Premium
Romania should enter a digitization stage, if not "if not by carrot, then by stick", prime minister Marcel Ciolacu said on Monday, pointing out that there are problems at the borders, an example being the case of the mayor of Baia Mare, Catalin Chereches.
"The first and most important step has been taken. Austria is more flexible, of course they could not announce triumphantly that henceforth, without any conditions, Romania will be joining for the first step, the airspace, I believe, and next year, I think under the Hungarian presidency, we will continue with the second step, of the land borders. Don't think that Austria's demands, which I don't think are exaggerated, because we all want to strengthen the border with Bulgaria and Hungary, and we don't fool each other, and we don't lie. But Mr. Chereches managed to cross the border with an ID of a cousin, 10 years younger. This is the truth, if we want to assume these things, if we want to lie and always sweep things under the rug and believe that we are fooling everyone - I have a theory that this slyness has been destroying Romania - we will not succeed. Nobody believes us, they'll show us the pictures you showed on TV. So, these are normal discussions and I am firmly convinced that they will be beneficial for Romanians and for the Romanian state," Ciolacu said at the PSD headquarters.
Asked what increased controls would mean, the prime minister gave as an example the Chereches case and added that a stage of digitisation is necessary, first of all at the border.
"We have a programme, as you know, of 1.2 billion euros from the Commission for the border with Ukraine. We already have a pilot border point with Serbia which is working very well. At the moment, there are four digitisation systems at a border crossing point: the Police has one, Customs have one. All four systems are not integrated. It is time for Romania to enter a digitization stage, if not by carrot, then by stick," stressed Marcel Ciolacu.
Ciolacu also mentioned that Romania is now waiting for the decision of the Dutch Parliament.
"I will also talk to the president of Romania, because the president of Romania represents Romania at the European Council, we have coordinated our actions so far, we will coordinate institutionally from now on, too. (...) There have been a lot of negotiations conducted by the internal affairs minister and by me, personally and by the minister of foreign affairs and the president of Romania," explained the prime minister.
