2024-03-10 21:08:28
The Romanian Minister of the Interior, Catalin Predoiu, stated that the accession of Romania to Schengen and the land borders is an irreversible process, and for the realization of this goal, the Ministry of the Interior carries out permanent political, diplomatic and institutional activities, reported Agerpress, quoted by BTA.
He noted that the so-called “Austrian blockade” is painful for the public in Romania, because there are many ties, both economic and demographic, as well as cultural, that connect Romania and Austria. “In this spirit, I would like to preserve and develop relations between our countries for their own good, for the good of Europe, of culture and of peace,” Predoyu said at a conference in the Palace of the Parliament entitled “Together for a stronger and more secure Europe: a perspective on EU enlargement and accession to the Schengen area”.
According to him, the process of the complete accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen area is irreversible, and the expansion of this area with land borders should be finalized this year.
“Without a doubt, this process is irreversible and will end with the extension of Schengen legislation to Romania and Bulgaria and with land borders. An inevitable milestone in this process is the smooth functioning of the (EU) Council decision of December 2023 on air and sea borders, the maintenance of an adequate level of border protection, the fight against illegal migration and human trafficking in the months after the entry into force of this decision, i.e. March 31 this year,” the minister said.
“For us, this process must be completed in 2024 with the extension of the Schengen legislation with the land borders. To achieve this goal, we carry out and will carry out permanent political-diplomatic and institutional activity at the level of the Ministry of the Interior”, he added.
Predoiu pointed out that the Romanian Ministry of the Interior works daily on the basis of a specific plan for the implementation of all obligations arising from the implementation of the Council’s decision of December 2023 on “Air Schengen” and “Maritime Schengen” and maintains constant relations with European ministers, the relevant European Commissioner and the European agencies Frontex, Europol and others.
“The Romanian Ministry of Internal Affairs is on schedule with all operations for which it is responsible and has notified all Romanian institutions and bodies involved in the process of the need to be prepared for the moment March 31, 2024. (…) At the same time, we will continue our plans for fight against illegal migration, human and drug trafficking and organized crime. We cooperate very well with the Austrian and Bulgarian Ministry of Interior, as well as with the European Commission, Frontex and Europol. In 2023, we built effective working formats at bilateral, European and multilateral level for Schengen and we are constantly developing them. This constructive and creative approach has shown that it is correct and we will continue on this path,” emphasized Katalin Predoyu.