European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson announced in Brussels on Thursday that Romania and Bulgaria have not yet been admitted to the Schengen Area.The Commissioner for Home Affairs congratulated Croatia and the Croatian citizens on their accession and said that Bulgaria and Romania also deserve to join the Schengen area, but have failed to obtain the unanimous support needed to join the area of free movement of people and goods.I want to address the Romanian and Bulgarian citizens as well. You deserve to be fully part of Schengen. You deserve to have access to the free movement area. You had strong support from almost all member states, from the Czech Presidency, from the Commission, Johansson said at a joint press briefing with Czech Interior Minister Vit Rakusan.I would be lying to you if I did not say that I am also disappointed and I think I share this disappointment with the citizens of Romania and Bulgaria. It is the role of the Commission to be optimistic and to make the next steps. We will continue to do so and I am convinced that we will achieve the accession of Romania and Bulgaria during this mandate and that will be my priority, the European Commissioner for Home Affairs assured.Asked by Romanian journalists if the issue of Romania's and Bulgaria's accession to Schengen could eventually reach the agenda of the European Council next week, she said she would be surprised if this happened, but added that she supports any action for the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to Schengen.
Participation in cultural education activities continues to be limited, with the main barriers being difficult access, insufficient knowledge, and cost, the recently released Cultural Consumption Barometer 2024 shows. The report showed that many Romanians still associate culture with entertainment rather than with personal development or furthering their knowledge. The need for relaxation dominates in cultural […]
Roughly 84% of Romanians say that the pace of the state’s digitalization is slow or very slow, according to an Edge Institute & AtlasIntel study presented at the Digital Governance Summit 2025, which took place on Tuesday, November 25, at the presidential palace in Bucharest. The survey aims to capture the way citizens relate to […]
Romania’s Superior Council of Magistracy (CSM) issued a negative opinion on the new bill regarding magistrates’ pensions. The move is only the latest development concerning a heated issue that led to tensions between the executive and the judiciary branch. CSM’s opinion is consultative, and the government led by Ilie Bolojan can still take responsibility for […]
Romania took the presidency of the Central European Initiative (or CEI) on Wednesday, November 26, according to a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE). The organization is a regional intergovernmental forum established in 1989, following the fall of the Berlin Wall. It gathers 17 Member States in Central, Eastern, and South-Eastern Europe […]
Trade between Romania and Poland continues to grow, with annual bilateral exchanges in goods now valued at more than EUR 12 billion, according to figures presented by the Polish-Romanian Bilateral Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PRBCC). The data was released during a reception in Bucharest marking Poland’s Independence Day and Romania’s National Day. Polish investments […]
As Romania moves closer to implementing the EU Pay Transparency Directive, local employers are preparing for one of the most consequential shifts in workplace regulation in over a decade. The directive, set for transposition by June 2026, introduces strict new rules on salary disclosure, pay reporting, and equal-pay verification, aiming to close persistent gender gaps […]
