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Decisions by the European Council
(2012-03-02)
Last updated: 2012-03-05 16:30 EET Print
Originally slated for March 2011, Romania and Bulgaria’s Schengen accession has been repeatedly put off. The only country still opposing the two countries’ accession is the Netherlands. Dutch PM Mark Rutte said he would continue to oppose this move until all required reforms are carried out. The Dutch official went on to say that Romania and Bulgaria should double their efforts to reform their judiciary, crack down on corruption and fight organized crime. Mark Rutte: “We have made it clear we are not against Romania and Bulgaria’s Schengen accession. What we want is absolute guarantees that Schengen criteria have been met and measures have been implemented on the ground. We need positive reports from the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism which will support such a stand. We want you to make clear that you are making everything to implement those criteria. You have made progress but not enough”. In turn, the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, said Romania and Bulgaria have met all criteria to join Schengen. Some voices have linked the Netherlands’ negative response to the two countries’ bid to accede to the free-movement area to Romania’s refusal to recognize Serbia as an official candidate to EU membership. Romania initially asked for assurances over the observance of the rights of the Romanian-speaking minority in Serbia, the Vlachs, in exchange for a positive vote for Serbia’s EU bid, but at the last minute agreed to sign a protocol that would ensure minority rights are observed. In the end, EU leaders decided to grant Serbia the “candidate status” at the European summit in Brussels. The Romanian minority in Serbia numbers some 250,000 people, most of whom are settled in the Timoc Valley, in eastern Serbia, and in Vojvodina, in the north. The Romanians in Timoc Valley are also called Vlachs and at present do not enjoy ethnic group rights, have no access to education, culture and religion in their mother tongue.

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