The National Union of Romanian Hauliers (UNTRR) welcomes the political agreement reached regarding the enlargement of the Schengen Area with Romania and Bulgaria's air and sea borders starting from March 2024, but calls on Romanian and European authorities to also establish a clear date for the enforcement of the Schengen visa-free rules for land borders as well, starting in 2024."Schengen accession is an important and much-awaited step by Romanian passengers and transport operators, which should have been achieved as early as in 2011, when the European institutions found that Romania meets all the technical requirements for admission. Given that all passenger data are at the disposal of air transport operators, the enlargement of the Schengen Area with Romania's air borders could have been accomplished a long time ago. There is obviously no justification of a technical nature for the delay, the reasons are political, the members of the EU club have chosen to punish Romania and Bulgaria and reduce their competitiveness all this time, curbing their development potential. Yet now, Romania's joining the Schengen with the land borders is an emergency for road freight carriers whose efficiency is currently severely penalized through the extremely long waiting times (about 30 - 36 hours daily between Romania and Bulgaria) and for coach operators, in order to avoid the significant administrative burden arising from the new obligations of verifying passenger data in the European EES and ETIAS travel registration and authorization systems starting from next year," UNTRR secretary general Radu Dinescu said, as cited in a release of the organization.According to a report conducted by UNTRR this year on the impact on road freight of Romania being kept out of Schengen, the industry incurred losses of 2.41 billion euros."We request the urgent setting of a definite date for Romania's Schengen entry with land borders too, and if there are certain special requirements, they should be clearly mentioned in order to have a precise reference regarding the accession calendar and the goals to be achieved. The criteria the other members of the EU club want Romania and Bulgaria to fulfill must not exceed the general framework and the technical requirements for admission," said Dinescu.UNTRR representatives point out that the road transport industry, which with 7.66 billion euros in 2022 is Romania's largest exporter of services, is the economic branch most affected by Romania being kept out of Schengen.
Nearly seven out of ten Romanian employees say their job negatively impacts their overall wellbeing, while only 37% receive any form of non-wage benefits, according to a new study conducted by Reveal Marketing Research in partnership with Up Romania. The research explored how Romanians define complete wellbeing, or “Wellbeing 360°,” and what factors most influence […]
Former presidential candidate Călin Georgescu asked the Supreme Council of Magistracy (CSM) to take measures against president Nicușor Dan for allegedly pressuring judges and interfering in the justice system, G4media.ro reported. The far-right...
Technology company Endava has signed a framework agreement with Romania’s Authority for Digitalization (ADR) to support the migration of at least 30 government applications to the new Government Private Cloud, a project funded through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR). The collaboration marks a major step in Romania’s digital transformation strategy, aimed at creating […]
Cris-Tim, the leader in the Romanian cold cuts and ready meal markets, announced on October 15 that it has received approval from the Financial Supervisory Authority to list its shares on the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB). The offering is taking place between October 17 and 29. The initial public offering consists of the sale of […]
The private pensions law, which sets out how money can be withdrawn from private pension systems like Pillar II and III, passed the final vote in Parliament and is heading for promulgation. According to the new regulation, participants could withdraw at most 30% of the accumulated savings upon retirement. The rest of the money is […]
The Petrotel Lukoil refinery in Ploiești, in Romania’s Prahova county, will shut down completely for 45 days for a scheduled general overhaul, the company announced on Thursday, October 16. The maintenance work will take place between October 17 and November 30 and will cover both technological installations and auxiliary units,
