Romania’s Schengen accession ‘decided in September’

European ministers for home affairs and justice have decided to discuss a possible timetable of Romania and Bulgaria’s accession to the Schengen area, at the next meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council, programmed for September.

The accession decision was postponed because of the reluctance expressed by Germany, France and Holland towards the capacity the two countries have to ensure the functioning of the system, as they first want to make sure that Romania and Bulgaria are making enough progress in the justice area.

During the debates, the accession in steps has also been considered, first of the air borders this year and afterwards, next year, of the land ones.

The variant hasn’t been confirmed though neither by the Dutch Minister of Interior, Gerd Leers, nor by the Romanian Minister of Interior, Traian Igaş.

‘There are many discussions at this time, but I wouldn’t want to dwell on either of them. Allow me to believe that, in September, a positive and long awaited decision will be made for Romania’, the Minister of Interior declared, according to our correspondent, Claudia Marcu.

On Wednesday, the report regarding the accession of Romania and Bulgaria in the Schnegen area has been adopted by the plenum of the European Parliament, with 487 votes ‘pro’, 77 ‘cons’ and 29 abstentions.

The vote was only consultative.

Tuesday evening, the European Commissioner for Justice, Cecilia Malström, virtually ‘called the situation by its name’, stating that at present a clear and transparent accession plan is missing for Romania and Bulgaria.

A circulated idea, according to the Radio Romania correspondent, Iolanda Bădiliţă, is that according to which, we could start by opening the air borders, chapter where both Romania and Bulgaria are prepared, and for technical reasons, this process can happen in October and May.


Translated by: Manuela Stancu
MA Student, MTTLC, Bucharest University