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| Recent Developments in the Schengen Area |
| (2011-09-21) |
| Last updated: 2011-09-21 16:02 EET |
Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Baconschi said the Netherlands and Finland are opposing Romania’s accession to the Schengen area due to reasons pertaining to domestic politics, given the two countries’ well-known euro-skeptic viewpoint.
Originally slated for March 2011, Romania’s Schengen accession continues to arrest the attention of Bucharest officials. With only several days remaining until the EU’s Justice and Home Affairs Council is scheduled to meet in Brussels, Romania seems to have made little progress in its efforts to join the free movement area.
The Dutch government has released an official statement opposing Romania’s and Bulgaria’s Schengen bid, including a scenario providing a two-stage accession of the two countries by eliminating air border controls in the first stage and maritime and land border controls in the second. Following the Netherlands’ brush-off, several freight trucks carrying tulip seeds and bulbs were halted at the Romanian borders and submitted for phytosanitary lab tests.
The move made some Dutch MPs accuse Romania of blackmail over blocked flower shipments. Bucharest authorities however denied any connection between the border controls and the Schengen row. The Netherlands is not the only country at EU level to block Romania’s Schengen bid, with Finland recently joining in the opposition. According to sources within the EU, the Finnish standpoint is triggered by internal politics constraints.
Adding to that is the Dutch government’s pressure on Finland not to take a diverging stance on the Schengen issue. Despite the opposition from the two countries, Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Baconschi said he has held talks with his EU counterparts in an attempt to reach closure in this issue before the European Council convenes, on October 17th and 18th.
Poland, the country currently holding the rotating presidency of the EU, has expressed optimism regarding Romania and Bulgaria’s Schengen accession. Polish officials say they will prevent the Netherlands and Finland from distancing themselves from the other 27 member states, and will try to mediate a compromise settlement over the two-stage accession of Romania, as previously proposed by France and Germany. Romania and Bulgaria’s overdue accession has been postponed due to the reluctance of several states, among which Germany, France and the Netherlands, blamed on the lack of progress made by the two countries in the field of the judiciary and fight against organized crime.
Bucharest officials have repeatedly said Romania has met all technical accession criteria and that progress assessment reports must not be connected to the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism in the field of justice. Pending the meeting of the EU’s Justice and Home Affairs Council of September 22nd and 23rd, pundits say the decision over the two countries’ Schengen bid is most likely to remain a political one.
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