On Thursday, the European Commission reaffirmed its position that Romania and Bulgaria are fully prepared for full accession to the Schengen area."Regarding the Commission's position on lifting internal border controls for Bulgaria and Romania, this remains clear, as President Ursula von der Leyen stated in the political guidelines for the next European Commission (2024-2029): Bulgaria and Romania have demonstrated their capacity related to border management and returns. They are prepared and should fully benefit from the Schengen area," a spokesman for the European Commission told Agerpres.He thus answered a question regarding the consequences of the introduction of internal border controls by several Schengen states on the expansion of this area through the full integration of Bulgaria and Romania, including land borders."The Council will have to take an additional decision to set a date for the lifting of internal land border controls between Bulgaria, Romania and other Schengen countries. The Commission will continue to provide all necessary support to the Presidency of the Council to ensure that a decision on land borders can be taken in 2024,'' the quoted spokesperson added.Ten days ago, Germany introduced, for a period of six months, controls at all its land borders to combat illegal immigration.The German authorities had already introduced controls at the borders with several neighboring countries, and from September 16 these measures were extended to the borders with Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark.According to the EU asylum rules (the so-called Dublin regulation), asylum applications must be processed in the member state where the migrant first enters the EU bloc.The Schengen area is the free movement area of the European Union that includes most of the 27 EU member states. At the end of March of this year, Romania, together with Bulgaria, joined this area partially - only with air and sea borders due to the lack of unanimity in the EU Council, and a decision on the elimination of land border controls is still awaited.
The number of people in Romania at risk of poverty stood at 3.59 million people in 2024, 375,000 fewer than in 2023, representing a 9.4% decrease, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics, or INS. Despite the improvement, nearly one in five Romanians was affected by poverty last year. According to INS, 19% […]
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Cluj-Napoca carried out multiple searches on Tuesday, July 1, at the Sibiu International Airport and the Sibiu County Council as part of an investigation into suspected fraud involving a EUR 54 million EU-funded infrastructure project. A total of 24 locations were searched across Bucharest, Brașov, and Sibiu county, […]
A Romanian taxi driver who scammed 90-year-old Nigerian Nobel Prize laureate Wole Soyinka was detained by police on Sunday, June 29, according to media reports. On Friday, June 27, the venerable Nigerian arrived at Bucharest's Otopeni Airport. He got into a taxi and asked to be taken to a hotel downtown. At the destination, the […]
Costin Șerban, a Romanian entrepreneur, is digitalizing the construction sector in the United Kingdom with an ERP (enterprise resource planning) solution developed over 12 years and an investment of GBP 1.6 million (EUR 1.86 million). Șerban’s cloud-based ERP platform is called Abilo, was developed by the Romanian IT company Obi Systems, and is dedicated to […]
Border checks between Bulgaria and Romania have officially been lifted on July 1, as part of the implementation of the Schengen Agreement. The lifting marks the end of the transitional period of heightened control at the internal border, which had remained in place for six months following their accession to the Schengen area by land […]
Remus Vulpescu became CEO of the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) on Tuesday, July 1, taking over from Adrian Tănase as the stock exchange grapples with a market dominated by government bonds. Vulpescu, 53, is a graduate in political and legal sciences from the University of Bucharest and holder of an EMBA obtained in 2017. He […]
