President Iohannis: We continue discussions on Schengen accession, slowly progressing

President Iohannis: We continue discussions on Schengen accession, slowly progressing.

President Klaus Iohannis on Thursday stated that Romania's accession to Schengen continues to be discussed informally on many levels, with a slow progress, while Spain has repeatedly shown its willingness to put this case on the agenda of the EU Council presidency, told Agerpres.

"While, formally, this topic is not being discussed in the Council format, it is still being discussed in the JHA format, informally. So discussions continue on this topic, on many levels and they will continue. As I said last year, when we had to face that unfortunate vote from Austria, which opposed the entry of Romania and Bulgaria into Schengen, we will continue to discuss, negotiate, look for solutions, but I also want everybody to understand this very well: this issue will not appear officially on the JHA agenda until we have a sufficient level of understanding that will allow a positive outcome. Because we cannot play with a vital issue for Romania, probably also for Bulgaria, and important for the Union. We cannot put issues up for vote once and again and keep getting negative answers. Everyone must understand that, when this issue will appear officially on the JHA agenda, at that moment we will also be certain that everything has been well prepared so that it will not be another failure, but a new success of the European Union. For I repeat, Romania's or Bulgaria's entry or failure to entry into Schengen will not be just a failure of Romania or Bulgaria or a success that only belongs to Romania and Bulgaria. It is a question of an essential, vital European matter and, if we succeed, this will be a success of the Union. And if we fail, then it is a failure of the Union," said the head of state before the meeting of the European Council.

He showed that although the progress made in this file is slow, there is still progress being made. The head of state emphasized that Spain has shown many times its willingness to put the file of Romania and Bulgaria's accession to the free movement area on the agenda of the EU Council presidency.

"The discussions continue on many levels, in many formats, the progress is slow, to put it this way, but there is still progress. We are having discussions, we have more and more Europeans who want to finish this matter and finish on a positive note. Do not imagine that there are only discussions between us and the Austrians or between the Bulgarians and the Dutch. There are extensive discussions at the level of the entire Union. We all want to find a solution and in this way you must imagine that there are ongoing discussions including between states that are not part of this, that are well-to-do in Schengen, but that want to support us. Including the Spanish side has shown many times its readiness to put this case on the agenda and to contribute to the solution. They told us this very openly," said Iohannis.

The members of the European Council had, before participating in the meeting, a working lunch with the Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg.

President Klaus Iohannis is participating, on Thursday and Friday, in the summer meeting of the European Council.