|
RRI newsletter subcription
(e-mail address):
|
| Diplomacy and Free Movement |
| (2011-11-15) |
| Last updated: 2011-11-16 13:04 EET |
Finland is ready for a compromise on Romania’s and Bulgaria’s accession to the Schengen area. The Helsinki government might support a two stage accession, provided certain requirements are met.
Romania hails Finland’s openness towards Schengen enlargement, Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Baconschi has stated. Recently, the government in Helsinki has voiced its support for the compromise solution set forth by the president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, regarding Romania’s and Bulgaria’s joining the Schengen area in two stages.
On Monday, Baconschi had talks with his Finnish counterpart, Erkki Tuomioja, at the meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels, and invited the Finish official to pay a visit to Romania in 2012. The main topic of discussion approached by the two officials was Romania’s accession to the border-free area. Baconschi spelled out Bucharest’s progress with regard to the justice reform and the fight against corruption and voiced hope that those results will be fairly assessed at European level.
Finnish European Affairs Minister Alexander Stubb too has announced that Finland agrees to a compromise solution, that would allow Romania’s and Bulgaria’s two-stage Schengen accession. He has explained that in the first stage, air and sea border control will be removed, and a decision will be made in July as to the ground borders. Stubb has also said that Finland will try to make sure that the Schengen system is impenetrable and that conditions will be met with regard to international crime, the rule of law and combating corruption.
The Netherlands and Finland had blocked Schengen enlargement, saying that neither Romania, nor Bulgaria had made sufficient efforts to fight corruption and meeting the technical standards was not enough. At the Justice and Internal Affairs Council on September 22nd, the Polish presidency of the EU postponed the two countries’ joining the Schengen area, as the member states had failed to reach an agreement on the matter.
At the end of the meeting back then, Romanian Interior Minister Traian Igas said that the Netherlands and Finland had ignored values such as trust, partnership and accountability, usually invoked when it comes to defining the operational principles of the Schengen area. German chancellor Angela Merkel said on November 10th, after meeting Romanian president Traian Basescu, that an accession in stages for Romania and Bulgaria, proposed by France and Germany and supported by Romania was a potential means of solving the matter. Schengen enlargement will be on the agenda of the European Council in December.
|
|
| |
WMA |
|
64kbps : |
1
2
3
|
|
|
128kbps : |
1
2
3
|
| |
MP3 |
|
|
64kbps : |
1
2
3
|
|
|
128kbps : |
1
2
3
|
| |
AAC+ |
|
|
48kbps : |
1
2
3
|
|
|
64kbps : |
1
2
3
|
 Historical mascot of
RRI |
2025-04-04
Print
Listen again