Romania and Bulgaria have to wait until at least September to find out the date of their accession to the Schengen area. Initially this was supposed to happen in March, but the decision was postponed when Germany and France expressed their reticence on the issue. More recently, Holland also did so, voicing doubts at the ability of the two countries to make the system work. Gathering in Luxembourg, European ministers for internal affairs and justice decided to discuss a possible calendar for Romania’s and Bulgaria’s accession to Schengen at their next meeting in autumn, following the next report in the Mechanism for Cooperation and Verification in the judicial system. All the Schengen member states agree that Bucharest has met all the technical criteria for integration, but there are disagreements about progress in justice and fighting corruption.

Romanian president Traian Basescu visits the UK

This week Romanian president Traian Basescu went to London for two days, on an official visit that was meant to stimulate British investment in Romania. The European agenda, and particularly economic growth within the EU, was high on the list of topics to be discussed with PM David Cameron. President Basescu presented to the British prime minister arguments in favor of liberalizing labor policies for Romanians, a topic he also tackled in talks with representatives of the Romanian community in London: “As far as we are concerned, the restrictions that Romanian and Bulgarian workers still face are one of the points of contention for us. I can tell you that we have raised the point of liberalizing access for workers from Romania, but we received the same polite answer that you have been familiar with for the last few years. Let us hope that in 2012-2013 things will relax.” During the visit, President Basescu spoke at the London School of Economics and met British businesspeople, discussing the lessons that Romania learned from the economic crisis.

The E.coli scandal continues to unfold

All European farmers, including Romanians, were severely affected by the E. coli epidemic. They are scheduled to receive compensation from the European Union, initially put at 150 million Euro. Member states, however, have argued for more. In an interview with Radio Romania, the European commissioner for agriculture, the first Romanian to hold such a position, Dacian Ciolos, said: “This compensation will depend on the budget at hand, on the number of products we will include on the list. So far we drew the line at cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce. We may be considering green peppers and courgettes. We will make a decision depending on the data available, and then, of course, we will evaluate the losses in order to set a value for additional compensation, which might bring more to some, because of the differences in prices across the European Union”. In Bucharest, agriculture minister Valeriu Tabara said that Romanian products, including cucumbers, are free of bacteria and can be eaten safely.

Doctors and police protests go on in Romania

This week has been marred by divergences between family physicians and the National Health Insurance House, over the under-financing of family physician offices. Patients were the most affected affected, since family physicians were unable to issue subsidized prescriptions and references to hospitals. The authorities claim that the system is unable to provide more funds. Health minister Cseke Attila claims that local authorities bear part of the blame, because they did not get sufficiently involved, and that they raised rent 50 or 60 times for family physicians. Police and Interior Ministry employees have also been on protests. Around 10,000 police workers will be made redundant in the next two months, and in June all Interior Ministry employees will get around 130 Euro less. The redundancies, along with lower incomes, had employees picket the headquarters of the ministry.

The Transylvania film festival is in full swing

The tenth edition of the International Transylvania Film Festival, known as TIFF, the most important film festival in Romania, runs until June 12. This year it brought to the fore over 200 movies, but also concerts, exhibitions and theater shows. The latest in Romanian film was on display in the Days of Romanian Cinema section, including ‘Loverboy’ by Catalin Mitulescu, which was selected to compete at Cannes. Also this week, British music celebrity Sting came to Bucharest as part of his Symphonicity tour. German rock heavies Scorpions also held a concert in Bucharest as part of their farewell tour.