Romania still has to wait. Our country’s accession to the Schengen Area is not on the agenda of the Justice and Home Affairs Council (JAI) that will take place on Thursday in Luxembourg. It is the last meeting organized by Sweden, a state that states that it supports Romania’s accession, but says that it will not put the subject on the JAI agenda until Austria changes its position.
The JHA Council is made up of justice and home affairs ministers from all EU member states.
Romania, left again, at the Schengen gates
“It is the last chance this year, because since the JHA Council proposed as the first item on the agenda, the discussion of the strategy for the next 12 months regarding the Schengen issue, and the most important item is completely missing, as the more than 27 million European, Romanian and Bulgarian citizens, who are the only ones at the moment who do not enjoy free movement in the EU, are not on the agenda, it shows as clearly as possible that the political decision within the Council is to postpone this decision, which is unacceptable”, said MEP Eugen Tomac, according to Antena 3 CNN.
He is of the opinion that the Government of Romania has the responsibility to insist and to request clear explanations.
“The government has the obligation to insist and ask for clear explanations, especially because the Swedish prime minister told us that this topic will be on the agenda. The only safe gate for us is the process we opened at the Court of Justice of the European Union.
Things are entering a stage of closing some files, and obviously no one wants to open this topic, given that we lose 10 billion euros annually, beyond this discrimination related to the limitation of the rights to free movement in the EU “, concluded Eugen Tomac.
Even in March, at the last meeting, the extension of the Schengen area was not on the agenda of the JAI Council, and the prospects of an accession are becoming more distant.
