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The Dutch foreign affairs minister reconfirmed the Netherlands ‘support for Romania’s accession to Schengen
The minister of foreign affairs Bogdan Aurescu had on Monday, a bilateral meeting with the vice-premier, the minister of foreign affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Wopke Bastiaan Hoekstra, on the margin of the reunion of the Foreign affairs Council, with whom he discussed about the perspectives of the development of the accession process of Romania to the Schengen area, through surpassing the situation created as a result of the reunion of JAI on 8th December 2022.
The Dutch minister of foreign affairs reconfirmed the support of the Kingdom of the Netherlands for Romania’s accession to the Schengen area, reiterated the fact that the Dutch vote of 8th December was not directed against Romania, but against Bulgaria, and showed that he will actively get involved in finding a solution for Romania’s accession at European level.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) press release, in the meeting, minister Aurescu approached firstly the perspective for the development of the process of accession of Romania to the Schengen area, by surpassing the situation created as a result of the result of the reunion of the JAI Council of 8th December 2022. On this occasion, minister Bogdan Aurescu thanked the minister of foreign affairs Wopke Hoekstra for his position of support on behalf of the Kingdom of Netherlands in favour of Romania, which was the result of an intense process of consultation and bilateral contacts between the two parties in the period October – December 2022, including between the two heads of diplomacy.
‘The Romanian minister of foreign affairs informed on the measures underway of the Romanian party, mentioning the positive dialogue with the Swedish presidency of the Council which is mainly interested in the accession file, and its commitment to actively contribute to the efforts of identifying solutions which would lead to the adoption of the decision for accession to the Schengen area for Romania, including by launching consultations over the period to come. Minister Bogdan Aurescu referred to the intense measures taken with his counterparts in the EU member states, initiated at the beginning of this year, which led to the reconfirmation of their support for Romania’s objective of accession to Schengen’ the MAE press release says.
Similarly,minister Bogdan Aurescu informed the head of Dutch diplomacy with regard to the dynamics of the dialogue with the Austrian party, aiming at the reconsideration of Austria’s position in this file.
‘ In this sense, he mentioned the meeting with the Austrian counterpart, Alexander Schallenberg, on the margin of the recent participation to the World Economic Forum in Davos, and reminded the decision of the Romanian party to resend Romanian’s embassador to Vienna, a sign of openness which reconfirms our country’s interest for cooperation in European spirit and the expectation that the Austrian party resume the bilateral dialogue on this topic in a constructive way’ MAE says.
According to MAE ‘ the Dutch minister of foreign affairs reconfirmed the Kingdom of the Netherlands’ support for Romania’s accession to the Schengen area, he also reiterated the fact that the Dutch vote of 8th December was not directed against Romania, but against Bulgaria, and showed that he would actively get involved in finding at European level the solution for Romania’s accession’.
The two dignitaries approached aspects connected to the solid bilateral cooperation, especially in the domain of defence, mentioning the essential contribution of the Dutch military deployed in the NATO Fighting group in Cincu. Minister Aurescu thanked his counterpart for the presence of the Dutch troops in the Fighting group in our country, as a concrete gesture for allied solidarity, for the consolidation of the position of deterrent and defence on the Eastern Flank of NATO. The two dignitaries agreed on the maintenance of a constant dialogue during the period to come, including by the organization of new visits and meetings, which could contribute to the joint objective to consolidate the bilateral relation between Romania and the Kingdom of the Netherlands, MAE says.