Good news for anyone planning a flight to Bulgaria or Romania: From March 31 onwards, there will be no more passport checks for people flying in from other Schengen area states. What does this mean for travellers? First and foremost, it will save time at the airports - for example for anyone on holiday at the Black Sea coast and flying to Burgas or Varna, as there is one less queue to join before take-off and after landing. Does this mean I don't need a passport? No. There is still a requirement to carry a valid passport or identity card when leaving and re-entering countries within the Schengen area. Even in the Schengen area, countries can carry out spot checks under certain conditions - which is another reason why it is always advisable to have identification with you. What if I'm not flying and crossing a land border into Bulgaria or Romania instead? The end of passport checks only impacts internal air and sea borders. Anyone travelling by car or coach from another Schengen state, for example from Hungary to Romania or Bulgaria to Greece, will still have to show their passport. During busy holiday periods, you can even expect to have to wait several hours at the border before being checked. The Schengen area is intended to guarantee the unrestricted movement of people in Europe. Border checks between the 27 Schengen members are largely suspended allowing people to travel, work and live in another member country without visas or permits. So far, 23 of the 27 EU member states as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland are part of the Schengen area. Romania and Bulgaria had been waiting to join Schengen since 2011. Apart from Bulgaria and Romania, Ireland and Cyprus are the only EU countries that are not part of the Schengen area. (Source:https://www.dpa.com/en/international-news)
Romania’s statistics office confirmed the 1.6% GDP growth (+1.2% y/y under the chain-linked volume or CLV methodology used by Eurostat) for the third quarter of the year (Q3), half of which was the result of outstanding activity reported in construction. The positive base effects in agriculture (weak crops last year) and marginal improvement in industry […]
Ciprian Ciucu, the Liberal (PNL) mayor of District 6, secured more than 36% of the votes in the December 7, 2025, partial local elections, earning him the position of Bucharest’s new general mayor. The victory marks a significant step in his political career that began 25 years ago and has steadily moved from local administration...
Update: After the counting of the almost 590,000 votes cast in Bucharest, Liberal (PNL) candidate Ciprian Ciucu won the elections for general mayor with 36.1% (over 211,000 votes), holding a lead of more than 14 percentage points over the runner-up. Anca Alexandrescu (21.94%), the candidate...
The exit polls published on Sunday, December 7, at 9 PM, give Ciprian Ciucu as the winner of the elections for Bucharest's new general mayor. The candidate backed by the center-right National Liberal Party won 32.7% of the votes, over 6% ahead of Daniel Băluță, who was backed by PNL’s coalition partner, the Social Democratic […]
Close to 1.8 million Bucharest residents are expected to cast their ballot on Sunday, December 7, to elect the city's next mayor. The post has been vacant since Nicușor Dan was elected president this May. He had secured a second mandate as mayor of Bucharest in June 2024, having won over 48% of the votes. […]
I am a bit late to the party, but I have thoughts (and concerns) on Radu Jude’s much talked-about Dracula, and even more thoughts (and compliments) on other films that I fear might have gone under the radar a bit. Let’s go! There is no more recognizable marketing asset for the local tourism (and no […]
