Romania and the Schengen Area

The Justice and Home Affairs Ministers of EU Member States on Thursday postponed a decision concerning Romania and Bulgaria’s accession to the Schengen passport-free travel area. Since any decision of the Council has to be unanimous, the Council failed to agree on a date for the two countries’ accession, after Germany, the Netherlands, France and the UK have expressed their written opposition. These countries fear Romania and Bulgaria might become the source of a massive and incontrollable migration flow.

On their part, Sofia and Bucharest have criticized this type of uncompromising, one-track mindset, which has turned Schengen accession into a political tool of coercion from what should be a purely technical process. The two countries claim they have met all technical accession criteria and the reform of the judiciary should not in itself condition their Schengen accession.

Moreover, in a joint declaration, Romania and Bulgaria have expressed disappointment with the postponement of a favorable decision and have called on Brussels to resume talks as soon as consensus is reached. The two states have also urged their European partners to quickly respond to their legitimate request to join Schengen, as per the provisions of the European Union Accession Treaty.

Romanian Foreign Minister Titus Corlatean said that the political climate underlying the talks is rather delicate: “Although a few countries have indeed expressed concern regarding Romania’s Schengen accession, thus preventing a decision in that respect, our future agenda still stands. President Barroso’s words are self-explanatory and need no further clarification. He said that the reasons underlying the decision are internal, social and economic”.

The EU Home Affairs and Justice Ministers will revert to the issue of Romania and Bulgaria’s accession at their forthcoming meeting, once the European Commission makes public is Report on Progress in the Judiciary under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism.

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