Countries with a poor public administration are absorbing less EU cohesion funds, meaning some of the poorest regions are getting the least out of the available money, the EU commission has said. "Results are sometimes ...

Fears of massive migration and exploitation of the British welfare system are overblown, says a report published on Friday (5 April) by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research. "Survey evidence suggests ...

"These bloody Romanians. And Bulgarians. About to raid our countries, abuse our welfare systems, steal our jobs, probably our cars and wallets, too ..." No German or British politician will say it so bluntly, but that ...

Interior ministers from Austria, Germany, Netherlands, and the UK want to put an end to so-called ‘benefit tourism’ whereby foreign EU nationals take advantage of the social welfare systems in host countries. The four ...

The independence of Romania's judiciary is being threatened by media campaigns, European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso has warned. Speaking in Brussels on Monday (4 February) alongside Romanian Prime Minister ...

EU leaders gather in Brussels at the end of the week (4-10 February) for a second attempt to agree the bloc's budget framework for 2014-2020. At stake is how to spend the around 1 trillion euro over the seven year ...

Romanian ministers accused of corruption should resign and MPs should stop shielding themselves from anti-graft investigations, the European Commission is set to say on Wednesday (30 January) in a report on Romania's ...

EU migrants could be prevented from using Britain's National Health Service (NHS) under government measures to dissuade Romanian and Bulgarian citizens moving to the UK. Mark Harper MP, immigration minister, indicated ...

With restrictions preventing Bulgarians and Romanians from working in the UK to expire at the end of the year, the debate about new migrants arriving in the country has already begun. UK communities secretary Eric ...

Angela Merkel is joining other centre-right leaders in Bucharest on Wednesday (17 October) for a party congress, even though local politicians seem nowhere near to burying the hatchet on recent infighting. Compared to ...

A man named Vladimir is about to acquire a Romanian passport and with it, the right to work within the EU. His grandparents, according to his invented ancestry, were citizens of Romania in the first half of the ...

EU justice commissioner Vivane Reding announced on Wednesday (12 September) a "justice scoreboard" to rank rule of law in the EU. "I am prepared to come once a year before this house to share with all of you the ...

Romania’s constitutional court on Tuesday (21 August) ruled against a 29 July referendum to oust President Traian Basescu. The judges voted six to three to reinstate the suspended president and invalidate claims made by ...

Political infighting risks wrecking urgently needed reform of the Romanian economy, according to a progress report released on Tuesday (14 August) by the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and ...

The head of the EU commission on Friday (10 August) sent a harsh letter to Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta, urging him to stop political infighting and ensure that top judges can do their work without threats. "I ...

The European Commission has expressed concerns that threats made against judges in Romania's constitutional court could undermine its independence. EU justice commissioner Viviane Reding reassured Augustin Zegrean, the ...

A European advisory panel of constitutional judges on Tuesday (7 August) said it is "shocked" by the political being pressure put on Romania's top court, pending a decision on a referendum aimed at impeaching the ...

The political crisis in Romania is to drag on until 12 September at least after judges on Thursday (2 August) postponed their decision on the validity of last weekend's referendum. President Traian Basescu on Sunday ...

There is a saying in Romania: "Beautiful country, too bad it's inhabited." It is the kind of black humour Romanians developed during the dark years of Communist dictatorship, when they had given up hope anything will ...

Political instability looks set to continue in Romania despite claims of a referendum victory by President Traian Basescu. The country's Central Electoral Commission announced after polls closed at 11pm local time on ...

The Romanian government's political campaign ahead of a referendum on Sunday (29 July) on removing the president from office resembles a personal vendetta, amid EU worries about democracy eroding rapidly in the country. ...

EU justice commissioner Viviane Reding on Wednesday (25 July) said she remains 'very much worried' about the state of democracy in Romania, noting that Bucharest has yet to fulfill the reform promises it has made. "I am ...

Romania’s parliament passed a law on Wednesday (18 July) limiting the jurisdiction of its constitutional court in an apparent contradiction to promises made to the European Commission by Romania’s prime minister Victor ...

Contract killings in Bulgaria and a direct affront to the rule of law in Romania are some of the major concerns underlined by the European Commission in its progress reports adopted on Wednesday (July 18). The ...

European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso has condemned the Romanian government for undermining trust in the rule of law but the strong words belie the fact that Brussels has few enforcing powers in this area. " ...

The European Commission has said it will take into account pledges by Prime Minister Victor Ponta to bolster the rule of law in Romania when it releases a report later today, but warned it will keep a a close eye on ...

The Romanian government has downplayed the urgency of list of measures demanded by the EU commission as it seeks to restore confidence in the country's rule of law and avoid political sanctions. Back from a trip to ...

Romanian expats in Brussels gathered at the European Commission headquarters on Wednesday to tell Prime Minister Victor Ponta to "stop faking democracy" and to abide by EU law. The 39 year-old premier - who was ...

Romania's current constitutional turmoil may ultimately result in its longed-for entry into the EU's passport-free zone being delayed still further, the European Commission has warned. "I am seriously concerned about ...

The EU commission on Friday (6 July) warned the Romanian government not to undermine rule of law amid political infighting in Bucharest. "The commission is concerned about current developments in Romania, especially ...

EU leaders may be at odds over what to say at today's key summit, but Romanian politicians cannot even decide who should attend. A court ruling was supposed to end the matter. But the dispute between the president and ...

Azerbaijan beats up journalists, jails political opponents and bulldozes people's homes to build shopping malls, according to the latest resolution by the European Parliament. It is run "in a manner similar to the ...

EU leaders on Thursday (1 March) with 13 little words took a step hard to imagine in 1999, when Nato planes were bombing Belgrade, or even this time last year, when Serbia was still sheltering war crimes fugitives from ...

Bulgaria and Romania still need to do more to tackle corruption and organised crime, the European Commission said Wednesday (8 February), in a refrain familiar since the two countries joined the EU almost five years ago ...

Romanian Prime Minister Emil Boc on Monday (6 February) resigned together with the entire government in response to several weeks of anti-government protests. "I decided to hand in the government's resignation," Boc ...

Member states can - under the EU Treaty - block the free movement of workers from new member countries for up to seven years. Italy recently loosened labour restrictions for Bulgarians and Romanians, but nine other EU ...

More than 30 people were injured over the weekend in the most violent clashes in Romania since the 1989 revolution, as protesters vented anger at austerity measures. Cars were set on fire, shops were looted and police ...

The European Court of Human Rights on Wednesday (30 November) decided to waive the diplomatic immunity of its Romanian member, Corneliu Birsan, whose wife is being investigated for corruption. Following a request from ...

Fifteen years ago, both Bulgaria and Romania went through rampant inflation linked to a financial crisis. Bucharest narrowly avoided the collapse, but Sofia was less fortunate and experienced a meltdown of the sort ...

Rules by Austrian regulators limiting lending to eastern European countries are a "mistake" and lack "fair play" after Austrian banks made "huge profits" in the region, Romanian President Traian Basescu said in a speech ...

To get to the first floor of a 19-century villa in the diplomatic quarter of Bucharest, the staircase winds narrowly like a snail house and there is no elevator. Thirty-three-year old Iulian Craciun sits in the office ...

Finland has dropped its veto against Bulgaria and Romania's accession to the border-free Schengen area next year, leaving the Netherlands as the only blocking country, Romanian foreign minister Teodor Baconschi said ...

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has thrown its weight behind one of its judges who claimed diplomatic immunity for his wife, a Romanian top-judge investigated for corruption. "The Court is concerned that in ...

Romania's judge at the European Court of Human Rights on Friday (14 October) claimed diplomatic immunity for his wife, a judge under investigation for allegedly receiving jewellery, holiday tickets and expensive ...

One year after EU justice commissioner Viviane Reding compared France to Nazi Germany over its expulsions of Roma, she has opted to keep silent on reports that little has changed. Reding spokesman Matthew Newman in ...

Citing health concerns, Romanian authorities blocked flower imports from the Netherlands over the weekend, just one day after the Dutch government announced it would veto the country's entry to the border-free Schengen ...