Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca said on Friday in Arad that Romania is ready to join the Schengen Area having proven that by managing the border influx of more than 2,700,000 Ukrainians safely, adding that that is not the only reason, according to Agerpres.

„Romania has proven, practically, there are over 2,700,000 Ukrainian citizens who have crossed the border of Romania and did so safely, and no particular problems were reported, which is why I don’t want to use this reason as the only reason why Romania deserves to join the Schengen Area. There are other parts of the package that Romania has met and continues to meet, and once again we have the availability and transparency to honestly put all the necessary data on the table so that we can join the Schengen Area based on our own merits,” said the prime minister.

Regarding the resolution adopted in the Dutch Parliament on the accession of Romania and Bulgaria, the prime minister said: „A resolution was adopted (…) It is not a report rejecting the accession, but a report requesting clarifications related to the items that were on the agenda of our relationship with the European Union, aspects related to the rule of law, corruption and organised crime. From my conversation with President Iohannis and [Dutch] Prime Minister Rutte at Cincu, I understand that certain clarifications are needed; we have expressed our willingness and openness to provide all the necessary data, including through the Ministry of the Interior; Interior Minister Bode has already sent a formal letter to his counterpart in the Netherlands inviting him over to clarify all the aspects that need to be clarified in this regard. It is certain that Romania has fulfilled and will continue to fulfill all the obligations related to joining the Schengen Area. The matter does not end with the verification, it is a matter that will have to continue and of course we must take measures to be able to face this dynamic of the context in which we are living.”

Minister of Administration and Interior Lucian Bode said in his turn that Romania continues „this diplomatic approach at the highest level.”

„Accession remains by far a strategic objective for Romania, for a very clear reason: we are meeting all the technical conditions, and we have been doing so for 11 years. There must be a balance between the obligations taken up by Romania for 11 years and the rights it does not enjoy. On the sidelines of the JHA Council meeting in Luxembourg, we had a bilateral meeting with the Dutch minister and we agreed that any other detail complementary to the information collected by the 25 experts present in Romania between October 9 and 12 will be made available to the Dutch partners,” said Bode.

Agerpres