Romania

The prime minister of Moldova will hold a rare meeting today with the leader of the breakaway region of Transdniester. Moldovan Prime Minister Vladimir Filat and Transdniester’s Igor Smirnov will meet in Bad Reichenhall, Germany, for talks brokered by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Filat said the …

Germany’s federal Ministry of Interior has no intention whatsoever to reverse its negative opinion on the readiness of Bulgaria and Romania to enter the Schengen free movement area. “At present, Sofia and Bucharest are still not ready to join the Schengen Agreement,” stated

Romania remains optimistic that it will be able to join Europe’s Schengen passport-free zone this year, Foreign Minister Teodor Baconschi said Wednesday. “After what we experienced in the first part of this year, I am prudent (…) but we have all the leverage to be moderately optimistic” Baconschi added. 

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Heiner Bielefeldt, will visit the Republic of Moldova from 1 to 8 September 2011, in what is the first mission to the country by a UN human rights expert on religious freedom.

After lying forgotten for more than 50 years in Russia, Bucharest has got back a valuable Greek scroll from the 4th Century BC. Romanian archeologists are celebrating the return of an ancient scroll sent to Russia in the 1950s for restoration and never returned.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu is set to embark on a nine-day tour in four Balkan countries. Kosovo will be Davutoğlu’s first stop, where he will stay from Aug. 26-28 before heading off to Bosnia and Herzegovina for another

A junior partner in Moldova’s coalition government says it is ready to accept a castling between acting President Marian Lupu and Prime Minister Vlad Filat as a way out of the country’s prolonged political deadlock. That proposed change to the coalition agreement by the Liberal Party would entail its leader, …

Bulgaria and Romania need to make further progress in judicial reform and in the fight against corruption and, in the case of Bulgaria, also in the fight against organised crime. The reports stress in particular that the judiciary

Romania is pleading for clear European prospects for the Republic of Moldova, Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Baconschi said in a news conference held in Bucharest

The European Commission is likely to lift the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism, through which Brussels monitors the progress Bulgaria and Romania are making in justice and home affairs, in July 2012.