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.
The 2025 edition of Bucharest Sculpture Days opens on April 26 with a new theme that places the human body at the center of contemporary artistic debate. Titled #celălaltcorp (the other body), the exhibition explores how identity, trauma, politics, and technology reshape the understanding of the body in modern society, the organizers said. Running until […]
More than 2,200 applications for the new electronic identity cards have been submitted across Romania's Cluj County in the last month, according to an announcement from the Cluj County Council. Between March 20 and April 20, a total of 2,219 applications were recorded at public community services across the county. The Cluj-Napoca office received the […]
The construction of the first road bridge over the Prut River built in the last 35 years, connecting the Republic of Moldova to Romania, is set to begin this Saturday, April 26, in Ungheni. The bridge is part of the future A8 motorway that will connect Chişinău to Iaşi and Paşcani, and further on will […]
The Romanian government is expected to decide this week whether to declare Saturday, April 26, a national day of mourning in memory of Pope Francis, who passed away at the age of 88. According to Euronews Romania, the proposal will be discussed and approved during the upcoming cabinet meeting scheduled for Thursday, April 24. The […]
American cryptocurrency-based prediction market Polymarket, a platform where investors can place bets on various future events, predicts that the candidate of the PSD-PNL-UDMR ruling coalition in Romania, Crin Antonescu, is likely to win the presidential elections with his odds at 36%. As regards the first round, Polymarket predicts far-right candidate George Simion (AUR) would dominate […]
Some 51% of the Romanians say they are in favor of progressive taxation of salaries and accession to the euro. Meanwhile, 44% agree with reunification with the Republic of Moldova, according to a recent survey conducted by AtlasIntel for Hotnews.ro. According to the poll, only 4% of Romanians agree with Romania's exit...
