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Interim President of the Romanian Senate Alina Gorghiu says that Romania "should, deserves and has the right to be in the Schengen area," and the resolution adopted by the European Parliament urging the EU member states to allow Romania and Bulgaria in the Schengen area, is the most important decision in that regard.
"The greatest opportunities are born in a time of crisis, and today we have serious arguments to successfully complete an endeavour supported without reservations from the highest level of representation in the Romanian state: Presidency, government, diplomacy, Parliament. We are talking about accession to the Schengen Area, which today witnesses the most important decision, namely a resolution regarding Romania's accession to the Schengen Area, which was truly a collective effort, the result of a consistent endeavour by colleagues in the European Parliament. We are talking about 547 votes in favour of Romania and Bulgaria joining the Schengen Area, an effort that the EPP made and I want to thank all colleagues in the EPP group and the Romanian colleagues in the European Parliament," Gorghiu told AGERPRES on Tuesday.
According to her, Romania has proved, amid healthcare challenges and, more recently, amid the security challenges of the last year, that it is ready to defend the border of the European Union.
"I can tell you firmly that Romania did not sit idly by during this period and made successive and very sound contributions to all European collective efforts that dealt with social challenges, healthcare challenges and especially the security challenges of the past year. And we demonstrated once again that we are very well prepared to defend the eastern border of the European Union. Eleven years have passed since the European Commission recommended the European Council that Romania and Bulgaria be admitted to the Schengen area, but there have always been obstacles or political conditionality, many of them unjustified. Today it seems that we are on the right track, in a very difficult context, but I hope that we will not miss this opportunity. I can assure you that we are making every effort to make this national project a reality as quickly as possible," Gorghiu added.
She added that Romania met the technical requirements for accession long time ago.
"Romania met the technical requirements for accession long time ago; there were some obstacles due to political assessments made by others, but I believe that in recent years, especially in the last two years, Romania has proved that it should, deserves and has the right to be in the Schengen area," said Gorghiu.
In a Facebook post, she said that to Romanians, "membership of Schengen area is synonymous with the full exercise of the right to free movement."
In a plenary session in Strasbourg on Tuesday, the European Parliament adopted a motion for a resolution urging the member states to allow Romania and Bulgaria to join the Schengen free-travel area without delay. AGERPRES
