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Corina Cretu: Romania must fight to be fully part of Schengen Area in 2024
MEP Corina Cretu declared on Monday for AGERPRES that in the absence of a concrete timetable for admission also by land to the Schengen area, the relaxation of "Air Schengen" could be just another illusion, but Romania must fight to be fully part of this space in 2024.
"After the announcement made on Saturday by PM Marcel Ciolacu, we were hoping that the Romanian state would receive an official position from Austria on this matter. This arrived today, through the statements of the Austrian minister of the interior, Gerhard Karner, and proposes that in exchange a relaxation of 'Air Schengen', i.e. free entry via air transport, ensuring a stricter protection of external and land borders, as well as the readmission of asylum seekers who come to Austria via Romania and Bulgaria. I believe that this flexibility on the part of Austria represents a step, but in the absence of a concrete timetable for admission also by land to the Schengen area, we can expect it to be just a new illusion," Corina Cretu told AGERPRES.
The European parliamentarian expressed her hope that prime minister Marcel Ciolacu and minister Catalin Predoiu would consider establishing such a calendar, which would be assumed by both sides.
"The Romanian state must fight to be part of the Schengen Area in its entirety in 2024, not for a possible electoral gain of the parties that form the ruling coalition, but rather to strengthen our position in a European Union that seems to be entering a period of great trials. The last elections in the Netherlands show once again, if it were needed, that the extremist wave is taking over Europe, and the parties that form this wave, if they have consolidated majorities following the elections for the European Parliament of next year, they will impose discriminatory measures, especially to the countries of Eastern Europe. I take this opportunity to draw attention once again to this phenomenon and appeal to Romanians to think very carefully about what future they will create for the following generations, through the vote they will cast in the European Parliament elections," said Corina Cretu.
According to her, the discussions regarding Romania's admission to the Schengen Area aim at an expansion of the air space, not the land and maritime space, a fact that will continue to cause economic damage of about 2% of the annual GDP and environmental damage of almost 46,000 tons of CO2 emissions per year, which also affect the residents near the borders and the drivers who transport the goods.
On the other hand, Corina Cretu emphasized, Austria's requirements for accepting asylum seekers from Romania and Bulgaria, especially Afghans and Syrians, have nothing to do with the functioning rules of the Schengen Area.
"I do not have data on the number of applications rejected by Romania and Bulgaria in this regard, but there are enough testimonies of immigrants that they do not want to stay here. Perhaps an intervention by the European Commission could have an effect, but the distribution of immigrant quotas cannot be done on ethnic criteria. Romania's integration into the Schengen Area is a right that we have obtained since 2011 through the reforms implemented and the investments of almost 2 billion euros in border security. More than that, Romania has demonstrated that it manages the external border of the EU with professionalism, both by receiving the flow of Ukrainian refugees and through the solidarity corridors created to transport grain from Ukraine", Corina Cretu also declared.
