The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu, had, on Wednesday, a meeting with his Swedish counterpart, Tobias Billstrom, on the sidelines of the Meeting of Foreign Ministers from NATO member states organized in Bucharest, the two officials also discussed the process of Sweden’s accession to NATO and the subject of Romania’s accession to the Schengen area, according to Agerpres.

Aurescu reiterated his support for the completion of the ratification process of the Protocol aimed at Sweden’s accession to NATO, highlighting, in the context, the fact that the presence of the Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs at the NATO Ministerial Meeting in Bucharest already represents a particularly important signal regarding the relevance of Sweden’s membership in the Euro-Atlantic community.

Regarding Romania’s accession to the Schengen area, Minister Bogdan Aurescu welcomed the Swedish government’s support for our country’s accession, as well as the positive statements, from November 28, 2022, of Ardalan Shekarabi, the vice-president of the Justice Committee of the Swedish Parliament and member of the Swedish Parliament from the Social Democratic Party of Sweden, regarding Romania’s accession to Schengen.

„The openness expressed by the vice-president of the Justice Committee of the Swedish Parliament on behalf of the Swedish Social Democratic Party is the result of political and diplomatic efforts carried out by Romania in the last period, based on the arguments and conclusions formulated by European experts as a result of the voluntary visits carried out in our country, visits that led to the reconfirmation of Romania’s fulfillment of the criteria provided for by the Schengen acquis with a view to its full application”, the cited source mentions.

„During the discussion, the head of Romanian diplomacy presented directly and in detail all Romania’s arguments in favor of its accession to Schengen, considering our country’s contribution to strengthening the external borders of the European Union and to the creation of a stronger and more resilient Schengen space in in the face of the challenges to the internal security of the Union”, the press release states.

Agerpres