Austria remains unwilling to lift its veto on removing border controls for Bulgaria and Romania at land borders, as stated by Acting Interior Minister Gerhard Karner ahead of an EU interior ministers' meeting in Luxembourg. The meeting will review the progress of both countries' bids. Karner acknowledged that while both nations are making progress, more work is needed before Austria can support their Schengen accession. The EU aims to resolve the matter by the end of the year, but it requires Austria’s agreement to achieve the unanimous vote necessary for the two countries to join the Schengen zone. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban also noted that consensus on Bulgaria and Romania’s accession is still lacking, with another effort planned for later in the year.
The president of the junior ruling Liberal Party, Nicolae Ciucă, urged prime minister Marcel Ciolacu "to urgently explain what he will do so that Romania does not lose the approximately EUR 1.1bn from the Resilience Facility" suspended by the European Commission for six milestones not met by the country. Ciucă thus validates the EUR 1.1bn […]
Ford Otosan announced on October 15 that it will open in November waiting lists for Romania customers interested in buying the new fully electric model E-Tourneo Courier, produced in the factory in Craiova. The first vehicle deliveries are expected in the first quarter of 2025. The E-Tourneo Courier Trend (passenger version), with a 100 kW […]
Two new private equity funds - Evolving Europe Principal Investments Fund II and Finance in Motion Renewables Growth Fund - will receive up to EUR 27.5 million under the national implementation of the Resilience Facility (PNRR) to invest in Romanian companies, the Romanian Ministry of Investments and European Projects (MIPE) announced. The Investment Committee appointed […]
UniCredit downgraded its 2024 growth forecast for Romania to 1.7% (from 2.4% in July) due to the poor performance in H1 and a slower-than-anticipated recovery in the EU, but it upgraded its 2025 outlook to 1.9% (from 1.3% in July) owing to base effects, according to the latest research report of the financial group. The fiscal...
The medium-term fiscal plan that Romania is supposed to send to the European Commission (EC) this month under the Excessive Deficit Procedure has among its objectives cutting the budget deficit to 2.4% in 2031 and bringing the public debt to GDP ratio under 60% by the end of the seven-year period (after possible deviations above […]
The European Commission announced on October 15 that it had endorsed a positive preliminary assessment of the six targets and 62 out of 68 milestones linked to Romania's third payment request for EUR 2 billion (net of pre-financing) under the Recovery and Resilience Facility. The Commission found that six milestones have not been...
