Romania’s accession to Schengen (land borders) as soon as possible is in Hungary’s national interest, stated the head of diplomacy in Budapest, Peter Szijjarto on Monday in front of the commission for national cohesion of the parliament adding that the government he is part of hopes that this will happen before the end of the Hungarian presidency of the EU Council (31st December), says the Hungarian news agency MTI.He showed the difficulties resulting from the fact that Romania is not fully part of the Schengen area, Szijjarto saying that ‘Romania took all necessary preparation measures’ in order to be accepted, as the Brussels experts’ evaluation showed, and the almost unanimous support of the EU members. When referring to Austria’s refusal to support Romania’s accession to the Schengen area, the Hungarian minister said that this is an exemple of applying double standards. ‘ Usually, when we refuse to support something, this is immediately seen as a breach of the ideals of the founding fathers and a shocking dissidence towards the European unity (…) but, when a Western European country does the same thing, it is considered the legitimate implementation of the rights coming from the EU treaties’ stated Peter Szijjarto.He said that the Hungarian government is in permanent consultations with Austria, but ‘the domestic situation in Austria has become unstable after the recent elections which were not won by the forces governing until now.Even so, the winner is not given the chance to form a government’ he added.Szijjarto stated that Hungary is among the supporters of the European action for Romania and Bulgaria to access fully the Schengen area as soon as possible. Romania’s accession would be, similarly, ‘in complete accordance’ with the interests of the Hungarian community of Romania, the Hungarian minister said.
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 […]
