On March 31, Romania and its neighbour, Bulgaria, partly joined the Schengen visa-free travel area, after the EU’s Justice and Home Affairs Council decided to scrap checks at the air and maritime borders between the 2 countries and the other Schengen member states. This was possible after Austria, the last country in the bloc that opposed the idea, lifted its veto.
The Schengen area has one, external border where checks are conducted in line with a clear set of rules regarding visas, migration, asylum and police, judicial and customs cooperation.
Attending the special European Council meeting held this week in Brussels, the president of Romania Klaus Iohannis highlighted the need to lift all barriers to the operation of the single market as a pillar of competitiveness, including in relation to the four freedoms of movement.
This aspect, he pointed out, is particularly important in the context of Romania’s Schengen accession process, and of its efforts to have land border checks lifted as well.
In fact, a report commissioned by the Council mentions the need for Romania’s and Bulgaria’s full Schengen integration, as a means to boost the single market.
Meanwhile, in Sofia, the Romanian interior minister, Cătălin Predoiu, and the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, attended a meeting with Bulgaria’s interior minister, Kalin Stoyanov, concerning the two countries’ Schengen accession.
The Romanian official said that both Romania, and Bulgaria were prepared for the lifting of land border checks. He added that all the measures to counter organised crime and illegal migration at the internal borders had been discussed in detail.
In turn, the European commissioner Ylva Johansson voiced hopes that a precise date would be set this year for the two countries’ full accession to the visa-free zone, as proposed by the European Commission. She said the topic would be discussed in the Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting due in mid-June.
“We had a very good exchange where both ministers, Stoyanov and Predoiu, told about the improvements made in Bulgaria and Romania”, the European commissioner said. She also pointed out that the Commission had established, in fact-finding missions, that Bulgaria and Romania were better prepared to fulfil all the Schengen acquis than some Schengen member states,” given all the efforts made at their external borders. (AMP)