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.
The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on December 15 ruled in favor of judge Cristi Danileţ in his case against Romania and ruled that the Romanian authorities had violated Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights that guarantees freedom of expression, which includes the right to hold opinions […]
Romanian car battery producer Rombat SA has been fined a total of EUR 20.2 million by the European Commission for breaching European Union competition rules, the Commission said in a decision announced on December 15. Rombat is a subsidiary of the South African automotive components group Metair. The Commission found that Rombat participated in anti-competitive […]
Romania’s industrial output rose by 0.3% y/y in October, despite a negative performance (-0.3% y/y) in the core manufacturing segment, thanks to a robust 6.6% y/y advance in the segment of utilities, according to data published by the statistics office INS. On a monthly basis, the seasonally-adjusted industrial output advanced by 0.4% m/m despite 0.5% […]
Romania’s gross external debt increased by EUR 22 billion in the first ten months of 2025 to reach EUR 225.5 billion at the end of October, equivalent to 61% of gross domestic product (GDP), according to data published by the National Bank (BNR). Long-term liabilities accounted for 78.7% of the total stock. BNR data showed […]
Romania’s current account (CA) deficit widened by 1.9% y/y to EUR 3.19 billion in October 2025, bringing the deficit in the rolling 12-month period to EUR 29.8 billion – up 9.5% y/y and at 8.2% of the GDP, according to data published by the National Bank (BNR). The CA-to-GDP ratio was 8.2% for the previous […]
Wizz Air officially reopened its base in Suceava, northeastern Romania, on Monday, December 15, marking a key step in its local expansion. With the allocation of two next-generation Airbus A321neo aircraft, the airline now operates a total of 41 aircraft in Romania, with two additional planes already announced for 2026. The reopening coincides with the […]
