Passport checks for people flying to and from Bulgaria and Romania will be abolished at Swiss airports, https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/politics reads. The Swiss government on Wednesday agreed to follow a recent European Union decision to lift internal border controls at air and maritime borders with Bulgaria and Romania. On December 30, the Council of the EU unanimously decided to lift checks on people at the internal air and sea borders with Bulgaria and Romania, as from March 31, 2024. Controls will remain in place at land borders but the council has hinted that a future decision will be taken on the matter. Switzerland, a member of Europe’s passport-free Schengen Zone, is following this decision. Romania and Bulgaria will also be able to issue their own Schengen visas themselves, the government said in a statement on Wednesday. The experience of Croatia's accession to the Schengen area on January 1, 2023 has shown that a decision of this kind does not lead to a marked increase in immigration, non-EU member Switzerland said. Existing instruments, including preventive measures, are used to combat illegal migratory flows and crime. The EU's decision follows 12 years of negotiations. Austria imposed its veto last year to protest against too many irregular migrants arriving on its territory, before agreeing to lift it in exchange for guarantees. Sofia and Bucharest have agreed to step up their fight against irregular migration. Bulgaria and Romania, members of the EU since 2007, have also undertaken to fully apply European law, which stipulates that asylum applications must be processed in the migrants' country of arrival. The Schengen area, created in 1985, allows over 400 million people to travel freely in Europe without internal border controls. It includes 23 of the 27 EU member states as well as their associated neighbours Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.
The 2025 edition of the year’s first major film fest in Europe (and one of the biggest worldwide), the Berlin International Film Festival, took place between 13 and 23 February. My notes come with a bit of delay, as I was also hit by the festival flu that got so many of us sniffling and […]
In the absence of current negative influences, Romania’s economy could have an annual growth potential of 3-4%. Political instability and global geopolitical risks are dampening growth. Economic growth in 2024 was driven by wage increases and accelerating consumption, satisfied however largely through imports. Due to a decline in domestic economic competitiveness, net exports contributed negatively […]
The Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) announced on Thursday, March 13, the launch of a new financial education section on the BVB Research Hub platform, dedicated to retail investors. The capital market operator said that it started this project out of the need to increase the level of financial education and promote the investment culture. It […]
The Romanian governing coalition's presidential candidate, Crin Antonescu, announced on Thursday, March 13, that he is launching a podcast designed to popularize his candidacy before the May elections. Antonescu, who is backed by the alliance made up of the Liberals (PNL), Social Democrats (PSD), the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians (UDMR), and the minorities, stated that he will […]
Some 4,500 teachers will learn about rights and responsibilities online, accessibility, inclusion, online well-being, and ethics as part of Incubatorul Civic Digital (ICD - The Civic Digital Incubator), a digital citizenship and democratic culture project implemented by Institutul Intercultural Timișoara, Asociația TechSoup and Școala de Valori. The project, which offers free training, is aimed at […]
Mihaela Murariu, Attorney at Law at Grecu Partners Business Law Firm, analyzes the impact of Artificial Intelligence on personal data protection. Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a ubiquitous technology, used in more and more fields, from marketing and healthcare to recruitment and financial services. However, the widespread use of AI raises numerous questions about privacy […]
