The European Commission has decided last week to make available over €65 million from the Asylum Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) to support Bulgaria, Czechia, Poland, and Romania in hosting people fleeing the Russian aggression against Ukraine. This decision follows a targeted call for financing of the projects aiming to alleviate the pressure on the reception capacity of these Member States and to help them ensure that beneficiaries of temporary protection receive the necessary support, services and assistance. The European Union is currently hosting more than 4.1 million people benefiting from temporary protection, which was triggered for the first time shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and in September this year further extended until March 2025. The Commission continues to take measures to support people fleeing Ukraine and Member States hosting them. Bulgaria, Czechia, Poland, and Romania can now use this additional funding from the EU budget to help beneficiaries of temporary protection move out of collective accommodation towards private housing, by supporting them financially during the transition period, with language and vocational training, as well with as access to social and health services. Member States agencies, civil society organisations and international organisations can start implementing their projects already as of today. The funding will be subject to the respective monitoring and control systems of the EU financial framework.
Romania was formally designated the 43rd country to join the US Visa Waiver Program (VWP) on Friday, January 10. According to the Romanian ambassador to Washington, Andrei Muraru, Romanian citizens will be able to travel to the US without the need for a visa starting March 31, 2025. "Romania becomes the first country in the […]
Cluj-Napoca, the city in Romania with some of the highest rents and a fast-growing IT industry, is closer to banning smoking in playgrounds and parks after mayor Emil Boc expressed his support for the measure. The mayor cited the prioritization of public health as the reason behind such a ban. He mentioned that he has […]
Romania's Sibiu County Emergency Clinical Hospital will receive a robotic system to prepare cytostatic drugs needed by cancer patients, along with other equipment, after the County Council obtained funds from the European Regional Development Fund. With an estimated value of EUR 1 million, the "Robotic Composition System for Sterile Preparations of Cytostatic Drugs" is among […]
Romania’s government adopted in its January 10 meeting a decision granting an extra day off to public sector employees at the beginning of May. Thus, Friday, May 2, will be an official day off for public sector workers, linking the legal holiday of May 1 (Labor Day) with the weekend (May 3-4). This...
The Ministry of Environment announced that 2024 was the hottest year in the history of Romania's meteorological records. Red alerts for heat waves began in June of 2024, with the longest consecutive periods of persistent and intense heat waves, six consecutive days, between July 13-18 and August 15-20. "The year 2024 is the hottest year...
Supporters of former presidential candidate Călin Georgescu gathered outside the Parliament Palace in Bucharest, which houses the Constitutional Court, on January 10, demanding a rerun of the second round of the presidential elections. The protest, dubbed "The Great Judicial Union," was initiated by Georgescu, who called on his supporters to challenge the election annulment, as […]
