A week after
\nRomania and Bulgaria’s entry into Schengen was rejected in the Justice and Home
\nAffairs Council (JHA), the accession issue has again been brought up for discussion in Brussels, this time during the
\nproceedings of the European Council upon the initiative of Romania’s president
\nKlaus Iohannis. The head of the Romanian state talked about the need for a
\npositive solution concerning accession, about the fact that Romania is ready
\nfrom all points of view to become part of Europe’s border-free area, but also
\nabout unity and solidarity. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Romania is a frontline
\ncountry when it comes to the situation caused by the war in Ukraine. We are the
\nneighbours with the longest border with Ukraine. We have been striving and
\ncoping with this situation, because that’s what we want and because we believe
\nthis is the right thing to do. We are a frontline country when it comes to
\nmigration and we control the migration inflow. We have obtained very good
\nresults, acknowledged by objective foreign sources, Klaus Iohannis said
\nadding: <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
We Romanians are waiting
\nfor clear signs of solidarity and unity from the EU. And that means that among
\nother things we have legitimate expectations to be admitted into Schengen. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The Romanian president
\nsaid that Austria’s veto and the mixed vote by the Netherlands are issues that
\nmust be solved, but from all talks that he held he concluded that this time,
\npreparations would go deeper and a solution is wanted. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Klaus Iohannis: My conclusion is simple: all players have
\nunderstood that here we have an issue that must be solved. My impression is
\nthat everybody understood and I am pretty optimistic the best alternative is
\nthat the accession process be completed in 2023 with a positive result for
\nRomania and Bulgaria. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The highest
\nEuropean officials have conveyed support messages for the accession of the two
\ncountries which are together in this process and have been waiting for more
\nthan a decade for this accession. The
\nhead of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the president of the
\nCouncil, Charles Michel, have said that opinion exchanges on this issue are
\ngoing to continue and headway is expected in the following months. Romania and
\nBulgaria’s accession is fully supported, Ursula von der Leyen says while
\nCharles Michel has confirmed the EU leaders will participate in a special
\nsummit on migration in February. Austria motivated its veto also on the issue
\nof migration. Charles Michel has mentioned the political debates on Bulgaria
\nand Romania’s accession to Europe’s passport-free area and voiced optimism that
\na decision in this respect could be made in 2023. The EU official has also
\nmentioned the feeling he had of a political commitment to making headway and
\nhis hopes that this is going to take place next year. Roberta Metsola,
\npresident of the European Parliament has voiced disappointment for the
\nrejection of the two states and Romanian president Klaus Iohannis has thanked
\nfor the strong vocal support in the European Parliament and the landslide
\nsupport of the member states. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
(bill)<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Following talks in the European Council, Romanias president Klaus Iohannis has voiced optimism that the countrys Schengen accession process will successfully complete in 2023<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":108,"featured_media":94047,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[29125,35117,37263,37310,28976],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-94046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-iohannis","tag-leyen","tag-metsola","tag-michel","tag-schengen"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n