French ambassador Laurence Auer said on Wednesday that "Romania is needed in Schengen" in the current situation.
The French diplomat, who is ending her mission in Bucharest, gave an interview to the AGERPRES National News Agency.
"We the French, after trying hard, during the French presidency (of the Council of the EU, ed. n.), in 2022, to obtain unanimity, we support one hundred percent (the demarches, ed. n.) of deputy prime minister Catalin Predoiu and all the efforts made at government level. At the same time, we believe that the external borders of the European Union pass through Romania. We have enough challenges at present to think that it is better to have Romania in Schengen," the diplomat said.
Laurence Auer pointed out that, on the Schengen file, "currently, the country that has a say is Spain (which holds the six-month rotating presidency of the Council of the EU, ed. n.), because Spain makes the agenda of the files and obtains unanimity."
"As you know, we were in this position in 2022 and we did everything in our power. Minister (of the Interior, ed. n.) Gerald Darmanin came here with FRONTEX to see that the border area is safe. More importantly, there is a lot of pressure in terms of grain transport. The transport of cereals must take place by land and on the Danube. So we need Romania, even more so in Schengen, in the current situation," the French ambassador pointed out.
The AGERPRES National News Agency will broadcast on Thursday the full interview with the outgoing French diplomat in Romania.