After more than ten years of waiting: Bulgaria and Romania have been given the green light to join Europe’s free-travel Schengen area by air and sea from March 2024. However, some restrictions will remain in place.
The EU Council has added diamond giant PJSC Alrosa to its sanctions list against Russia over its war of aggression against Ukraine. Bulgaria and Romania will join the Schengen zone by the end of March 2024. Belgium has taken over the rotating presidency of the EU Council.
The EU Commission issued guidelines in 2021 for its employees on how to use inclusive language in official communications, but then quickly withdrew them again in the face of a backlash in media and social media in several languages where the message was misrepresented. A screenshot of an article dating from that time is circulating again in many languages in December 2023, but the 2021 publication date is not visible. Contrary to what posts in Serbian sharing the screenshot claim, the EU does not “want to ban the vast majority of the population from using certain words connected with Christianity.” The guidelines explained how to reflect a fair representation of the entire population of the EU, including people who do not celebrate Christmas on December 25.