Romania and Bulgaria, Closer to Schengen?
The European Commission has again admitted that Romania meets all technical criteria for Schengen accession.
Florentin Căpitănescu, 16.09.2013, 13:30
The European Commission has been quite persistent in admitting that Romania and Bulgaria meet all the necessary requirements for Schengen accession. It did so three months ago, when it presented its 6-month report on the functioning of the free movement area, and has done it again recently, through its president Jose Manuel Barroso, who has stated that there should be no such thing as first and second rank citizens in Europe. This opportunity could become reality at the Justice and Home Affairs Council to be held in December in Vilnius, Lithuania, the country that is holding the 6-month presidency of the European Union.
In an interview to the AGERPRESS News Agency, the Romanian Foreign Minister Titus Corlatean has admitted that Bucharest is now carrying out a diplomatic campaign, aimed at convincing Western European capitals that Romania must be part of Schengen. Corlatean has also said that the refusal Romania and Bulgaria have been faced with ever since the spring of 2011 has been political in nature, related to certain group interests within some Member States. The EC President has stressed that the free movement of people is a principle that applies including to those in search for a job and should not be questioned within the EU.
The statement was made against the background of fierce debates in Great Britain, regarding the impact of all labour restrictions for Romanians and Bulgarians being lifted starting January 1st 2014. There are both pros and cons, from the benefits that Romanian and Bulgarian workers will bring to the British economy, to the potential pressure they would put on the health-care and education systems. In the meantime, Romanian authorities want to make sure that the compulsory and irreversible elimination of restrictions from the labour markets of all EU Member States will not trigger problems for the Romanian workers. Last week, the Romanian Labour Minister Mariana Campeanu agreed with her Dutch and Belgian counterparts on a strategy that would prevent illegal employment and the discrimination of Romanian workers.
