European Union representatives said Bulgaria and Romania maintained their on-time EU entry chances if they managed to complete all necessary reforms. This statement was listed in the draft conclusion for a June 15 and 16 EU meeting, Reuters news agency reported.

According to the preliminary report “the European Council remains convinced that, with the necessary political will, both countries can overcome the deficits stated to reach the envisaged date of accession on January 1 2007”.

The foundation stone of shopping and entertainment center Polus Center Cluj was placed today. The €140 million shopping center will be built by TriGránit Fejlesztési Rt. The center being built on 34,000 hectares, Romania’s biggest such complex, and should open in the fourth quarter of 2007.

TriGránit Fejlesztési has taken part in developments worth a combined €1 billion in 10 countries in Europe since it was established in 1997, and it is planning to make investments worth €2 billion in the future under public-private partnerships.

EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn told the International Herald Tribune that Bulgaria and Romania had achieved significant progress in the judicial system but that the countries had to assure the European Commission these changes were genuine. Romania and Bulgaria caused little cause for concern, but Turkey’s EU accession in 10 years posed ‘much bigger questions’, Rehn said.

The EU should work on softening this skepticism and should focus on positive messages like the one from the EU summit the previous week ‘trumpeting’ the success of the 2004 enlargement, he added.

The EU Council of Ministers approved on Monday, June 19 a financial package for rural development projects in Romania and Bulgaria. The total sum agreed by the EU Agriculture Ministers totals EUR 69.75 billion for 2007-2013.
For Romania and Bulgaria, the financial package is destined to the rural development projects supported by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development.

The malls, houses, villas and office buildings are being constructed at a rapid pace, the market being fuelled by private projects paying cash.
The real estate and private projects were responsible for this growth. He believes that the public contracts market will stagnate, the growth falling into the privates’ responsibility.
It is expected that the Brasov-Bors motorway, the largest infrastructure project in Europe, whose construction will resume in 2006, as well as other public contracts, will bring hundreds of millions of euros to the market.

Wizz Air, the largest low-cost airline company in Central and Eastern Europe, announced it would launch eight new flights in Romania, which will become operational starting January 2007. The new flights add even more to the recently launched Targu Mures-Budapest route. The company will operate its flights from the Baneasa, Arad and Targu Mures airports. The tickets can be bought through the company’s website or its call center. In order to promote its expansion in Romania, the company offers 10,000 free tickets on all the company’s available routes, the only cost being airport taxes. “The expansion in Romania represents a normal strategic step for us, because we believe this market to be appropriate for the offer made by Wizz Air: quality services at low prices,” said the company’s CEO, Jozsef Varadi.