Romania’s Government will hold a Cabinet meeting Friday evening to approve an emergency decree on the recalculation of military pensions, people close to the matter told MEDIAFAX. read more...

Members of the Schengen evaluation group will decide on Friday, if they will adopt the technical reports for Romania and Bulgaria following the decision on January 14 when, at the request of the French representative, members awarded supplementary time to study the reports on Romania, Romanian news agency Mediafax reads. read more...

Romania might be ready, technically to join Schengen while Bulgaria is still working to have all technical requirements up and working, Hungarian Interior minister Sandor Pinter said, quoted by Novinite.com. However, the Budapest official expressed hope that Bulgaria will be ready to join Schengen by June, until Hungary has the EU reigns. read more...

Germany will sustain Romania and Bulgaria’s accession to the Schengen space, but believes that in justice and home affairs fields it has not reached a European level, according to a press release of the Romanian-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIRG). read more...

The leader of the European People’s Party group in European Parliament Joseph Daul said at Victoria Palace (the govt’s offices) on Friday that Schengen Area should expand for Romania and Bulgaria as it was for the other countries, if the joining criteria are met, but he admitted that nationalism and populism play a powerful role in Europe’s political rhetoric. read more...

Romania’s Foreign Affairs minister invites the French European Affairs minister, Laurent Wauquiez to conduct an official visit to Romania to get more information on the real situation here so that the ministry can prove that there is not real justification for his statements, a press release of the ministry reads. read more...

Manfred Weber, Vice President of the European People’s Party in the European Parliament demands that Romania and Bulgaria should receive a clear adhesion date for Schengen, even in 2011, RFI informs. read more...

Bulgarian authorities arrested 14 customs officers working at the bridge across the Danube with Romania, accused of requesting money from foreigners who were outside the EU, Novinite informs. read more...

France’s representatives, from the Schengen evaluation working group did not request Romania any other information related the SIS/SIRENE report even though he requested more time to examine the report, on January 14th. read more...

President Traian Basescu on Thursday said that Schengen Area entry this year remains a major goal for Romania and he reiterated Bucharest cannot be treated in a discriminatory manner. read more...

In 2008, the Romanians were the largest group among the immigrants heading towards the European Union states, namely 384,000, Eurostat (the statistical Office of EU) says in a release on Wednesday. read more...

Finland joins France and Germany in opposing Romania and Bulgaria’s adhesion to Schengen, a spokesperson of the Finnish government announced on Thursday, quoted by AFP. read more...

Germany reaffirms its opposition against Romania and Bulgaria’s adhesion to Schengen within the EU, German Interior minister declared, quoted by AFP. The two governments struggled a lot to accomplish all technical requirements to join Schengen and they deserve praises for that, Thomas de Maiziere declared. read more...

Romania fulfilled and continues to fulfill its obligations assumed for joining Schengen and there is no clue that, once it joined, it would general risks regarding illegal immigration, Romanian President Traian Basescu declared on Thursday in a meeting with accredited Ambassadors to Bucharest. read more...

The implementation by Romania of the SIS and SIRENE Schengen Information System is being conducted in accordance with the Schengen acquis, states the relevant report of the Schengen evaluation working group (Sch-EVAL), debated at the end of the previous week in Brussels, European diplomatic sources on Monday told; the cited sources reminded that the assessment report was positive, and that with one exception – that of France – the document was accepted by all member states. France asked for extra time to analyze the text. read more...

Romania received a big mark on Friday, at Brussels, where the latest Schengen report was evaluated. Except that the „French professor” refused to sign the mark. Even though there were no observations or objections from other EU member states, the French representative called for supplementary time to study the report. read more...

France has blocked the adoption of a technical report on Romania's accession to the Schengen Area, asking for more time to examine a report on Romania's implementation of the SIS / SIRENE system's human interface, according to Radio France Internationale. read more...

Romania’s Foreign Affairs minister Teodor Baconschi declared that the Schengen space is full of vulnerabilities, mentioning that the EU south border is breached by North African illegal immigrants from the Middle East. read more...

The Hungarian Presidency at the EU will do whatever is possible for Romania and Bulgaria to join Schengen, in accordance with the promises it made despite the opposition of Paris and Berlin, Hungarian diplomatic head Janos Martonyi declared. read more...

British daily Daily Mail reopens the theme related to fears of a wave of Romanian immigrants to Great Britain as Bucharest announced its plans to freeze 271 million euro spending to secure borders, as a protest against France and Germany’s decision to block Romania and Bulgaria’s adhesion to Schengen. read more...