The Romanian government on Thursday urged Romanians to renew their expired US visas as part of efforts to join the Visa Waiver Program, which allows visa-free travel to the United States, euractiv.com informs. The campaign, entitled “Qualify Romania in the Visa Waiver Program”, will be promoted through TV, radio and online platforms. Romanians with visas that have expired in the last four years are encouraged to renew them by 30 September. The Romanian authorities aim to meet the technical criteria required to join the programme before the end of the US fiscal year 2024. A key criterion is to achieve a refusal rate of less than 3% for US B1/B2 visas – business and tourist visas – issued to Romanian citizens during this fiscal year. Romanians, Bulgarians, and Cypriots are the only EU citizens still needing a visa to enter the US. Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu believes mobilising as many Romanians as possible for this campaign will enable visa-free travel to the US starting next year. There are indications that Romania is close to meeting the 3% refusal rate. This campaign serves as a “safety net” to ensure that all previous efforts are not in vain, according to Valentin Vatajelu, the national coordinator for Romania’s accession to the Visa Waiver Program. Last month, Romanian Ambassador to the U.S., Andrei Muraru, announced that Romania is in the final stages of meeting the Visa Waiver Program’s admission criteria. He noted that the rejection rate for the last fiscal year, ending October 1, 2023, was over 8%, but expressed optimism that it could fall below 3% this year. The US Embassy has issued a substantial number of visas this year, with estimates approaching 50,000 to 60,000. Muraru mentioned in an interview with Agerpres that there is ”a high volume of applications from both private and governmental sectors, and we have a very good chance”.
President Nicusor Dan signed on Thursday the decree appointing Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan as interim Vice Prime Minister on the areas coordinated by Dragos Anastasiu, the Presidential Administration informed.On 27 July, Dragos Anastasiu announced he was stepping down from the vice prime minister office, mentioning that he could no longer accept "being denigrated and thus […]
Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan continued consultations on Thursday with representatives of the Association of Communes of Romania, telling them there is a strong chance to overcome the current difficult period if the approach of "responsibility toward public funds" is maintained."The reform of local public administration will be part of the second package of government measures […]
Financing the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) projects will continue for those already initiated and will stop only in case investment has not begun, where not a single euro was spent for construction, Development minister Cseke Attila explained on Thursday. “PNRR will not stop, neither will financing investments which have already been initiated, […]
The Justice Ministry announced on Thursday having developed in cooperation with the Finance Ministry and the National Tax Administration Agency a set of proposals to amend the Insolvency Law, which will be included in the second reform package.Some of the amendments provide for a higher recovery rate of the taxes and fees owed by insolvent […]
Romania is in the antechamber of recession, with the risk that its economy will decline in the third or fourth quarter, especially amid an increase in taxes, a significant drop in sales and record inflation at European level, says business consultant Adrian Negrescu."We are currently in the antechamber of recession. It is a moment […]
The Ministry of Culture announced on Thursday that is set to adapt national legislation for enforcing the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), which supports media pluralism, editorial responsibility, protects journalists from abusive surveillance and intimidation, and provides protection for sources.According to a Culture Ministry release, the implementation in Romania of Regulation (EU) 2024/1083 of the […]
