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EC: Assessment of Romania's and Bulgaria's preparations for accession to Schengen must be made on technical aspects
The European Commission (EC) on Thursday reiterated that the assessment on Romania's and Bulgaria's preparations for accession to the Schengen Space must be made on technical aspects. According to Agerpres correspondent, Michele Cercone, spokesperson of European Commissioner for Internal Affairs Cecilia Malmstrom, told the daily press conference of the EC the European Executive hopes that the political matters will not affect the (technical) conditionalities that were to be met by the two countries aspiring to join Schengen Space.
However, only the member states have the right to decide, unanimously, with respect to Romania's and Bulgaria's accession to the Schengen Space. A day before, the French Secretary of State for European Affairs Laurent Wauquiez stated that it was essential European border control not to be weakened by extending the Schengen, referring thus to the risk of a growing number of immigrants.
'What France says is very simple - it is obvious that Romania and Bulgaria have the door open (for joining Schengen - editor's note), but the criteria must be met. The first simple criterion is that our borders must remain secure,' said the French official, who cited the issue of safety at the border with the Republic of Moldova as a potential obstacle to the entry of Romania and Bulgaria to Schengen Space.
Foreign Ministry: Monitoring mechanism after Romania's Schengen accession not set forth in acquis
The introduction of a monitoring mechanism after a country's accession to the Schengen Area has never been used and is not set forth in the acquis, Director-general for communication with the Foreign Ministry (MAE) Doris Mircea declared on Thursday. 'The introduction of a monitoring mechanism after Romania's accession to the Schengen Area is not set forth in the Schengen acquis. Such a mechanism has never been used in previous Schengen Space enlargement moves. It is difficult to accept the change of the rules during the game, by introducing clauses or mechanisms that have nothing to do with the Schengen accession criteria. Romania must be assessed against the Schengen criteria, according to the same rules that were applied to all the countries that have joined before,' said Doris Mircea.
She mentioned noted that the evaluation missions so far have confirmed that Romania meets the Schengen standards, pointing out that Romania cooperates very well with member states such as Poland, Austria and Germany towards fulfilling the necessary Schengen accession criteria. The clarifications made by the MAE Director-general for communication occur shortly after remarks by Austrian Interior Minister Maria Fekter that Romania and Bulgaria should be monitored if they are admitted to the Schengen Area in March 2011.
Romania installs on-line monitoring system in Bucharest for 11 customs points on EU external borders
Romania has recently installed in Bucharest an on-line system for monitoring 11 customs points on the borders with Serbia, Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, a mechanism which removes the possibility of the development of corruption acts on the borders, communication managing general with the Foreign Affairs Ministry (MAE) Doris Mircea said on Thursday.
'Monitoring the occurrences of potential corruption in the case of the border managing authorities is very strict and the results we got are also confirmed by the evaluation missions of the European Commission. Romania has recently installed in Bucharest an on-line system for monitoring 11 customs points on the borders with Serbia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. This system removes the possibility of the development of corruption acts at the borders. The personnel involved in the Schengen acquis implementation was very well trained, at the highest standards, too, this aspect being also confirmed by the evaluation missions,' Doris Mircea said.
She refuted the hypothesis according to which the border between Romania and the Republic of Moldova would not be secured according to the highest standards stipulated by the Schengen acquis. 'The land border evaluation missions, including the one between Romania and the Republic of Moldova, carried out until now, were finalized with positive outcomes. Thus, the last report of the evaluation mission of the land border carried out between November 15 and 17, 2010, showed that Romania observed the Schengen standards of border securing, concerning both the personnel training and the necessary infrastructure,' explained Doris Mircea.
The MAE official showed that the same positive results were also registered in the case of the sea and air borders, a fact confirmed by the evaluations based on the field monitoring carried out by experts. 'Romania has already secured, in fact, the external EU border according to the Schengen standards. Moreover, Romania is implementing a last generation technical surveillance system of the land border, with the support of the technology supplied by the French-German company EADS,' mentioned the MAE communication manager.
At the same time, she reiterated the fact that the treaty between Romania and the Republic of Moldova on the state border regime and the mutual collaboration and assistance in border issues had been recently signed in Bucharest, this document having the role of establishing 'a modern judicial regime' of the common border.
In context, the MAE official underlined that the effects of the Schengen standards implementing can be quantified by the results registered in the last months in the illegal migration combat, in the dissolution of illegal traffic networks and in the smuggled goods captures.
'Romania actively and constantly participates in operations related to the combating of illegal migration on EU borders. The Romanian authorities are in permanent touch with their colleagues from Bulgaria and Greece in order to efficiently secure together the external borders. Also, they are already actively involved in the operations run by the FRONTEX agency, the ones carried out at on the border between Greece and Turkey included,' Doris Mircea mentioned.