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The upcoming meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council that will take place in Bucharest is an opportunity for Romania to convey that joining the Schengen is a national goal, Interior Minister Carmen Dan said on Monday.
The Romanian official emphasized that for Romania this is an important subject and that it is her duty to bring it to the attention of the European interior ministers.
"Schengen talks will be an occasion to test the positions of the member states on the future of this area. It is an opportunity for Romania to convey once again, including in this format of the meeting of the Interior Ministers, that joining the Schengen area is a national goal of which Romanians duly have high expectations. It is my duty, as Minister of the Interior, to reopen this subject and bring it to the attention of the EU Interior Ministers. Each of us - government members and the President of the country - have the duty to convey, each at his own level, that this is an important topic for Romania," Carmen Dan told AGERPRES.
According to the IntMin, the agenda of the meeting due in Bucharest February 6 - 8 includes topics such as migration, counter-terrorism or police cooperation, which are on the list of priorities during the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
More than 30 ministers will take part in the Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting this week, as well as Dimitris Avramopoulos - EU Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship; Julian King - EU Commissioner for the Security Union; and Chairman of the European Parliament's LIBE Committee, Claude Moraes.
Also attending the meeting, considered to be one of the major events of the Romanian Presidency of the EU Council, will be delegations from all member states, ministerial delegations from Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, as well as representatives of the General Secretariat of the Council of the EU.
Taking into account the interest in the issue of border security, the Romanian officials are considering organizing a visit of all European delegates to the Border Police headquarters, to see first-hand the functioning of the Romanian border surveillance system.
"Romania has one of the most efficient border surveillance systems, and it's good for European interior ministers to know this," added Carmen Dan.
