Romania wants to enter Schengen, is ready to enter Schengen, and we are determined to enter the hall today and achieve this result, the Romanian minister of interior, Catalin Predoiu, stated on Thursday, in Brussels, before the start of the meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council in which the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to Schengen with land borders was be voted on.

„Today’s meeting is one of the most important, if not the most important, I hope, the last battle for entry into the Schengen area. It is an important meeting, a meeting in which many things will be discussed. Nothing is concluded until the decision is made. We worked hard to get here. We worked in the field, at the borders, in the diplomatic offices, we worked with the Romanian citizens who deserve entry into the Schengen area in mind,” the minister told the Romanian journalists.

„We have always had in mind the endless queues at the border, the carriers who suffer losses, the moments of tension, sometimes disappointment that Romanian citizens have experienced. We have often invoked these important things in our discussions and I am absolutely convinced that they had an effect in the debates we had,” he added.

He wanted to assure all Romanian citizens that „we have done everything in our power to have a positive result today and we enter the room determined to obtain this result.”

„We want to enter Schengen, we are ready to enter Schengen and we want this to happen today, in this meeting,” Predoiu added.

The Romanian minister of interior also spoke about the moment in the Dutch Parliament, when the government’s position at the JHA Council on Schengen expansion was debated.

„It was an important day and moment yesterday (Wednesday – editor’s note), when the Dutch Parliament discussed the Government’s position. The Parliament’s vote is in favour of Romania and Bulgaria’s entry into the space,” he assured.

Regarding the temporary controls at Romania’s borders with Bulgaria and Hungary that will remain after January 1, 2025, he wanted to reassure Romanian carriers, who have suffered the most from the border controls.

These will be „as they are at the border between Hungary and Austria, random checks, checks based on risk analysis, checks that do not hinder border traffic. Our objective is to eliminate the kilometre-long queues at our customs, Bors, Nadlac, etc. That is why we insisted on the fact that we were permanently aware and charged with responsibility regarding these difficulties that Romanian citizens and Romanian transporters encounter,” stated Predoiu.

„This is what we have been fighting for constantly: to eliminate these queues, to give Romanian citizens and Romanian transporters what is due to them according to the treaties and according to our training in the field, we have one of the best-prepared border police, we have perhaps one of the safest borders in Europe and it will remain so,” he assured.

AGERPRES