Leonard Orban: "Romania’s perspective on Schengen doesn’t look too optimistic"

Leonard Orban, the Romanian minister of European Affairs, said, today, that Romania’s perspective on joining the Schengen is not optimistic, as the Netherlands is requiring two positive reports on the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (MCV) for the judiciary and the fight against corruption.

“The MCV on judiciary reform and fight against corruption is a useful internal mechanism, but it has become an instrument against state interest at a European level”, said Leonard Orban.

Orban went on saying that if this mechanism would be equally applied to all member states, we would have “interesting evaluations”, meaning that Romania and Bulgaria may not end up being the most corrupt members of the EU.   

The Danish Ambassador in Romania, Michael Sternberg, said that Denmark, which is holding the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, “stands ready to welcome Romania and Bulgaria as full members of the Schengen area”. The Ambassador believes the same criteria should apply for current and future member states, avoiding double standards.

“The Dutch Government has little room for maneuver because of domestic political reasons”, said Sternberg, meaning that the Schengen accession of Romania and Bulgaria may not happen during the Danish Presidency. However, Teodor Baconschi, Romania’s Foreign Affairs minister, said that Romania and Bulgaria should join Schengen this semester.

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The EU will pursue a set of measures in the next period, which should bring about further consolidation of the economic governance. An inter-governmental treaty, discussed last month during the European Council held in Brussels, should be signed by March, accompanied by other measures such as the “six-pack” on economic governance and the recapitalization of the banking system.

Orban said the EU should maintain its position on the single European market and the free circulation of people within EU borders, something that is not happening for Romania and Bulgaria.

“Nine member states are restricting labor markets for Romania and Bulgaria, and we will appeal to the European Commission on this subject. Only exceptional conditions on labor markets would justify the prolongation of restrictions to a maximum of 7 years, in some cases toughening these measures,” said Orban. Teodor Baconschi is in the same boat, saying that a genuine single market can only be achieved by removing restrictions on labor markets.   

This January, Italy decided to remove any labor restrictions for Romanians looking to work in the Peninsula. The next MCV report will be issued by the European Commission during this summer.
 
Ovidiu Posirca