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.
Chances are slim for the Social Democratic Party (PSD) to pull out of the ruling coalition this year, maybe only if something extraordinary happens, according to a leading member of the party consulted by Hotnews.ro. The party is again exploring options after its...
The Romanian Senate on December 8 overwhelmingly rejected the president's objections to the bill on combating extremism, also known as the Vexler law. There were 75 votes for maintaining the amendments referred by president Nicusor Dan to the Constitutional Court in a first step and then returned to lawmakers for a second review,
In the first 11 months of 2025, Romania produced 2.5% fewer automobiles compared to the same period last year, Ziarul Financiar reported. The country's automobile production totaled 505,859 units during the period. Out of this, 275,527 units were produced by Dacia and 230,332 by Ford Otosan. In...
Franklin Templeton, the long-time manager of Fondul Proprietatea (FP), has formally notified the Bucharest Stock Exchange that it is now willing to negotiate a new four-year mandate, reversing its earlier decision to withdraw from the administrator selection process. According to the announcement, Franklin Templeton International Services - FP's alternative investment fund manager (AIFM) and sole […]
OMV Petrom, which, together with Romgaz, is the concessionaire of the Neptun Deep perimeter in the Black Sea, which will bring the first gas from the 100 billion cubic meter deposit to Romania, has submitted the environmental documentation for a new deep-sea drilling in Neptun Deep, which will see if there are additional gas resources […]
Bucharest-listed Premier Energy (BVB: PE), controlled by Jiří Šmejc-funded Emma Capital, in a conference with investors on December 8, announced plans to build a new 20 MW power plant in Romania, in Brăila, while evaluating the opportunity of another project, according to Economica.net....
