 Next month, Romania and neighboring Bulgaria were supposed to celebrate two years since they joined Schengen. The decision has been delayed time and again, since some member states decided that Bucharest has not made enough progress in fighting corruption and in judicial reform. Holland was one of the last countries opposing Romania’s accession, pending a favorable report on the justice system from the European Commission.
The visit to the Hague by Romanian Foreign Minister Titus Corlatean came shortly after the report was published, and the news from his Dutch counterpart was positive. Frans Timmermans said that the Hague no longer conditions Romania’s accession on the Mechanism for Cooperation and Verification. This topic is still of interest for the Dutch, who appreciate Romania’s progress, but who, at the same time, are tentative regarding the possibility of accepting Romania as a Schengen member at the justice and internal affairs council of March 7.
Minister Frans Timmermans said that there has to be very precise and exact thinking involved in this. He said it was a very important issue, and that Romania is owed a solution, emphasizing that the relations between the two countries run deep, as both are NATO and EU partners, but also have significant economic and trading ties. The Romanian foreign minister also noted the change in attitude from the Dutch authorities.
Titus Corlatean: “We salute the fact that the new Dutch government no longer has a provision for blocking Romania’s Schengen accession. There is no longer a connection being made with the Mechanism for Cooperation and Verification as a condition for Romania joining Schengen.”
Corlatean said he hoped that a first step could be made next month at the ministers of justice and internal affairs meeting, when Romania could get the green light for joining Schengen in terms of air and maritime borders. PM Victor Ponta hopes a decision would be reached, and claimed as an argument the fact that Romania has met all the technical criteria for joining.
Recently, he proposed for the government to send a joint letter to all the EU heads of state and government, as well as the Union parliament and executive, a letter to that extent. The head of state, Traian Basescu, however, believes that the letter should be signed only by the political decision makers in the majority in parliament, and that it should be a commitment to remedy the issues noted by the European Commission in its report on justice in Romania.
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2025-04-03
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