Romania maintains its objective to join the euro zone in 2015, PM Emil Boc said at the end of a government’s meeting. Boc said that this is the decision of the government following consultations with coalition members, Central Bank Governor Mugur Isarescu and President Traian Basescu. read more...

Media mogul Sorin Ovidiu Vantu and Ion Ilie Cezar will be temporary arrested for 29 days after the Bucharest Court admitted on Friday the recourse of prosecutors to the decision of District 5 Court to trial the two without their arrest for blackmailing Realitatea TV manager Sebastian Ghita, Romanian news agency Mediafax informs. The decision was officially confirmed by the Bucharest Court. read more...

PM Boc declared on Thursday night, at Craiova South Romania that many important EU member states started to adopt the austerity measures taken by the government. Boc was present at Craiova to present his motion program with which he stands for a new mandate as President of the Democratic Liberal Party. read more...

Almost 1.5 billion Fondul Proprietatea (FP) shares, accounting for 10.7% in the capital of the fund might be transferred by the Finance Ministry to those people who hold compensation deeds and have chosen to have them converted into shares at an average price of 0.6176 lei/share, according to the data supplied by the National Authority for Property Restitution (ANRP). read more...

IMF says the Romanian economy is starting to rebound, exports continue to increase and consumer and investor confidence, although low, is showing signs of recovery, yet warns that there is a risk that the Government might drop certain reforms because the economy is picking up. read more...

BCR, the biggest local financial group, ended the first quarter with a modest net profit, 76.1 million lei (about 18 million euros), with the persistent difficult economy showing in the final result, which accounts for less than one third of the income in corresponding period of 2010. read more...

The Competition Council yesterday fined discounter chain Profi and fruit and vegetable supplier Interfruct 4 million euros for fixing shelf prices for the products delivered to the Bucharest stores of the retailer. This is the first penalty incurred by the retail companies on the local market in the last three years. read more...

The DIY market is likely to reach critical mass this year: 100 "construction supplies hypermarkets", operated by the seven large companies on the market that primarily operate on the retail segment. While some players still have tens of million euros to invest, others are speaking about the "imminent" closing of some stores, reads Business Construct magazine. read more...

ArcelorMittal Galaţi, Romania's biggest steel plant controlled by Indian billionaire Lakshmi Mittal, announced 1,050 employees would leave the company by yearend in the wake of some voluntary departure schemes. read more...

The purchase of the Italian dairy and juice producer Parmalat by French group Lactalis is likely to propel the French company onto a leading position on the domestic nectar market valued at a little below 40m euros annually and it may also become the owner of a Tunari-based company. read more...

Romania's mobile telephony operators in 2010 lost 300m euros in revenues against 2009 amid recession, VAT hike, the austerity moves and the first fall in history in the number of users, according to the data included in the annual report of France Telecom, the owner of Orange Romania, the biggest telecom operator domestically. read more...

Seven consortia and companies have challenged the Romanian government tenders for the construction of the Timisoara-Lugoj and Orastie-Sibiu highways, part of Pan-European Corridor IV. read more...

Romanian overdue private loans rose 1.3% on the month to 17.8 billion lei (EUR4.4 billion) in March, equal to 8.66% of the total lending, central bank data showed Thursday. read more...

The Romanian Foreign Affairs Ministry received a bill for over 1 million lei (about EUR245,000) from state-owned airline Tarom for the flight evacuating Romanian citizens from Japan in March, ministry official Doris Mircea said Thursday. read more...

Romanian businessman Dinel Nutu, formerly known as Staicu, was brought Thursday to the Bors customs point by Hungarian police officers and handed over to Romanian authorities, said a police press release. read more...

Canadian oil and gas company Sterling Resources on Thursday said it cannot operate in its Black Sea perimeters at the present time, since local authorities are unable or unwilling to issue the required permits. read more...

Danish Parliamentarians, of all political parties insisted that the executive should stand by France and Germany and prevent Romanian and Bulgaria’s adhesion to Schengen, Focus news agency reads. The parliamentarians sent an official letter to the Danish PM. read more...

Romania has no problems with reporting to Eurostat with respect to the 2010 budget deficit, State Secretary at the Public Finances Ministry Gheorghe Gherghina told a news conference on Tuesday. read more...

The net profit of the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) stood at some 530,000 euros (2.2 million lei) in Q1 2011, down by 11% compared with that recorded in the same period of 2010, according to the financial results published by the company. read more...

US Ambassador to Bucharest, Mark Gitenstein received on Thursday, during a visit to Botosani, North Romania, a copy of the death certificate of his great great grandfather, news agency Agerpres reports. The document, discovered in Botosani, was offered to him by one of the Jewish community members from Botosani, Gustav Finkel who decided to study the Ambassador’s genealogy tree. read more...