Romania’s long road to Schengen
The elimination of air and sea border controls, starting March 31, is a milestone victory. We still have to fight for the full integration of Romania in the European area of free movement. In this sense, we voted, on April 10, a resolution of the European Parliament by which we request all the members of the Council – so including Austria! – to adopt, before the middle of this year, the decision regarding the full application of the Schengen acquis in Romania and Bulgaria.
Throughout this mandate, I have repeatedly emphasized that Romania and Bulgaria have been unfairly kept outside the Schengen Area, although they have been meeting all the accession criteria for over a decade.
„Before dealing with disputes, I believe that we should prioritize solving the serious situation in which the European system of free movement is located”, I drew attention, for example, in the context of voting in the plenary session of the European Parliament, in October 2023, of a legislative act aimed at digitalizing the Schengen Area.
On the subject of Schengen accession, before the failed European Council at the end of 2022, I highlighted the fact that „in the current geopolitical context, my country is the guarantor of a border of maximum importance. However, citizens and companies in Romania suffer a humiliating and costly discrimination, but also shameful precisely for those who claim to impose it in their name – what hypocrisy! – some alleged European values”.
The Schengen file is one of many in which I had a very good collaboration with the President of the European Parliament, Mrs. Roberta Metsola. Regarding the blocking of Romania’s admission to the Schengen Area, Ms. Metsola, whom I invited to a debate in Strasbourg with Romanian journalists, bluntly stated: „You are right, it is incorrect. And I will say this in the European Council”. He kept his word and is with us in all our endeavors.
Mihai Tudose, PSD MEP, member of the S&D Group
https://www.socialistsanddemocrats.eu
