*Romania prolongs its licensing scheme for Ukrainian agri-food imports through 2025, citing farmer protection and national food security concerns, https://www.euractiv.com/ informs. The Romanian government has extended the mandatory licensing requirement for Ukrainian products until 31 December 2025, as a measure to protect local farmers. Agriculture Minister Florin Barbu urged Romanian processors "to source their raw materials from domestic farmers in order to support national agricultural production." According to the Agriculture Ministry, the regulation applies to all actors in the agri-food supply chain – including producers, processors, and traders – and plays a vital role in supporting vulnerable social groups, in line with the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights. Following the European Commission’s decision in September 2023 not to extend the ban on Ukrainian grain imports to five neighbouring EU countries – Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Hungary – Bucharest introduced an import licensing system for cereals and oilseeds from both Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova. Initially introduced in October 2023, the measure has since been extended and broadened to cover additional products.
The number of people in Romania at risk of poverty stood at 3.59 million people in 2024, 375,000 fewer than in 2023, representing a 9.4% decrease, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics, or INS. Despite the improvement, nearly one in five Romanians was affected by poverty last year. According to INS, 19% […]
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Cluj-Napoca carried out multiple searches on Tuesday, July 1, at the Sibiu International Airport and the Sibiu County Council as part of an investigation into suspected fraud involving a EUR 54 million EU-funded infrastructure project. A total of 24 locations were searched across Bucharest, Brașov, and Sibiu county, […]
A Romanian taxi driver who scammed 90-year-old Nigerian Nobel Prize laureate Wole Soyinka was detained by police on Sunday, June 29, according to media reports. On Friday, June 27, the venerable Nigerian arrived at Bucharest's Otopeni Airport. He got into a taxi and asked to be taken to a hotel downtown. At the destination, the […]
Costin Șerban, a Romanian entrepreneur, is digitalizing the construction sector in the United Kingdom with an ERP (enterprise resource planning) solution developed over 12 years and an investment of GBP 1.6 million (EUR 1.86 million). Șerban’s cloud-based ERP platform is called Abilo, was developed by the Romanian IT company Obi Systems, and is dedicated to […]
Border checks between Bulgaria and Romania have officially been lifted on July 1, as part of the implementation of the Schengen Agreement. The lifting marks the end of the transitional period of heightened control at the internal border, which had remained in place for six months following their accession to the Schengen area by land […]
Remus Vulpescu became CEO of the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) on Tuesday, July 1, taking over from Adrian Tănase as the stock exchange grapples with a market dominated by government bonds. Vulpescu, 53, is a graduate in political and legal sciences from the University of Bucharest and holder of an EMBA obtained in 2017. He […]
