovenia still have no figure in the table, so this is not a closed ranking of all 27.

Compared with the same quarter of 2025, Romania is up only 0.3%. The European Union is up 1.5%, and the euro area 1.3%. Poland and Ireland are both at plus 3.6% over the year, the highest rates in the table. Romania’s annual rate is among the smallest. France is the only country with a figure that shows an annual decline, of 0.1%. Lithuania is at minus 1.0% from the previous quarter.

Romania’s own row in the same table shows where the jump comes from. Quarter on quarter, GDP was minus 1.5% in the last quarter of 2025, minus 0.3% in the first quarter of 2026 and 0.0% in the second, then plus 2.1% in the third. Over the year the rates were minus 1.1%, minus 1.4%, minus 1.9%, and only then plus 0.3%. It is a flash estimate and it will be revised.

Ireland’s figure carries a warning in Eurostat’s note. The flash estimate is from the Central Statistics Office’s experimental Frontier series, it is based mainly on output data, it uses incomplete sources, and it is due to be rebuilt when the expenditure figures come in. The Irish office said the 5.5% rise came mainly from industry and from information and communication, sectors dominated by multinationals. The series is volatile: minus 7.8% in the first quarter and plus 10.2% in the second, again compared with the quarter before.

Cotidianul reports that the National Institute of Statistics announced the same plus 2.1% in real terms on Friday, against the second quarter. Against the third quarter of 2025, the institute gave plus 0.1% on the unadjusted series and plus 0.3% on the seasonally adjusted series, and 0.3% matches Eurostat. Over the first nine months of 2026, GDP fell by 0.3% on the unadjusted series and by 1% on the adjusted series, compared with the same period of 2025. The third quarter did not make up for the weak start to the year.

Over the year, the Union’s pace edged up: 1.5% in the EU and 1.3% in the euro area, from 1.4% and 1.2% in the second quarter. In the same table, the United States is at plus 0.8% from the previous quarter and plus 2.1% from a year earlier. Eurostat’s release also describes employment as stable in the euro area.

The photograph shows the National Bank of Romania building in Bucharest. It is not Eurostat’s office and it is not a chart of the growth rate. Credit: Britchi Mirela, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Source: România, a doua țară din UE cu cea mai mare creștere economică, după Irlanda. Ce arată datele Eurostat, Cotidianul.