Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) Marcel Ciolacu stated on Sunday evening that mistakes were made regarding Romania's accession to Schengen, told Agerpres.
"Don't think that Romanians don't know the truth and that Romanians don't know exactly what happened and who is to blame. Mistakes were made regarding Romania's accession to the Schengen area. Everything we built and the approach we had during the negotiations were not the right ones. How was Romania supposed to join the Schengen area when we entered the meeting of the JHA [Justice and Home Affairs] Council together with Bulgaria? (...) What chances would Romania have had to be vote in the JAI Council? Let's say that Austria would have voted. Anyway, the Netherlands had publicly announced that it was voting against Bulgaria (...). Afterwards, Austria also announced. (...) Even if only the Netherlands had remained, Romania would not have entered Schengen anyway," Ciolacu said at the Prima News TV private channel.
He said that he "never" believed that a "friend state" as Austria is, would cast a vote against Romania joining the Schengen area.
"I have never believed that a friend state as Austria is and a member state of the European Union would cast a vote against Romania, against the decision of the European Commission. (...) Nobody can be held accountable for Austria's decisions. (...) The strategy we made for the accession to the Schengen Area wasn't a strategy to bring us the results we expected. We hope in the future... perhaps a negotiation can be achieved with Sweden and Austria by then, but, as far as I know, Austria still has elections in April as well. It is a very short time, but is very possible to have this decision under the Presidency of Sweden [the Presidency of the Council of the European Union]. (...) One cannot turn the back to the European Commission and the Commission's decision, the European Parliament... to turn the back for a purely internal electoral interest. Then, one has nothing to do in Europe, if one cannot respect all partners," the Social-Democrat leader also stated.
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