Premier Ponta: Romania will not request Schengen entry to be cast vote on in JHA Council

Romania will not request the Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Council, which will convene on March 7-8, to cast a vote on the subject of joining the Schengen area after Germany informed of its intention to block the access of this country to this area, said Premier Victor Ponta on Monday.

'No, it is no use. This is exactly what I was trying to explain to you. As Germany said this officially, I do not want us to go there for the mere reason of taking once again note of Germany's right of veto,' Ponta told a press conference. The Premier said that Romania would request that the subject should be voted on, in keeping with the procedure, when Berlin was be in favour of this country's Schengen entry.

'I am referring to the fact that, on the basis of consultations, we shall certainly learn the time when Germany will no longer oppose and it is then that we shall go to the polls. If Germany said clearly that it opposed, why should one go to the polls? For the mere reason of creating more tension? It is not in Romania's interest to have this conflicting situation with Germany. I do not think it is in our interest,' explained Victor Ponta.

German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich informed that he intended to prevent Romania's and Bulgaria's rapidly joining the Schengen area. In case the two countries insist in the JHA Council on a vote on establishing a concrete deadline for the Schengen entry, Germany will resort to its right of veto, Die Welt on Sunday quotes the German Minister as telling Der Spiegel. The last time when the question of Romania joining the free movement area was on the JHA agenda was in October 2012, but during that meeting they did not pose the question of enlarging the free movement area, they only discussed the stage of Romania and Bulgaria putting the Schengen acquis into practice.

President Basescu: Joining Schengen is Romania's major goal

Joining the Schengen Area is Romania's major goal, President Traian Basescu said in remarks delivered at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace on Monday evening.'The position I express without reservation - and I am glad to see today that the Prime Minister has moved to a more flexible stance - is that Romania's major goal is to join the Schengen Area. (...) To us, joining the Schengen is essential both in terms of integration, and economy. And perhaps the most important aspect is the political one,' said Basescu.

At the same time, the President said that he welcomes 'the stance voiced today by Premier Ponta on the mandate of the Government's representative at the JHA meeting on March 7 - 8. I believe this is a return to normalcy.' The President also said that in his political opinion, belonging to the Schengen Area is more important than being inside the eurozone.

'There is no doubt about the priority of the governmental, parliamentary and presidential action for joining the Schengen. Romania must pursue Schengen accession as a major goal with all the costs related to the corrupt or potentially corrupt, because nobody will label them before they are tried in court. (...) These costs are insignificant compared with the need political need to move the EU border on the Prut river (Republic of Moldova) and on the border with Ukraine. This is of paramount importance,' added Traian Basescu.

Seven states, at least, would have voted against Romania's Schengen joining

President Traian Basescu said on Monday, that at least seven states, not only Germany, would have voted against Romania's Schengen joining. 'Germany is not the single country which would have voted against Romania. There are at least seven states which would have voted against,' Basescu said at the Cotroceni Palace. He emphasized that the reason why the other countries would have been against Romania's Schengen joining is related to the MCV report.

Basescu: We have to obtain a new date for Schengen entry decision, it may be September or December

President Traian Basescu considers that the fair position Romania should adopt as regards the accession process to the Schengen Area is to establish another deadline for a decision to be made and the upcoming Justice and Home Affairs Council (JHA) to take note of Romania's progress.

'The most correct approach is to establish a new deadline (for the decision on Schengen's enlargement - editor's note). We have to obtain a new date, it may be September, it may be December. If we do not obtain a new date at the JHA Council, we have to refer to the European Council and introduce, at a given moment, in the Conclusions, the request of the European Council to the JHA Council to review Romania's and Bulgaria's case. A correct strategy for the next (JHA) Council is to take note of Romania's progress, which was recognized in the CVM report,' Basescu said at the Presidential Cotroceni Palace.

Germany would have opposed Romania joining Schengen anyway, waits for CVM final report

Germany would have opposed Romania's entry to the Schengen Area this year anyway, even if elections in Germany had not been held this year, the most important thing is the final report on the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM), depending on which Berlin will take a decision, State Secretary with Germany's Federal Ministry of the Interior Christoph Bergner said on Monday in Sibiu.

'I believe the decision would not have been different, we would have maintained our stance even if elections in Germany had not been held this year. We are waiting for the result of the CVM report, depending on this final report, we shall make a decision,' the German official said.

According to him, the stance of the Interior Minister of the German Cabinet mirrors the official position of the Berlin Government, but at the same time he admitted that the position is also political, being influenced by the election campaign for the parliamentary elections to be held in Germany this year.

'As regards the position of the German Interior Minister on this matter, the German Interior Minister was always open and he always voiced clearly his skepticism on Romania's accession to the Schengen Area. Therefore, there is nothing new and I do not think that such a statement can be considered an act of populism. (...) 2013 is an electoral year in Germany, an election campaign is also underway, I know from experience that certain statements tend to acquire bigger influence,' the German secretary of state said.

A session of the Governmental Romanian-German Joint Commission on the Issues of German Ethnics in Romania is underway in Sibiu (central Romania). Romania's delegation is chaired by State Secretary George Ciamba, while Germany's delegation is led by Christoph Bergner, Secretary of State and Federal commissioner for national minorities.

MEP Cretu calls on EC President Barroso to defend Romania's right to join the Schengen Area

Romania's MEP Corina Cretu, the deputy chair of the Socialist Group in the European Parliament, on Monday called on President of the European Commission (EC) Jose Manuel Barroso to take action in defence of Romania and Bulgaria's right to join the border-free Schengen Area and put a halt to electoral populisms that risk derailing the European integration process.'The threat by Germany's interior minister with Germany exercising its veto over the enlargement of the Schengen Area is a serious attack against the design of a united Europe. The newest member states risk being isolated behind a velvet curtain that will deepen poverty, social tensions and division inside the EU,' Cretu warned in an interpellation to Barroso, according to a press release issued by Cretu's MEP office.

Cretu also calls on Barroso to step in, on behalf of the Commission as a guarantor of the European treaties, to halt discriminations against Romanian and Bulgarian nationals and to guarantee their fundamental rights of free movement of persons and the freedom of movement for workers inside the entire European Union.

In her interpellation, Cretu also points out that Romania and Bulgaria have been fulfilling the technical criteria for accession to the Schengen Area since 2011, as acknowledged by a June 9, 2011 meeting of the EU's Justice and Home Affairs Council and the European Parliament's positive opinion on the accession of the two countries of June 8, 2011. Given the circumstances, Cretu argues, 'the tergiversation of a final decision and the invention of additional criteria only to justify a politicking position are outrageous and only meant to serve an electoral purpose ahead of this autumn's general election in Germany.'

Cretu also mentions that the German interior minister and the British foreign secretary's statements released on Sunday about the need for steps to be taken to halt economic immigration reflect a vision running contrary to European values, which include the free movement of persons and the freedom of movement for workers.
Cretu says she will suggest the inclusion on the European Parliament's agenda of its next week's plenary session of a debate on the risks of negative discrimination against and isolation of the newest EU member states.

PDL, PP-DD join forces to hit Gov't with censure motion on Schengen accession

The opposition's Democratic Liberal Party (PDL) and the People's Party - Dan Diaconescu (PP-DD) will jointly lodge in the Chamber of Deputies a censure motion on the Schengen entry issue, requiring the government to take responsibility for 'missing the Schengen goal this year' and clearly tell the Romanians if joining the Schengen Area is still a target for the ruling Social Liberal Union (USL), Democratic Liberal leader Vasile Blaga said on Monday.

'Romania is now paying the price for one whole year of anti-European and anti-national policy pursued by USL. Consequently, PDL has decided to lodge, as soon as possible, together with PP-DD, a censure motion at the Chamber of Deputies on the Schengen entry subject. We ask the Ponta government to take responsibility for missing the 2013 Schengen accession goal and clearly tell the Romanians if joining is still an objective of USL. We ask the USL government to place the Schengen accession back on top the list of national priority goals. Not in the last place, we ask the Ponta government to openly tell the Romanians what the country's track will be in the next period, ' the PDL chairman said.

Vasile Blaga added that Romania has gone just one third of the way to Europe and that 'signals at European and national level show that the Bucharest government has already taken the decision to reverse the country's advance.'

'Romania has spent 1.3 billion euros from public national and European funds to meet the Schengen technical requirements. The lightness wherewith the Premier and his government just kick away this goal is deeply anti-economic and anti-national. Joining the Schengen has to do with Romania's full EU integration, with the time the Romanians spend in customs offices, with cutting down national border security costs and, particularly, with reducing export costs of the Romanian companies, given that 70 percent of Romania's exports are bound for the EU through ports and land border points. For all these reasons, PDL believes that joining the Schengen Area must remain Romania main goal,' the PDL chairman also said.

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